Remember when Kickstarter was a big deal? It was supposed to be the future of video game funding. That’s how it looked back in February 2012 when Double Fine launched their campaign, aptly called Double Fine Adventure. Not long after that, developers were coming out of the woodwork to have their game funded.
But that was years ago. While still producing great games like My Time at Portia and Sundered, there’s no denying Kickstarter has gone drastically downhill.
What Happened?
Ad consultancy group and market analysis firm ICO Partners regularly releases detailed statistics on Kickstarter’s numbers. Their recent charts, released on February 1, show that 2016 and 2017 were the two worst years for video games on Kickstarter in the last six years. There are fewer campaigns, fewer backers, and less money being raised than in previous years.
2012 to 2015 was the golden age of Kickstarter. 2012 saw 293 successful video game campaigns, and in the following three years, that climbed to 436, 421, and 373 successful campaigns. The amount of money raised by these campaigns was incredible – $39 million in 2012, $48.8 million in 2013, only $20 million in 2014, and a bounce back in 2015 with $41 million.
Waste your money on Kickstarter, a real campaign that actually happened.
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