Gabe Newell Wants You to Fund Your Games

[hansari]

Holy crap if that picture isnt the "gamer" stereotype incarnate i dont know what is.

Haha...thats what I was thinking when I saw that picture...

Standing close to a screen that big...Gabe Newell must have horrible eyesight without those glasses.

 

[tendo82]

This would work if I paid in the retail price of the game and, assuming it was successful, made back my original funding. So I get the game either way, and if I bet right on the quality of the concept and my judgment about the team's ability to execute is correct, then I end up getting a free copy of the game.

It's kind of like owning stock, you don't really have a say in how the company is run, but if you do your research and bet on the right companies, you're likely to turn a profit.

 

[m_jim]

Buying is funding. We pay enough as it is, stop being greedy.

Well, the news bit says that in the hypothetical situation that such a try a business model be tried, the investing player would get a share of the profits in addition to the game.

I'm not seeing how this'd work in real life but I'm not seeing this comment as Gabe being greedy either. More like utopistic, for two reasons, actually: one is that getting players on board with something like this would be extremely hard and second is that by accepting such money you're basically promising the players both that the game will be done and that it will sell enough to return a profit. Tough sell.

I don't think that they are promising anything. Essentially, they are asking gamers to act as venture capitalists and bet on games to 1) get made and 2) be good. The problem that I forsee is that if they take money from us, then we are suddenly Valve shareholders. That means that we could have very real input on the direction of the game.

 

[John Funk]

I wish I could play WoW on a screen that big.

 

[Jsnoopy]

I'm sure there will be people lining up the street to fund 3D Realms next game....NOT!

 

[Rigs83]

Sounds like he is suggesting that we buy videogame bonds like when people (actually nameless,unspeakable, shambling corporate evil) buy Municipal Bonds in hopes that the State doesn't go belly up like Iceland and receive in exchange for interest payments and public infrastructure like roads to the governor's brother in law's car dealership.

 

[SaintWaldo]

What he describes is called "capital investment". Most gamers are not in that business. Most gamers seem to prefer to be on the consumer side of investing, not the capital side. The least reason of all, I'm sure, is the lack of a stack of money even remotely describable as "capital". A condition which Gabe seems to have forgotten exists for most of the world not named "Gabe Newell".

Is Gabe trying to invent new ways to wave his wad of cash as a proxy penis, or what? Will his next suggestion be that we should all eat cake? As usual, my advice for him, should he ever slow down to even read it, is to buy another Frappuchino, quit whining, quit blue skying in front of press about BS only he could participate in, and learn to program for the PS3. I'm sure he'll make more money at that than stoking platform wars or showing a total lack of empathy for what everyone else is going through right now.

 

[Low Key]

Call me slow, but I don't get it. Gabe needs to elaborate on what decisions game companies are acting conservatively. Why is $30million not enough to alleviate at least most of the financial burden? I'm always a little skeptical of putting blind faith (and money) into a company when I won't be there on site to make sure my money is spent properly. That's one of the reasons I stopped buying music CDs without first previewing them. I have gotten burned way too many times.

 

[thiosk]

This is the kind of concept that would work great for niche games -- a true sim city 5 (the simcity4 ppl are still making new buildings for the 7 year old game...), for instance, a civilization 5, those games have a devoted (rabid) fan base, but the mass market appeal for such niche games often does not exist. (simcity 4 and civ 4 are both highly successful games, i know)

I would not pay money to assist in the development of a shooter. There are hundreds of shooters to play, why should I care for any one in particular? But little niche games... i want an evil genius sequel too...

I'd pay money for a real sequal to star control 2.

ACTIVISION

SELL THE RIGHTS BACK TO TOYS FOR BOB WTFFFFZ

 

[Tony Harrison]

I suppose a type of pre-pre-order would give them a certain amount of guaranteed return to work with. There are a lot of games that get kicked out the door before their time because the developers don't have the cash to hand.
The sense of entitlement such a scheme would generate would be almost unbearable though.

 

[WingedFortress]

Hmm, I could buy that. One condition. Everybodies "When its done" mentality, better get thrown right out the door. If Im paying for a game to be made(and yes I think we should fund specific projects and not the company in general) I want it worked on like two rat bastards outta hell.

