One of the most recent controversies is Project Phoenix. Project Phoenix was a huge success on Kickstarter and for very good reason, the talent. The developers for Project Phoenix are well known creators from Final Fantasy including Nobuo Uematsu (composer) and Kiyoshi Arai (artist). Originally looking for $100,000 to help fund the development they shattered the goal by raising over $1,000,000. Well it seems that $1,000,000 was not enough. While all the assets are created and ready the team still has no programmer. What is a game without a programmer? Nothing. Missing the original release date of March 2015, things are looking very grim. The company CIA is still actively looking for a programmer after the programmer they wanted, David Clark of Ori and the Blind Forest, was not able to work with them so the search continues. Much of the funds raised are still available once development moves along.
Mighty No. 9. You had to know this was coming. Started by Keiji Inafune, famed video game producer and infamous illustrator for Mega Man, and his company Comcept. What seemed like a home run turned into a disaster that continues to be delayed for release. Earning $3,845,170 in the allotted Kickstarter time, overall earning $4 million after donations through Pay Pal back in 2013. In 2014 another crowd funding campaign was launched for bonus content including English voice acting. Why do we need to give more money for something that should have been included in the original campaign funding? Internet was flooded with comments regarding Inafune's incompetency with budgeting. Can you blame the internet though? It gets better, months later Comcept took to Kickstarter to ask for additional funding for DLC. We have not even seen the game released! DLC? This has not been a good example of what Kickstarter can do for the video gaming community. Now with Comcept partnering with Deep Silver there will be retail versions of Mighty No. 9 available once it gets released. Which is anyone's guess when that will be. Currently set for Feb. 2016...
Keiji Inafune launches another crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter. This time for a spiritual reboot of Mega Man Legends, named Red Ash. Seems that support was weak. Original goal was $800,000. However, before much can be done to put a dent in the $800,000 Comcept announced that they found a company that wanted to produce the game and so the $800,000 would be used for bonus content to the game. Many backers pulled their pledges and Red Ash fell short of its goal, only earning $518,000 and ultimately failing. People continue to question Keiji Inafune and Comcept. "Why would they not wait until Mighty No. 9 and use some the return from the game to create Red Ash?" Good question!
There have been other games that have failed completely but none of them earning what these games have. As unfortunate as it is for a Kickstarter to meet its funding to only then fail, it should be understood by those backing that they may not have a return on their pledge.
Turning to a more positive note there have been many successful Kickstarters. Most notably in Shovel Knight which has thrived since its release and was the talk of the internet for months. A NES 8-bit inspired game taking obvious notes from Duck Tales, Castlevania and Mega Man. Originally released for Wii U and 3DS, Shovel Knight has now spread across most major platforms. Hoping to see more from Yacht Club Games in the future.
Divinity Original Sin is another very successful Kickstarter. Earning praise as a return to classic PC RPGs of yore. Larian Studios is now working on an enchanced version of the game with release on current consoles and an update for current PC owners. Releasing in a couple weeks. I have not played Divinity Original Sin yet, but plan on picking up a copy for PS4. Larian just had another successful Kickstarter for a second Divinity.
Kickstarter is exciting and it is difficult to not get sucked into the hype when a large project is launched. Understanding that this is not a guarantee for a return on your money is the best way to keep expectations where they belong. But there have been many games that would have never been created if it were not for Kickstarter. Spend wisely!
See my post on Muv-Luv Kickstarter!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment