3 ms·
I'd argue this is premature celebration. Crowdfunding seemed like a great solution to the publisher funding model, and it has proven to be a great gain for con
by potatolicious 12y ago
I'd argue this is premature celebration.
Crowdfunding seemed like a great solution to the publisher funding model, and it has proven to be a great gain for consumers in some exceptional cases (see: Prison Architect, Kerbal Space Program, Planet Annihilation, etc).
But it's also rightly lost a great deal of consumer confidence now that we're seeing a lot of crowdfunded games burn out, crash, or just plain fail to ship anything resembling the original promise (see: Takedown, H1Z1). The problem is substantial enough that Valve has basically disclaimed their responsibility if an Early Access game just absconds with your money.
IMO the next year or two is going to be critical for crowdfunding. The whole concept launched with great consumer enthusiasm, but that's fading now that the high-profile failures and scams are emerging.
- jerf 12y agoAre we heading into the Trough of Disillusionment [1]? Sure. Is crowdfunding going to generally succeed in more-or-less the way I outlined? Yes. Even if Kickstarter totally fails, something else will tweak the model until it succeeds. It's just a straight-up simple disintermediation-and-aggregation play; it's virtually impossible that there exist no viable solutions in this space. Plus it's not the only thing; the more people who start with crowdfunding, the more little companies and groups there are to join if you're not quite ready to take the full risk yourself. And while the Hype Cycle is leading people to Crowd Fund All The Things! right now I fully expect crowdfunding to more frequently be used merely to bootstrap things, or for focused, specific reasons, rather than for everything. The explosion has only begun. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle