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Kickstarter video game projects are becoming more and more common, raising critical funds for developers and rewarding eager fans.
are becoming more and more common, raising critical funds for developers and rewarding eager fans. While some indie titles have needed crowdfunding to get off the ground, other large companies have even taken the opportunity to use Kickstarter campaigns as a way of testing the water to see if there’s interest in a title, like with.
Part of what motivates gamers to contribute to these fundraising efforts is the promise of certain rewards, and the understanding that the finished product will be available by a certain date. Unfortunately, not all game developers meet these deadlines, and it would appear that another successful Kickstarter is about to disappoint its backers.
Mighty No. 9 , a spiritual successor to Megaman, used Kickstarter to gather the funds necessary to create the game. The Kickstarter campaign performed incredibly well, accruing over $900,000 in just two days. However, according to information from Gamestop and released by Game Informer, COMCEPT is not meeting the deadline it set for itself for the release of the game.
Retailers recently shifted the release date forto 2016, and Gamestop has confirmed that this placeholder was provided by publisher Deep Silver, suggesting that the game has been quietly delayed. This is the second time the game has been delayed, as Kickstarter backers were originally promised a release window of Spring in 2015, and it was then delayed to September 15, 2015. COMCEPT has has refrained from commenting or confirming this delay, but isn’t debating the new information, either.
Unfortunately for fans, this new delay is more evidence of the problem with crowdfundingbeing used to fund games. While it’s a great way for developers who could otherwise never create their game to raise interest and money in the proposed titles, deadlines often aren’t met, or projects are cancelled altogether. The fund-raising system isn’t perfect for developers, either, as was shown by the Kickstarter effort for the game Dimension Drive . A last-minute backer supplied the 7,000 Eurosnecessary for the game to receive funding, only to revoke their bid at the last possible second, causing the developer to not receive a penny.
Kickstarter and other crowdfunding methods of raising money for video game projects is a great idea, in theory, but with only one-third of fully-funded Kickstarter campaigns delivering a finished product, it’s far from a perfect science. It’s unfortunate that the fans who put the money forward to getmade are probably not going to receive the game this year, especially since the developer has refrained from directly announcing the second delay to its backers.
Mighty No. 9 is estimated to release sometime during 2016 for PS4, Wii U, Xbox One at retail, and digital-only for PC, Ps3, Xbox 360, Mac, and Linux.
Source: Game Informer