Blackwake’s ‘No-Update’ Sets The Example For All Updates

I think Blackwake is a great example of a Kickstarter done right. Blackwake’s developers are skipping this month’s update as they baton down the hatches and focus on getting the Alpha build ready. That may not sound great, but hear me out. Blackwake was funded back in September 2015 and in the short time since then the team has kept backers up to date with regular and thorough updates about progress. The last update I covered was simply huge involving added weapons and ship paint and all kinds of things. This month, even though they are skipping the usual beefy update, they still took the time to tell their backers why there would be no update, and I respect that a lot.

Last month’s update brought in a ton of great stuff.

I think a lot of us will agree that Kickstarter updates are a very important part of the process. Part of the thrill of backing games on the platform is seeing how they unfold. If a developer fails to deliver I’m not usually angry if they kept everyone updated on a regular basis. The Blackwake team really seem to understand what is important about updates. Over the years I have seen a number of Kickstarters take their updates off of the platform, some even going as far as forcing backers to subscribe to their newsletters to see updates. While I have no problem with there being updates elsewhere, developers should always keep a log on their Kickstarter page as well.

I don’t think a lot of developers think about the fact that their project is not their backers priority. To a developer, the project may be their whole world, but to the average serial backer it’s just something they liked and not of monumental importance. Blackwake has it’s own website and development blog not to mention a subReddit where questions about the game are answered. Despite being spread across multiple platforms, the team have still made the extra effort to compile their updates on to the Kickstarter page. More developers should use Blackwake as a guide on how to update backers. So, Blackwake developers, thank you for this month’s update on no updates and keep up the good work!

But what do you think? Is an update on no updates unnecessary? Are you bothered by having to go to individual Kickstarter’s websites? Comment down below and let me know!