Kickstarter MMOs

Razeekster

I've been thinking for a bit about how I haven't quite seen a "succesful" Kickstarter MMO yet. There have been a couple done but not (at least in my eyes) succesfully. It makes me wonder if Kickstarter is a viable option for MMOs or if we just have yet to see an MMO come from it that does catch player's eyes. I'm thinking that games such as Star Citizen and Pathfinder Online will maybe be the ones that show the community that it is possible to make a great MMO from Kicktstartrer's funding, but if these two don't live up to the hype then I'm sure a large base of the community will begin to doubt Kickstarter's usefullness in the MMO department.

maskedweasel

Originally posted by Razeekster
I've been thinking for a bit about how I haven't quite seen a "succesful" Kickstarter MMO yet. There have been a couple done but not (at least in my eyes) succesfully. It makes me wonder if Kickstarter is a viable option for MMOs or if we just have yet to see an MMO come from it that does catch player's eyes. I'm thinking that games such as Star Citizen and Pathfinder Online will maybe be the ones that show the community that it is possible to make a great MMO from Kicktstartrer's funding, but if these two don't live up to the hype then I'm sure a large base of the community will begin to doubt Kickstarter's usefullness in the MMO department.

Kickstarter is a viable option for any product,  but that doesn't mean that every product that uses Kickstarter will be viable.  It isn't Kickstarters fault for an MMO project to be unsuccessful,  it is up to the companies that utilize it.

 

Which is, essentially why  "investor beware" is something people should take into account on any crowdfunding or peer to peer investing site.  

 

People continue to flock to Kickstarter because of the opporunity to create their projects,  and Gamers will step up to fund these projects as long as they are drawn to the prospect of better entertainment.

KenFisher

I doubt its usefullness already, except where a team exists and a game exists, but they would be better off if they had a bit more money to polish it up and bring it to release.

 

It's not that I fault the teams.  Even AAA devs with funding can't pull off a strong hit in today's market.

 

It's just a risky proposition to build an MMORPG these days.

darkkblack

Originally posted by XAPGames

I doubt its usefullness already, except where a team exists and a game exists, but they would be better off if they had a bit more money to polish it up and bring it to release.

 

It's not that I fault the teams.  Even AAA devs with funding can't pull off a strong hit in today's market.

 

It's just a risky proposition to build an MMORPG these days.

Very well put. From reading these threads on the forums I am amazed at how players take gaming so seriously. You have done your home work. U are not just loading up and hitting start anymore u are more involved and opinionated about what you want from the games you play. 

Razeekster

I think also after projects like Xyson it's a bit harder to take developers as seriously.

ezpz77

Kickstarter is for starry-eyed dreamers and people that value an idea more than money.

ezpz77

Originally posted by Robokapp

Originally posted by ezpz77
Kickstarter is for starry-eyed dreamers and people that value an idea more than money.

sounds like that one guy with the steam engine.

 

it's very posible that out of 1000 pieces of crap, one will be brilliant, maybe not even a full MMO but a feature that others will then incorporate.

 

let the dreamers dream. if there's something there to capitalize on, someone WILL pick it up. Then sell it to EA.

 

nvm...burn it all.

 

It's possible, but very unlikely. Kickstarter is best used for smaller game ideas IMO. MMO's are just way too big to use crowdfunding. I'd say it's very possible that we'll see a successful MMO with an extremely limited scope come out of Kickstarter.

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Quizzical

I see Kickstarter for MMORPGs as a last-gasp attempt at getting funding if you can't get it in any other way.

On the bright side, it does get some people invested in your game.  Someone who donates $50 to your Kickstarter is probably going to check out your game and will be predisposed to like it.

But even if you deliver exactly what you promised on time and on budget--which is very, very hard for even a very good development team to do--there will be people who cry fraud because the way you filled in the details doesn't match what they expected in their head.  And if you run into delays or go over budget?  Will people who paid you two years ago really be so understanding?

And what happens if you run out of money with a promising game 90% done?  Do you shove it out the door when it's obviously not ready?  We've seen how that ends, and it's not well.  Ideally, you'd like to be able to go back to whoever funded your project in the first place and try to convince them that giving you a little bit more money will give them a much better return on their investment.  But how do you do that with Kickstarter?  Run yet another Kickstarter campaign and try to convince people who paid you money last time to give you more even though you haven't delivered yet?

maskedweasel

Originally posted by Quizzical

I see Kickstarter for MMORPGs as a last-gasp attempt at getting funding if you can't get it in any other way.

On the bright side, it does get some people invested in your game.  Someone who donates $50 to your Kickstarter is probably going to check out your game and will be predisposed to like it.

But even if you deliver exactly what you promised on time and on budget--which is very, very hard for even a very good development team to do--there will be people who cry fraud because the way you filled in the details doesn't match what they expected in their head.  And if you run into delays or go over budget?  Will people who paid you two years ago really be so understanding?

And what happens if you run out of money with a promising game 90% done?  Do you shove it out the door when it's obviously not ready?  We've seen how that ends, and it's not well.  Ideally, you'd like to be able to go back to whoever funded your project in the first place and try to convince them that giving you a little bit more money will give them a much better return on their investment.  But how do you do that with Kickstarter?  Run yet another Kickstarter campaign and try to convince people who paid you money last time to give you more even though you haven't delivered yet?

I think it really would depend on what stage of development the game was in.  At 90% done, you'd be more apt to find some way to get a publisher, or additional investment.   This is one reason why I backed Pathfinder -- they are using Unity,  so selling off items in their assett store after however many months/years in development could fund additional development.  Coincidentally, buying assets from the store could also decrease costs in making the game as well, (and if one of my assets somehow gets purchased, maybe I'll make my money back anyways  )   

 

Ultimately, when it comes to kickstarters, you have to balance risk vs reward,  and only the person "investing" can determine if the return is worth the cost (and risk).  

 

Nobody said it will be easy, because putting out any modern game that isn't stolen from another company isn't easy, but just because a successful game hasn't been created this way yet, doesn't mean there won't be successful games to come.