4 ms·

Neither of your points address the concern I raised. This is a guy who paid $30M to go in to space for fun. A guy who lives in a castle. If he wants to make

Neither of your points address the concern I raised. This is a guy who paid $30M to go in to space for fun. A guy who lives in a castle. If he wants to make a game, he can. He doesn't need kickstarter at all. He is simply using it to make a game for free, rather than investing in it personally. The idea behind kickstarter was to allow people who couldn't get funding through traditional channels an opportunity to appeal directly to their potential customer base for funding. Not a way to make rich people richer with no risk to themselves.

speeder 14y ago
Note: He did not go to space for fun. He is major shareholder in a couple of space-related business, and he do active science work in space and ice caps. Also he wanted to follow his father footsteps (his father is a astronaut that actually went to space). But yes, he could have paid the game himself...
NoPiece 14y ago
You have a more narrow view of what Kickstarter is than most, and more narrow than Kickstarter itself. All they say about themselves is, "Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects." If you don't like it don't fund it, but if it is any consolation, big projects like this bring a lot more eyeballs and money to Kickstater, and will end up helping smaller projects get funded. I had never funded anything until Doublefine Adventure, but now I found at least one thing a month.
kyrra 14y ago
1) He has been trying to sell a lot of his land and fancy house in Austin for a couple years now [1] [2]. It's hard to say how much he's worth anymore with the money he's spent on other projects. 2) He married an investment banker[3] who I'm sure has a lot more financial sense than he does and doesn't want him throwing his personal money at the game. 3) The company make this game (Portalarium) had some layoffs a few months back[4]. I'm guessing they are trying to get funding to keep the company going as they don't seem to be working under any publisher. 4) Richard Garriott has a following in the gaming industry that he may as well use to keep his project going. Just like he did with Ultima Online back in the day (had to pay to be in the beta as EA didn't want to back his project), he is going to people to help keep the game funded. [1] http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8207-Two-Coves-Dr_Austin_TX_78730_M80342-14958 http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8207-Two-Co... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Manor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Manor [3] http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/ http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/ [4] http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/17/portalarium-hit-with-layoffs/ http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/17/portalarium-hit-with...
gavanwoolery 14y ago
EA acquired Origin for $35,000,000. If I remember correctly, Garriott only walked with $20,000,000 -- before taxes. I think his lawsuit with NC Soft netted him $32 million -- before taxes as well. 52 million taxed is maybe 30 million out the door (very rough estimate here). His space trip cost 30 million alone, nevermind everything else in his life. I would estimate that Garriott probably has a few million dollars in the bank, none of which he should have to risk on a venture that fans are willing to pay for.
- papsosouid 14y ago
  And the millions of dollars he made owning origin while they produced hit games. >none of which he should have to risk on a venture that fans are willing to pay for. I am amazed at the amount of anti-entrepreneur sentiment here on HN of all places. How do people seriously suggest that an entrepreneur should not have to invest anything in their own venture?
  - adventured 14y ago
    You've got it exactly backwards. Your sentiment is anti-entrepreneur, as you're trying to dictate who is or who isn't an entrepreneur by an artificial and entirely subjective $$$ funding basis. There's no set definition of funding requirements to be considered an entrepreneur. Not have to invest anything? Try putting a price on his reputation and time.
    - papsosouid 14y ago
      >as you're trying to dictate who is or who isn't an entrepreneur by an artificial and entirely subjective $$$ funding basis. No I am not. I am saying it is unfortunate that what was a way for small independent projects who could not get funding through normal channels is being taken over by rich people using it as a platform to avoid having to take any risk. >Try putting a price on his reputation and time. The last time he made a game that didn't suck was what, 1992? If the garbage he slapped his name on since then hasn't ruined his reputation what risk does this carry? And he isn't investing his time, he is the name put on the project, he isn't actually sitting down and writing the code.
saraid216 14y ago
> He is simply using it to make a game for free, rather than investing in it personally. It's worth pointing out that he's only asking for 1 million, which is nowhere near enough for the kind of game he's promising. He also says that money has been sunk into production already.
CamperBob2 14y ago
That was pretty much his last $30M, at least at the time.

speeder 14y ago

Note: He did not go to space for fun. He is major shareholder in a couple of space-related business, and he do active science work in space and ice caps. Also he wanted to follow his father footsteps (his father is a astronaut that actually went to space). But yes, he could have paid the game himself...

NoPiece 14y ago

You have a more narrow view of what Kickstarter is than most, and more narrow than Kickstarter itself. All they say about themselves is, "Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects." If you don't like it don't fund it, but if it is any consolation, big projects like this bring a lot more eyeballs and money to Kickstater, and will end up helping smaller projects get funded. I had never funded anything until Doublefine Adventure, but now I found at least one thing a month.

kyrra 14y ago

1) He has been trying to sell a lot of his land and fancy house in Austin for a couple years now [1] [2]. It's hard to say how much he's worth anymore with the money he's spent on other projects. 2) He married an investment banker[3] who I'm sure has a lot more financial sense than he does and doesn't want him throwing his personal money at the game. 3) The company make this game (Portalarium) had some layoffs a few months back[4]. I'm guessing they are trying to get funding to keep the company going as they don't seem to be working under any publisher. 4) Richard Garriott has a following in the gaming industry that he may as well use to keep his project going. Just like he did with Ultima Online back in the day (had to pay to be in the beta as EA didn't want to back his project), he is going to people to help keep the game funded. [1] http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8207-Two-Coves-Dr_Austin_TX_78730_M80342-14958 http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8207-Two-Co... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Manor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Manor [3] http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/ http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/ [4] http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/17/portalarium-hit-with-layoffs/ http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/17/portalarium-hit-with...

gavanwoolery 14y ago

EA acquired Origin for $35,000,000. If I remember correctly, Garriott only walked with $20,000,000 -- before taxes. I think his lawsuit with NC Soft netted him $32 million -- before taxes as well. 52 million taxed is maybe 30 million out the door (very rough estimate here). His space trip cost 30 million alone, nevermind everything else in his life. I would estimate that Garriott probably has a few million dollars in the bank, none of which he should have to risk on a venture that fans are willing to pay for.

papsosouid 14y ago
And the millions of dollars he made owning origin while they produced hit games. >none of which he should have to risk on a venture that fans are willing to pay for. I am amazed at the amount of anti-entrepreneur sentiment here on HN of all places. How do people seriously suggest that an entrepreneur should not have to invest anything in their own venture?
- adventured 14y ago
  You've got it exactly backwards. Your sentiment is anti-entrepreneur, as you're trying to dictate who is or who isn't an entrepreneur by an artificial and entirely subjective $$$ funding basis. There's no set definition of funding requirements to be considered an entrepreneur. Not have to invest anything? Try putting a price on his reputation and time.
  - papsosouid 14y ago
    >as you're trying to dictate who is or who isn't an entrepreneur by an artificial and entirely subjective $$$ funding basis. No I am not. I am saying it is unfortunate that what was a way for small independent projects who could not get funding through normal channels is being taken over by rich people using it as a platform to avoid having to take any risk. >Try putting a price on his reputation and time. The last time he made a game that didn't suck was what, 1992? If the garbage he slapped his name on since then hasn't ruined his reputation what risk does this carry? And he isn't investing his time, he is the name put on the project, he isn't actually sitting down and writing the code.

saraid216 14y ago

> He is simply using it to make a game for free, rather than investing in it personally. It's worth pointing out that he's only asking for 1 million, which is nowhere near enough for the kind of game he's promising. He also says that money has been sunk into production already.

CamperBob2 14y ago

That was pretty much his last $30M, at least at the time.