Double Fine Wasn't Being "Greedy" With Second Kickstarter

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Big names like Schafer and Avalon actually help the smaller developers:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/10/are-celeb-driven-kickstarters-a-good-thing

They get more people on Kickstarter who normally wouldn't have gone on there in the first place, and then that increases the amount of people who see the smaller projects and funds them.

If it wasn't for those big names I would have never have found Kickstarter, let alone back anything. Now I've backed over 30, most of them are 'the little guys' who I've never heard of.

Also:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116343-Obsidian-Lost-Bonus-for-Fallout-New-Vegas-by-One-Metacritic-Point

Just because the devs have worked with publishers before doesn't mean that their financials are all rosy.

The presence of companies like Double Fine and Obsidian do offer some benefits for the Kickstarter community and every project as a whole, but the disadvantages are more damaging to smaller companies than they are helpful. Some of these disadvantages are: They take away backer interest from smaller projects by just being on Kickstarter; other sources of media outside of the Kickstarter platform focus on the larger names and bigger companies despite the creativity and quality of the smaller project; and the smaller projects are forced to use more development dollars for backer rewards and promotion in order to compete with the bigger developers on Kickstarter.

Even though DF and Tim Schafer brought some potential Backers to Kickstarter They also took backer dollars from people that most likely wouldn't have even been granted the opportunity to talk to a publisher.

I can't begin to comment on the inner workings of Obsidian, But I am sure they still have an advantage over a new developer who hasn't made the mark that Obsidian has made in the game market.

...

Your logic is rather 'patchy' in some areas but I believe I can muddle through.

The Double Fine Kickstarter was the big breakout for the site and for gaming in particular, if it hadn't happened crowdfinding wouldn't have been nearly as big as it is today. The largest videogame Kickstarter pre-Broken Age was VENUS PATROL: charting a new course for videogame culture, which just scraped in 105,398 dollars.

Afterwards both dollars pledged and projects launched sky-rocketed.

Spoiler: Source http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/the-year-of-the-game

note: The Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter project ran from Feb 8, 2012 to Mar 13, 2012

Without Double Fine leading the way the likes of Rock, Paper, Shotgun wouldn't have started their Kickstarter Katchup that highlights various game projects and the majority of gamers and devs wouldn't know about crowdfunding at all.

Furthermore just because the likes of Schafer, Avellone, and Fargo are 'big names' and have dealt with publishers before doesn't mean that the publishers will fund or even listen to them. Brian Fargo and InXile in particular is a notable example of devs being ignored by by publishers in favour of gritty shooters that currently clog up the AAA scene.

Finally, calling corwdfunding a investment or pre-order doesn't matter, people will hedge their bets on a known brand or name. You can't change it, no matter how creative your game is.

 

[Lightknight]

I do think it was slightly sneaky to wait until just after the kickstarter to announce the need to split the game into two chapters but as long as they're still making the full game with the money kickstarter gave them (that includes splitting the game up into two volumes so the first one can start earning them revenue to finish the second) then it doesn't matter. It's if they fail to make the second chapter that we run into problems because then they would have failed to scale the game appropriately.

 

[mbarker]

...

Your logic is rather 'patchy' in some areas but I believe I can muddle through.

The Double Fine Kickstarter was the big breakout for the site and for gaming in particular, if it hadn't happened crowdfinding wouldn't have been nearly as big as it is today. The largest videogame Kickstarter pre-Broken Age was VENUS PATROL: charting a new course for videogame culture, which just scraped in 105,398 dollars.

Afterwards both dollars pledged and projects launched sky-rocketed.

Spoiler: Source http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/the-year-of-the-game

note: The Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter project ran from Feb 8, 2012 to Mar 13, 2012

Without Double Fine leading the way the likes of Rock, Paper, Shotgun wouldn't have started their Kickstarter Katchup that highlights various game projects and the majority of gamers and devs wouldn't know about crowdfunding at all.

Furthermore just because the likes of Schafer, Avellone, and Fargo are 'big names' and have dealt with publishers before doesn't mean that the publishers will fund or even listen to them. Brian Fargo and InXile in particular is a notable example of devs being ignored by by publishers in favour of gritty shooters that currently clog up the AAA scene.

Finally, calling corwdfunding a investment or pre-order doesn't matter, people will hedge their bets on a known brand or name. You can't change it, no matter how creative your game is.

Double Fine can be credited for getting Kickstarter more recognition and Backers when compared to other crowdfunding websites, but there is no evidence that Double Fine Is responsible for the increase to the crowdfunding phenomena. The number of people who are now using crowdfunding to support independent projects could also be because of the growing popularity of independent titles in video gaming and the lack of interest in expensive triple A franchises. Gamers and the media like RPS didn?t need Double Fine to draw their attention to these funding platforms.

Considering the blog article that was cited primarily took the metrics of video and board games it does share some interesting facts:

1) Only 22% of video games are successfully funded while 47% of board games are funded in comparison. The reason of the large difference between the two game types as stated in the article is because of the much smaller amounts that are asked for to fund board game projects. If projects like: Torment, Eternity, and DFA hadn?t used Kickstarter to fund their projects smaller riskier ventures would have been more successful in their campaigns and perhaps would have gotten more Backers to invest in their cheaper projects.

2) Board games also showed higher and more consistent growth with the number of successfully funded projects. Video games just show a larger increase in dollars pledged which can be easily explained by the level of funding each project creator believe they require to become successful. The number of well known development studios now using Kickstarter as a videogame funding platform can also explain this trend. Board gaming also hasn?t had a huge influx of main stream developers leaving room for smaller ventures to grow and be able to market themselves without needing to compete with much bigger companies.

Double Fine used crowdfunding because they didn?t want a publisher to publish their game. For Project Reds Double fine didn?t even attempt to get funding through other sources.

InXile was turned down by publishers and only considered crowd funding after Double Fines success and when they had no other option, I guess that was what Kickstarter was meant for, but that process wasn?t done for InXile?s Torment Project. InXile?s expectation for Kickstarter to bank role a second project without even an attempt to gain other sources of funding is a little ridiculous to me.

When these larger companies are put up against a smaller group of developers with a good idea and no other form of income they lose potential funding from backers more willing hedge their bets and back a studio with 2 dozen fulltime staff, multiple projects, and a large videogame portfolio with some of the most beloved titles in gamming history. Smaller groups with riskier projects and no established reputation have no chance to get their project funded because of companies like Double Fine.

I'll just provide the link to the Kickstarter article: http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/the-year-of-the-game