Obsidian CEO: Publishers Are Trying to Sneak Into Kickstarter

[Andy Chalk]

Obsidian CEO: Publishers Are Trying to Sneak Into Kickstarter

Obsidian Entertainment says mainstream publishers have asked it to use Kickstarter to fund games that they would then publish and profit from.

One of the great things about Kickstarter is that it allows game makers to bypass publishers and create games that might otherwise not be funded. Brian Fargo hammered that point home in his Wasteland 2 Kickstarter double [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116290-Wasteland-2-Kickstarter-Explodes-Like-a-Blood-Sausage] its funding target despite the inability of Crate Entertainment's predecessor, Iron Lore, to survive in the conventional market. Kickstarter isn't ever going to replace the traditional publishing model - you're not going to crowdfund a Skyrim or a Modern Warfare - but it is opening up possibilities that were almost inconceivable just a couple of years ago.

But according to Obsidian Entertainment, which recently hit Kickstarter with the Infinity Engine-inspired isometric RPG Project Eternity, publishers are beginning to take notice - and, more to the point, they're trying to take advantage of the system.

"We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter," CEO Feargus Urquhart wrote on the Project Eternity Kickstarter forum. "I said to them 'So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for [you], using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits?' They said, 'Yes'."

Urquhart rather generously said that he believed the requests came not from a position of evil, but one of ignorance. "I think they were trying, honestly, to be able to do something with us and they felt that was the easiest way to do it. They would then not need to go get budget approved and deal with the challenge of that," he wrote in a follow-up post. "What I don't think they did was to think about our side of it and what they were really asking."

The idea does seem rather ill-considered. It's an easy source of money at first glance, at least for a big draw like Obsidian, but as Tim Cain pointed out [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119652-Tim-Cain-Talks-Project-Eternity], the money raised on Kickstarter is nowhere near the budgets required by even mid-range games. And I can't imagine the uproar that would come in the wake of an announcement that a popular, successful Kickstarter project suddenly has an exclusive publishing deal with Ubisoft. I think I'd be asking for my money back.

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/comments?page=8]


Permalink

 

[Hyperone]

You're kidding me right? They want rights to games that they don't fund? Am I reading this right? I can't for the life of me understand how they would even begin to believe that a crowdfunded game, one most often specifically funded as so to bypass the BS that publishers heap on us, would then be turned over to them for no other purpose than for them to make money with minimal risk to themselves. Who wants to bet me that publisher was EA?

 

[Something Amyss]

Major publishers trying to take advantage of the system? That's bullcrap!

Now, major developers taking advantage of the system? That's okay....

 

[TheMadJack]

Probably the most disingenuous, backwards thinking and ignorant publisher. Must be EA.

Seriously though I would LOVE to know who made Obsidian that deal of a lifetime. *rolls eyes*

 

[Scrythe]

I'm actually surprised that a big-name publisher hasn't just used Kickstarter under a pseudonym. That really seems like the most EA/Activision way to go about it.

It makes sense, after all. They wouldn't have to use their own funds, thus minimizing investment risk. They'll be free to publish whatever the hell they want. If anyone asks "Hey doesn't this game belong to X?", they can just claim that they "acquired" that studio. Y'know, standard business model.

Shit, I really hope they don't see this.

 

[Albino Boo]

Translated


Obsidian: Its ok for us to dump all the risk onto the consumer and keep the profits and make the millionaire CEO Feargus Urquhart even richer but when a publisher wants to pass on the risk thats evil.

 

[Azuaron]

Translated


Obsidian: Its ok for us to dump all the risk onto the consumer and keep the profits and make the millionaire CEO Feargus Urquhart even richer but when a publisher wants to pass on the risk thats evil.

Not really. Having a failed Kickstarter with your name attached? Very risky. Having a funded Kickstarter that goes belly up? Probably unrecoverable, possibly legally incriminating, though it's hard to say since it hasn't happened yet.

