Is Kickstarter dead? With Ashes of Creation’s incredible success this spring and several other MMO projects still attempting at drawing in that sweet crowdfunding money, it’s hard to say “yes” to that question. Perhaps the better question is whether Kickstarter is entering in a new phase after seeing a large boom and contraction over the past few years.
Eurogamer has an interesting think piece about the use of Kickstarter in an age when some people have become disillusioned with the platform (and early access in general) and others have turned to actual investment platforms like Fig instead. While there were 456 fully funded Kickstarter video game campaigns in 2016, the collective total of $17.7M was less than half of that from the year prior.
Several developers were quoted on the subject, with opinions spread all around the place. The consensus seems to be that while Kickstarter isn’t dead for video game projects, it may be heading into a different kind of era than before.
Kickstarter Head of Games Luke Crane is optimistic about how the scene has changed: “A lot of the shine has worn off, the novelty has gone, but in its place is a community of really dedicated, hardcore fans who are passionate about seeing cool games be made. That’s who’s left on Kickstarter. You might not put up the giant numbers that you were putting up in 2012, 2013, but it’s still possible to make fantastic games.”
