Kickstarter: Could it throw publishers out of the loop?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WelcomeToNewReno
  • Start date Start date
W

WelcomeToNewReno

Guest
After seeing the success of Wasteland 2 and Double Fine's game, I've been thinking. Could this finally get rid of publishers as we know them?

Lately, when we think of publishers, we think of those money grubbing ass hats who give as little as they can to devs while expecting the highest quality. Obviously, not all publishers are like that, but it seems more and more like that with each passing day.

Now here's where Kickstarter comes in. When you can give a dev $15 and get a copy of a high quality game, people will jump at it, if big names are attached. And the prizes you get for donating more and more money are also a nice incentive.

With Kickstarter devs offering more than publishers can, it makes me wonder. Will publishers have to change their ways? When you can go have people throw money at you with no limit, there's little incentive to go to a publisher. So I believe that publisher will have to start treating devs MUCH better, or they risk losing everything.
 
I don't think so.

Big Publishers are still successful, I think this is just a good source for smaller projects that would normally get lost amongst the sea of AAA-budget titles.

Maybe revitalize some ignored genres and titles, but that's pretty much the extent of it.
 
generalissimofurioso said:
I don't think so.

Big Publishers are still successful, I think this is just a good source for smaller projects that would normally get lost amongst the sea of AAA-budget titles.

Maybe revitalize some ignored genres and titles, but that's pretty much the extent of it.
Click to expand...
This. There will always be audiences for $50million call of duties just as there will always be an audience for oldschool/niche genres like point&click and turn-based rpgs. If anything, I think kickstarter is opening up a new kind of game development that will exist alongside the publisher route
 
The real test is not doublefine or wasteland 2, it when people ask for $20,000 and deliver a product.
 
The answer to the title is no. My hope is that it's the start of a return of mid-sized developers, as Fargo keeps saying, which have been dying left and right during this generation due to the very high (and rising) costs of development.
 
Well, we will have to wait to see how successful each title is. If the games do really well at market, knowing how greedy these pigs are, they will feel left out of a lucrative opportunity. And I'll be glad.

Wasteland 2 should have a town of pig people in suits and tie and we get to battle them but every round our bank account depletes.
 
You do realize that without these "money-grubbing pigs" a vast majority of games commonly considered to be classics (eg. Fallout) would have never been made?
 
I think that there is a difference between raising $2 million and raising $50 million that can't be bridged by Kickstarter.
 
Like many others here said before me I see this kind of fund raising as a good way for small and medium developers who seek to get financing for titles that are a niche genre, or just don't have the appeal to attract the majority of gamers because of their design.

It may change the games market partly but won't affect the major publishers and developers in large way.
Don't forget that their products appeal to a very large group of gamers who don't mind that games are less 'hardcore'.

But now gamers such as us who also want games to suit specific tastes also have a voice.

I do hope that more smaller developers will take the opportunity to involve gamers more with their products.
 
kick starter is a great opportunity. If it helps to build some serious competition - that can be only a good thing for gamers.

The chance to see niche titles become more popular and have some effect on bigger titles is much higher. That is if that kick starter idea will show to be successful in the future. Might happen that AAA titles will go for more quality in their gameplay and story. Who knows.

But I would not want them to disappear completely. Just because you enjoy high quality food does not mean fast food becomes obsolete. Everything should have its place somewhere when it comes to entertainment. The issue is only if there is no room for the "quality" to speak so. And that is what happened in the last few years. Hence why I think the kick starter idea is a great thing.

There is a need for big companies with huge games offering you great visuals and simple entertainment but at the same time there should be enough room for experiments and projects that do not have a focus on visuals of the next generation or to impress the masses. It works for movies very well. I don't see why it cant work with games as well.
 
Very doubful. Yeah, getting 1-3 millions from dedicated fans is one thing, but funding huge project costing dozens, if not hundreds of millions is another thing entirely. it will probably create a new, relatively niche market, which really good, but big producers will certainly keep existing. They make the big-budget, blockbuster games possible, and those are a large share of the market.
 
Kotaku just did a similar topic.
and Obsidian is the subject of the news.

Kotaku.com said:
One thing is certain, the Kickstarter phenomenon is only just getting started. When Double Fine rocketed to success, there is no doubt that every third-party developer perked up and wondered, "what if?" Could Obsidian's rumored disconnect with Microsoft be the result of the developer publicly wondering "what if" themselves?

We knew it would change the landscape, and the story is still developing. You can be sure that we're keeping a close eye on how the industry dynamics are shifting in response.
Click to expand...

With Kickstarter, I would say it is a drastic way for game-developer to make their games now.
 
I dunno. The Kotaku article is quite full with... guessing and no facts. It's pure speculation and I wouldn't take it serious.



But while we are at it, The Banner Saga is on Kickstarter now too. I probably will give some dollars for it too, but not before next month.
 
And looks like The Banner Saga just got funded.

Kilus said:
The real test is not doublefine or wasteland 2, it when people ask for $20,000 and deliver a product.
Click to expand...

How about The Banner Saga's rather modest $100k goal? No product yet, of course, but after Schafer and Fargo, it shows that you can get funding this way even without a big-name auteur.
 
I'm probably going to kick in to Banner Saga before the end of it, I also kicked in to this project, which asked for $10k and is over 100 now.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light

"FTL, Faster than Light, is a game coming to Windows, Mac & Linux made by Justin Ma and Matthew Davis. It features a blend of exploration, discovery, ship management and real time strategic combat that creates an experience quite unlike other games in its genre."
 
Like others have already say, This wont throw publishers out of the loop, but it will mean the resurrection of "forgotten" genres of games that we would be unable to play anymore.
 
If kickstarter where a threat to the publishers they would have crushed it like megaupload was crushed
 
That "Banner Saga" looks very cool and I've kicked in.

I still stand by my original post that Kickstarter won't completely toss out big publishers it will sure allow indie gamer makers to get levels of funding that they probably couldn't of in the past.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top