Crowdfunded game developer bows to FTC pressure

Don’t look now, but the federal government is riding to rescue people who willingly donated their money to a Kickstarter campaign. In its “first case involving crowdfunding,” the Federal Trade Commission has taken legal action against a would-be board game producer who allegedly bilked backers out of more than $122,000.

Developer Erik Chevalier announced the cancellation of his The Doom That Came to Atlantic City project and promised to refund backer funding. Instead, he purportedly “spent most of the money on unrelated personal expenses such as rent, moving himself to Oregon, personal equipment, and licenses for a different project,” according to the FTC.