The problem with what this publisher is asking is that they basically want to get all the reward for none of the work. The whole point of a publisher is to have someone to bankroll a project (and, in the old days, make the physical copies of the game), otherwise no one would deal with them and their meddling. To have them say, "We want to not do our job and get paid for it," is where the problem lies.

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

It was inevitable that mainstream publishers would eventually try to co-opt the Kickstarter system; it was equally inevitable that they'd do so while operating in complete ignorance as to how and why Kickstarter actually works...

 

[Terminate421]

If I was the Obsidion CEO I would have said "fuck off" to that publisher

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Well, this isn't a COMPLETLY bad thing. Perhaps a publisher could put up multiple games they're thinking of devolping with very low money goals, and they go "whichever project gets the goal first, we'll make". Then add some free DLC or something for the people that chipped in, and we get consumers deciding what they want, rather then publishers spitting things out willy-nilly. Plus it would really help to get new ideas and IPs on the market.

 

[Entitled]

Well, of course it was an unfair offer, for not wanting to let them keep the IP, but otherwise, I don't hate the idea of publishers getting into Kickstarter.

It's not like they would be ripping of fans, the backed game copies cost the same or less as finished one, it would just be a long preorder system. And even with publishers in the background, it would allow them to test the waters for more risky niche titles without actually risking money on them, and also stand behind with their money coffers just in case the collected budget goes dry, so it would be risk-free for the backers as well.

 

[Rainforce]

Damn what would I give for knowing who that publisher was...this is so disgusting XD

captcha: "teflon president"
yep.

 

[Albino Boo]

Translated


Obsidian: Its ok for us to dump all the risk onto the consumer and keep the profits and make the millionaire CEO Feargus Urquhart even richer but when a publisher wants to pass on the risk thats evil.

Not really. Having a failed Kickstarter with your name attached? Very risky. Having a funded Kickstarter that goes belly up? Probably unrecoverable, possibly legally incriminating, though it's hard to say since it hasn't happened yet.

The problem with what this publisher is asking is that they basically want to get all the reward for none of the work. The whole point of a publisher is to have someone to bankroll a project (and, in the old days, make the physical copies of the game), otherwise no one would deal with them and their meddling. To have them say, "We want to not do our job and get paid for it," is where the problem lies.

The consumer is the one carrying the finical risk, they put all the money with no guarantee of a product. Normally this risk is taken by the publisher but in the case of Kickstarter is the contributors is take that risk. A failed game is going to effect your reputation with publishers using the normal method of funding just as much a as failed kickstarter. A publisher can and does mitigate that risk through the contract signed, the contributors for a kickstarter don't have the management input.

In a kickstarter Obsidian get 100% of the profits without any investment risk because all the money comes from the consumer who has no means of redress in case of project failure. A failed game on kickstarter is a lesser risk than the normal because if you screw up with publisher they take you to court and win under the terms of the contract. The terms of a kickstarter are such, that in the event of failure, Obsidian are only liable to repay any remaining money and not to reimburse the money given.

 

[Albino Boo]

Translated


Obsidian: Its ok for us to dump all the risk onto the consumer and keep the profits and make the millionaire CEO Feargus Urquhart even richer but when a publisher wants to pass on the risk thats evil.

Y-you KNOW that's not even slightly comparable, right?

You do know what publishers DO, right?

You do know that Developer=/=Publisher in the vast majority of cases, Right?

There is no RISK to making a published game that then flops, the ones taking the hit is the publisher in that case.

What you're saying is that you want Obsidian to spend 2 years creating a game, during which they'll presumably pay their staff with oats and shiny rocks, and then just hope that it doesn't flop?

Cool fucking story bro.

See the post above yours for why you are wrong. Also before typing away with your preconceived opinion try reading the thread

 

[Azuaron]

~~~snip~~~

The terms of a kickstarter are such, that in the event of failure, Obsidian are only liable to repay any remaining money and not to reimburse the money given.

Source.