Or else get it from wherever you did before.

 

[13lackfriday]

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I think that's a brilliant idea.
Fans are always complaining about ways their favorite games could have been improved, and given real say in its development would really remedy that.
Of course, there needs to be professional supervision (referring the the veteran dev's and not the publisher killjoys, of course).

Also, paying to help in a game's fruition and getting a free copy to boot sure beats any preorders.

 

[The Random One]

I would most definitively spend a few dollars now rather than a bunch of dollars later.

Even if later it turns out to be a piece of crap. Usually, even if a game is overall bad, I'll still like it if it has an alluring concept. The only way I'd lose would be if the game didn't actually come out (which is possible, after all, and I don't think getting a refund is a possibility...)

The most interest result of such a thing would be that there could be a nice point between the mainstream games and the indie games. It'd still have enough money for it to be a A quality game (modern graphics, tight programming) but it could thread new ground without the weight of investors (or, at any rate, a bazillion¹ investors of a few dollars, who would be a lot less angry if the project failed than a few investors of a bazillion dollars).

¹A bazillion, if you don't know, is a blillion blillions.

 

[scarab7]

Well I'd like to see a list of requirements and entitlements to a person investing. Personally I'd be more convinced to invest if I got to see a pitch. I'm sure there are a lot of games out there that can yield a lot of money if they get created and marketed. It would be great if I could invest money into a game, then on it's release, a copy of it and some of my money back.
If someone worked out the details and contract, I'd happily take a copy of the game for partial payment for my investment

 

[Dahemo]

I would most definitively spend a few dollars now rather than a bunch of dollars later.

Even if later it turns out to be a piece of crap. Usually, even if a game is overall bad, I'll still like it if it has an alluring concept. The only way I'd lose would be if the game didn't actually come out (which is possible, after all, and I don't think getting a refund is a possibility...)

The most interest result of such a thing would be that there could be a nice point between the mainstream games and the indie games. It'd still have enough money for it to be a A quality game (modern graphics, tight programming) but it could thread new ground without the weight of investors (or, at any rate, a bazillion¹ investors of a few dollars, who would be a lot less angry if the project failed than a few investors of a bazillion dollars).

¹A bazillion, if you don't know, is a blillion blillions.

Something tells me it will take more than a few dollars, in essence you're probably paying the cost of the copy (£30-50 in the UK) prior to its existence.

This concept throws up a huge bundle of issues, and unfortunately Newell is a pie-in-the-sky optimist, so it's not wholly thought out. If the game is great, there are no problems, the company got its funding, we got our game, everyone goes home happy. The problems arise when the game is not up to scratch:

-If the game is poor, you've already paid for a game you would never buy normally

-To convince people their game is a safe bet, vast amounts of groundwork will have to be put in on concept art, early screenshots, gameplay demos and videos, it forces every game to be of the highest calibre in all fields, a promise some developers can't make

-Merely by human nature, some will not like the game, and will no longer fund development, and with every future release the pool of willing buyers will decrease.

-What rights does this minor backer get? Any creative input? Will the companies worry on big risky gameplay decisions or put them to public vote; a make you own game en masse?

-If the game is a failure, or delayed, can refunds be expected?

There are too many holes in the idea to be viable, and while a noble concept (which tend to be concepts humans can't fully accomplish, like pure Communism*) it will not work...

* I know someone will call me on this so I'll qualify by saying that in its purest form, Communism is a wonderful idea, everyone shares fully and works as one unit to better the species, but it relies on absolute equality, and no corruption, two things which are impossible in this world.

 

[Knight Templar]

I watched GoodGame!

Anywho, I don't think it is a great idea for places like VALVe who have a loyal fanbase, but it would never be the standard, at least not for a long time.

 

[antipunt]

Gotta trust the company. Gotta -really- trust the company ^_^

 

[Markness]

Snip

Meh, I'm sure the final idea will be more fleshed out and with hopefully address most of your concerns. Gabe seems to be only giving a vague outline of the whole thing.

Also +1 good game, even though it's really lame and I read most of the game news on here a few weeks before good game.

 

[Infiniteloop]

Pay for something we may never get or in the form we want..riiiiiiight.