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Double Fine Raises $700,000 In 24 Hours With Crowdfunding
redletterdave writes "San Francisco-based game developer Double Fine took to Kickstarter to fund its next game project, and so far, the studio has enjoyed unprecedented success through crowdsourcing. The project, which was announced by the studio's founder Tim Schafer on Wednesday night, has already raised more than $700,000 in less than 24 hours. The funding frenzy has set new Kickstarter records for most funds raised in the first 24 hours, and highest number of backers of all-time, though both of those numbers are still growing. Schafer says he will build a 'classic point-and-click adventure game' in a six-to-eight month time frame, and will document the entire production process for fans to observe and give input on the game's development, which 'will actually affect the direction the game takes.'"
Oh my god, I can't believe it!
Excuse the sarcasm, but it has been obvious for a decade that publishers and traditional investment firms into game development have been a defunct and dying breed, it has just taken forever for any real game studios to take the risk to stop getting fucked (losing the copyright to their own media, sharing most of the sales, having no rights to distribution or advertising) to get funding and publicity.
Schafer says he will build a 'classic point-and-click adventure game' in a six-to-eight month time frame, and will document the entire production process for fans to observe and give input on the game's development, which 'will actually affect the direction the game takes.'"
So basically they've made a slow online social interaction game, about making a game.
Down the rabbit hole we go! Fun!
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Fuck yeah!
Btw, to those who don't know who Tim Schafer is, he was the Lead Designer on Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. Ron Gilbert, who is also on the team, is the guy who designed Monkey Island. This is the stuff of legends, people. I never thought this could ever happen.. Kickstarter really works!
Keep in mind that this is Double Fine.
Its current backer pledging rate of about $1,000/minute (yes, I'm serious) is not the norm. Check out other game projects at KickStarter. Most don't even make it to their funding goal when their funding goal is $4,000 - let alone the $400,000 that Double Fine had set.
Double Fine, however, is well-known in the gaming community. As are some of the names that attached themselves to this project. This in term allows them to leverage their existing social networks (followers on twitter, friends at facebook), their industry contacts, and get noticed by other sites (such as Slashdot) more easily.
Compare this, if you will, to the Humble Bundle. Yes, games within the Humble Bundle generally do quite well. But do they do quite well because of the game, or because of the Humble Bundle association?
That said, this is still very cool, and I would be very surprised if this project didn't top the #1 slot for most funded, most over-funded (absolute and percentage-wise), fastest to reach funding goal, highest funding rate and more at KickStarter. In fact, I'm sure KickStarter staff did a double-take at suddenly gaining hundreds of new accounts, about 130 per minute in the last hour, backing this project alone.
They are still taking money.
I would have donated, but Windows only is a no go. I would have even accepted ps3 as an option.
Ron is with Tim Schafer for this project! Thats the best ting on this story! Like most here I literally grew up with Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island and so I am totally looking forward to this game, whatever it might be! Best thing what they should do with the money is buying the Monkey Island franchise from LA... and maybe get Steve Purcell in the boat too!
There's still a possibility:
Q: What happens if you go over the goal?
A: The extra money will be put back into the game and documentary. This could result in anything from increased VO and music budgets to additional release platforms for the game.
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Actually, they stated that the extra money would be put to distribute the game on more platforms, so here's your chance to speak with your money :)
Game publishers the world over probably just thought to themselves, "Oh crap." Publishers of any medium are less needed every day, and I think a lot more people just realized it. Why even bother, if you're a big enough name, to try to get funding from a publisher when you can cut out the middle man?
Are there any plan to release the game for free or even under CC licence if some threshold of money is reached? That would be really cool!
Kickstarter is the new patronage , seriously: what was old is new again. I'd like to be a "patron of the games" please!
Shh.
you know, from fred ford and paul reiche. the people who made star control 2. (known as ur quan masters now).
a sequal to it would be great. ...........
a sequal to star control 2 i mean. NOT to star control 3. i consider it 'another game'.
Read radical news here
And speak with more than just your money; they're giving you a direct opportunity to speak with your, er, online voice! Sure, you'll be one of 21004 (at this moment) people, but they're aware that a multi-platform release is something people are interested in already. Additional voices claiming support for it might prompt them to devote additional resources towards it.
This is great for Double fine. I don't see why they've gotten such a brisk response. It's worse than a Gamestop preorder. Give over your money now, for maybe a game in a year. Oh you can watch us make it and join our forums. The game target selling price, not mentioned. Topic: adventures game that's it . I don't see any more detail on the website.. Not even a commitment to not use onerous DRM. This isn't some tiny scrappy Indie, it's a house with AAA titles under it's belt. I like adventure games too but I'll just buy if it gets made and if it's good. To me this is giving charity money to a for profit entity, and there's lots of causes more worthy than the charity home for widows and adventure games.
For those who cannot be bothered to actually rtfa:
The actual kickstarter page
I have to say, this strikes me as a damn fine idea. Even if people do not participate in the kickstarter itself the game will still be on sale on Steam once completed, and with a large marketing headstart. win-win.
It isn't an investment in the shares and/or dividends, you are simply pledging some money up-front in order to support the game being made. What you get, other than the game being made and you getting a copy (probably) cheaper than the price it will be release to the rest of the world at, is clearly documented on the page.
If I am going to invest into an idea, it will be for equity in that idea, not a free ride for someone else to possibly make millions..
Agreed. If you have enough money to invest then that is the correct route to take.
But this model is more for people who just want to toss $1-$20 at something and you'll probably not bother getting your lawyer involved.
It's not an investment, it's patronage of the arts. It's a very old way of raising funds, but in the old days, funding arts was an ostentation. "Oh look at me, I funded an opera!" Also, there were such things as "subscriber lists" for books in days gone by. For things that were a bit "niche", a group would have a whipround to fund someone to put it together -- they were the "subscribers" and they'd all get listed inside the book. People did this because the books supported a cause that was close to their heart. Many books of Scottish Gaelic poetry were funded this way. Local history societies would do similar things to fund the publishing of books from their area.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
The kickstarter project says their goal was $400,000 ($300,000 for the game and $100,000 for the video documentary). I looked at the kickstarter page and saw a picture of the Double Fine team. There were 47 people in the picture. I have to ask - how do you pay 47 people with a budget of $300,000? I realize they're around $900,000 right now, but that's still only $19,000 per person, which would only get you a few months work. How are these numbers realistic? Or am I looking at it the wrong way -- should I (and everybody else on this thread) look at the kickstarter money not as funding the game's development, but as a way to create the startup funds for the game, afterwhich they'll be looking for lots of investors?
It's just a matter of trust. If you want a great reward, you must first take great risk. Even if I didn't make any money off of it, a new unique game released would be reward enough for me.
In this instance that would be true, as each person contributing to the project would not be expected to create a line of communication with ever other participant who had already contributed. In the traditional mythical-man-month model, every added developer was assumed to have to establish a line of communication with all existing developers...make growth exponential.
I was making a correlation that wasn't 100% the same, but the article does say, "...the communication wont be a one-way street." I am sure you can see that just reading the postings and giving minimal feedback from the 18,000 contributing participants can be a full time job for several people, which will effect project planning as those ideas will need to be evaluated and assessed (and corresponded with?) in order to stay true to the projects goals. While the structure and organization of the communication is indeed different from the mythical-man-month, I think that, similarly, overall communication will be the defining challenge in this projects ability to succeed. It will be an interesting project to watch evolve.
"There ought to be limits to freedom." -George W. Bush
You get a "free" copy if donate $15+.
This is how it works. A relatively small portion of the population donates money to some "artists". They create something new which also creates jobs for those artists. So now the economy has a few more jobs. Those artists spend more money, which creates more jobs. But now we not only have more jobs, but we also have new "art".
Society is now better off because it has more art. That art sells, which in-turn brings in even more money to the artists, which creates more jobs.
The more money moves, the more value it has. Those people donating are getting something back, they are getting a stronger economy and more art.
You have to look beyond your nose to see the true value.