The industry is currently plagued by sequelitis along with a pretty bad case of bland me too FPSitis. In large part these terrible afflictions are often caused because of the inability of developers to raise the funding they need to try new ideas and fund new IP's. Often times the pitches of unique games that aren't marine filled first person shooters are shot down without a second thought because the publishers feel that the games won't sell. Tim Schafer asked gamers if they really wanted to see a new adventure game from the people who practically created the genre to put their money where their mouth was and boy did they ever. Is this route viable for future game developers struggling to get a new IP off the ground or for sequels of beloved games that didn't do that well sale wise?
Seeing the success of Double Fine's Kickstarter makes one begin to think of all the games we've heard of that could benefit from the same sort of thing. Beyond Good and Evil and Psychonauts are two games off the top of my head that did well critically, but couldn't make the vast sales of games like Halo. These types of games could use the crowd funding to create sequels to beloved experiences that just wouldn't see the light of day usually because publishers are worried about money making potential. Perhaps games like Last Story, an anticipated RPG that Operation Rainfall wants Nintendo to bring overseas, could use Kickstarter to help fund localization of a title. Brand new development studios could use Kickstarter to fund projects and we could see an explosion of talent we wouldn't through traditional means. Either way Double Fine has obviously brought up many questions as their success has been one of the number one news stories on the net lately.
Sounds like all around it's a fantastic idea. However one can't help but think of the potential downfalls and the tremendous amount of pressure involved. Gamers are notoriously a whiny and self entitled bunch who will nerd rage with the best of them the moment a developer makes a game they feel isn't to the highest standards or if a developer makes some sort of misstep they take offense to. Imagine then how much scrutiny Double Fine's Adventure game will be up against. The pressure to make the game a blockbuster is immense because people will feel even more vested in the title now that they've spent their own money to finance it. If it doesn't deliver it could mean huge backlash against the developer by angry investors.
Maybe that's what developers need though to truly succeed. Knowing your making a game for the fans, funded by the fans, is a prospect that would make one weak in the knees, but could also push a company to put out their best titles. Imagine if you will a future where gamers decide what games get made not publishers. Is that a better future? Surely the publishers are there to make sure that money is made, but conversely if these titles sold as well as FPS games then they wouldn't need this type of funding anyway. A very vocal group online doesn't equal bigger sales across the globe so the real question will be how much the game actually sells once it hits the digital shelves.
Either way I'm excited to play Double Fine's crowd funded project and I wish them nothing but the best. While I'm sure it will be a great title the pressure is on as the eyes of every investor will be closely watching the development of this game. If it succeeds it could open the flood gate for other developers to do the same and perhaps will usher in a golden age of video games. Only time will tell.
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