Wasteland 3 Announced, Crowdfunding on Fig Next Week

[ffronw]

Wasteland 3 Announced, Crowdfunding on Fig Next Week

inXile Entertainment is bringing the next installment of Wasteland to crowdfunding, but not on Kickstarter.

When inXile Entertainment launched Wasteland 2 two years ago, it was the culmination of a very successful crowdfunding campaign - one that the company hopes to repeat in 2016. Yesterday, inXile announced that it will be launching a crowdfunding campaign for Wasteland 3 on October 5.

While Wasteland 2 was crowdfunded on Kickstarter, the new installment will have its campaign on the Fig crowdfunding platform, which offers a mix of investment and rewards-based crowdfunding. That's not surprising, considering that inXile studio boss Brian Fargo sits on the Fig advisory board.

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The new installment in the series will put players back in control of a team of Desert Rangers. This time, they'll be tasked with heading into the frozen lands of post-apocalyptic Colorado. There, you'll have to build up your base and your reputation among groups of survivors who have never heard of the Desert Rangers.

One new addition to the series that could have very interesting consequences is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous multiplayer. Here's how it works. You and a friend each control a unique team of Rangers. If you're close together, you'll participate in the same fights as allies.

But where the new system gets interesting is when you aren't close together. Each player can complete missions and advance the story on their own, and that can lead to some...interesting...consequences. Here's how Fargo described it to Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2016/9/28/13081728/wasteland-3-announcement-fig-kickstarter-crowdfunding-release-date]:

"Let's say that you're sleeping and I go on a mission where there's a sickness among some cattle. I decide the resolve it by killing them all. You wake up and you're notified that mission is complete. But when you get back to the game there's a radio call. The town? They're kind of pissed about that. They want money for those cattle. You can convince your friend to pay up, or you could pay it yourself. You could even refuse to pay entirely and live with the consequences."

If you aren't happy with the consequences, you can disconnect your game at any time, and it will revert back to your timeline, instead of the timeline of the connected player.

Wasteland 3's crowdfunding campaign will be open to both accredited and non-accredited investors. If you're looking to back Wasteland 3, you can find the campaign here [https://www.fig.co/campaigns/wasteland-3] when it goes live on October 5.

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[The Enquirer]

Ok, the multiplayer actually sounds pretty cool, especially with the timeline reversion feature.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

 

[mad825]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

Well they're not even spending a penny on the game why on earth would they want to deal with the fees from kickstarter? Hell, why would they use anything else when they have their own crowd-funding website to which they can manipulate to their own ends?

 

[SupahEwok]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

Investors in Fig are real investors, who get a cut of the profits. That's not something Kickstarter is set up to do. Of course, big investors could always go to the company directly and work out their million dollar deal, but from what I recall of Fig, it enables small size investment (in the hundreds range) without having to break out the lawyers for each deal.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I liked Wasteland 2, I hear Torment: Tides of Numenera is shaping up nicely. Bring it on. Now if only I could somehow have more time to actually play all these rpgs...

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

I'm not sure how different kickstarter and fig are when it comes taxes and associated fees to comment on that side.

inXile's head Brian Fargo is on the board of fig. So possibly it is more of a marketing move to raise the profile of fig by using a known name that has successfully released well received crowd funded games before. Given inXile have had 3 successful campaigns, with one completed, one due to release and one still development I'm sure they would have no problem securing funds through more traditional methods. Which again makes me think it more for raising fig's profile with the added bonus getting some extra funds for the game.

I am somewhat skeptical about company owners running crowdfunding projects on their own platform when it comes to oversight of funds, but the same could be said of if inXile ran a campaign from their own website. Plus inXile have proven they can manage a project sensibly.

 

[gigastar]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

Its in the article;

While Wasteland 2 was crowdfunded on Kickstarter, the new installment will have its campaign on the Fig crowdfunding platform, which offers a mix of investment and rewards-based crowdfunding. That's not surprising, considering that inXile studio boss Brian Fargo sits on the Fig advisory board.

Its an obvious personal interest thing to see that this company he has a level of involvement in succeed, and Wasteland 3 is the next in a series of notable things used to draw people (both backers and hopeful campaigners) to the platform rather than Kickstarter.

 

[ffronw]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

Well they're not even spending a penny on the game why on earth would they want to deal with the fees from kickstarter? Hell, why would they use anything else when they have their own crowd-funding website to which they can manipulate to their own ends?

I was actually just reading more into this, and it looks like inXile will be kicking a few million bucks from the proceeds of Wasteland 2 in on the development of the new game.

 

[Fulbert]

It seems Fig is a nice funding platform if you're on its board or otherwise connected to its top management. First Schafer, now Fargo. I guess I'm okay with this as long as the resulting games are good but it still feels a bit off.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Methinks me understand now. Like owning tiny shares of the company, kind of. For royalties from whichever title they invest in. I bought wasteland 2, but am not very good it not dying every ten steps. Hmm...

 

[J.McMillen]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

As a backer of one of their previous KS games, I got an email with a special link for this new crowd funding campaign that gives me a discount on my pledge. That's something KS can't do, invitation only pledge levels.

 

[Okamisama]

Wasteland 3 is on Fig for the same reason Psychonauts 2 was announced on Fig--they are desperate for attention, desperate for backers to actually use their site, and desperate to prove that their platform is actually worth something... Which it definitely isn't. Investing in these games? Cult status as it may be, but Psychonauts 1 didn't sell even close to well enough to earn back their initial investment, much less any noticeable profit. It's also a shell company that is designed, in the event Fig craters (which last I saw/heard, it was hemorraging money still), they don't have to give any investor or backer jack squat. It's set up shady, and more so than that there isn't any real reason to use them if you are an independent developer...

Unless, of course, you're sitting pretty on the Board there. They don't have to worry about the fees and cuts (unlike other devs using the platform I'm sure), and any cut the board takes from the investment is literally just free money to throw back into the project or pocket. Psychonauts was a sad cry for attention, given the fact the service struggled to even get a few games passed its base goals. As for this? I supported Wasteland 2 on Kickstarter day one, have enjoyed the game greatly, but I'm going to say a big "f*** off" to them for this. Honestly, I hope the 2.75 mill they are begging for crashes hard, even if they try and secretly extend to the end date to milk anything out. They are using the big successes they have to try and draw their backers towards something that will make them money, rather than using a platform with a proven track record and no issues...

Seriously, the only reason they are pushing Wasteland 3 out so soon is because the past several months of nothing has been the Fig company being propped up by its outside connections only. It made no money since Psychonauts 2 ended, and the constant fighting and struggling to even get something they assured was already okayed shows how poorly they prepared. Which isn't surprising, given its origins from Double Fine studio.

 

[Quellist]

Frozen wastes of Colorado? Here's hoping for a dungeon based on the Stanley Hotel/Overlook!

 

[Naldan]

What has Tim Schafer to do with Wasteland 3? I don't get it.

 

[Sight Unseen]

I don't quite get what restricts kickstarter in a way that this crowdfunding avenue is chosen instead. Surely all types of contributers are allowed on kickstarter? Or is it a matter of fees, even taxes being funnelled in a more preferable direction?

The head of InXile is on the board of directors for Fig, that's why.

 

[Sight Unseen]

What has Tim Schafer to do with Wasteland 3? I don't get it.

Does this answer your question? http://imgur.com/a/CbBfO

Source: https://www.fig.co/about

 

[Naldan]

What has Tim Schafer to do with Wasteland 3? I don't get it.

Does this answer your question? http://imgur.com/a/CbBfO

Source: https://www.fig.co/about

Yes, it does. Even though there is a reason why I mentioned him in the first place. :3

 

[Frankster]

Not falling for this again.

Wasteland 2 left a sour taste for me, it is without a doubt the rpg with the worst stat and skill system of any i've ever played, there was only 1 optimal build in regard to stats and minimum room for deviancy in regard to skills, so tldr all your characters ended up the same after a certain point. Honestly you could have cut out the skill system entirely and made it a straight out combat game and you wouldn't lose much.

Between this and Pillars of Eternity (which i was immediately reminded upon when they mentioned having a base camp/fort for your party), these were my biggest gaming disappointments of recent history. So yar adopting a wait and see approach this time around.