Maybe Crowdfunding Isn’t All Bad

Evan Narcisse over at Kotaku wants to let everyone know that 2014 might be the year to have renewed faith in Kickstarter, or crowdfunding as a whole, again.  Big relief!

You thought this was a game?

With a number of major Kickstarted projects being released in recent weeks, including Broken Age, Banner Saga, and  République, Evan feels that maybe Kickstarter isn’t all one great big scam.  He references some exciting projects due for future release as another reason to not give up on the platform, such as Star Citizen, Project Eternity, Wasteland 2, and Mighty No. 9.  However, Evan says to still tread carefully, referencing notable past failures such as the game with no programmers, and the campaign that had no game to show when asking for money.  I guess the life lesson there is to either :

A : Not be gullible when pledging

B : When going on a limb with a risky project set your expectations appropriately low.

The highlight of the entire article was this response from forum member Danjal87 :

“could be a reason to have some renewed optimism about what Kickstarter can mean for video games” Kotaku

Correction, “Could be a reason to bury your paranoia and contempt for the people that were willing to take a risk where you didn’t…”  Danjal87

Many gaming sites continue to only show excitement for projects from industry vets who raise several hundred thousand dollars, while holding up obviously sketchy projects as cautionary tales.  One day we’ll get to a point where crowdfunding is seen as a tool with risks and rewards for everyone involved that should be used carefully, and whose narrative isn’t written by four or five projects.