Kickstarter games losing their appeal

2013 was one of the biggest years for video games in the recent decade. Kickstarter, the crowd-sourcing website, had many successful projects that were backed by thousands of users. A wide spectrum of games, ranging from small indie games like Shovel Knight, to big studio releases like Broken Knight , were all completed and received positive criticism. With many good title attributed to it, its a weird phenomenon to think that Kickstarter games are starting to lose their appeal. The proof is in the money, as this article from Gamespot explains.


With over $53 million raised for Kickstarter games last year, and only $15 million raised in the first half of 2014, there is an obvious decrease in popularity for these types of games. The article gives multiple reasons for this steep decline.

"Bidaux theorizes that the decline is in part because all the big name Kickstarter projects were already funded"

This may be true to a certain extent, but doesn't take into account that even small unknowns still get discovered and funded if the idea is creative enough. A prime example of this is Monsters ate my Birthday Cake.

"Bidaux says that some priojects might be going directly to Steam Early Access instead of Kickstarter, which might be better for many developers with playable builds since there's no end date for the funding campaign."

Again, this seems like a plausible reason, but it also misses that Steam Greenlight isn't for funding. it's a voting platform where user's can decide and discuss what type of games they want in the steam store. So, in essence, it's comparing apples and oranges. The final reason the article gave, however, was very intriguing to me.

"Another reason for the decline, Bidaux thinks, is that people are more aware that Kickstarter projects can fail. "

With the high profile failures of games such as Yogsventures, Clang, and dozens of other smaller projects, investors are getting more skeptical of Kickstarter projects. I believe that many people used to have an idealized vision of the Kickstarter mission, which was to help aspiring game developers achieve their dream and receiving compensation in return. With a few sore thumbs in Kickstarter's history, there is a more overall negative perception of the Kickstarter process. Most of that hate is focused on Kickstarter's policy about returning money on failed projects (Hint: they don't), and its understandable. The allure of the Kickstarter campaign has started to wane, and it is no longer the preferred method for marketing. We may instead see the rise of competitors to Kickstarter with better return policies that may restore the confidence of the online community.  

Maiberg, E. (2014, October 5). Funding for Kickstarter Games in 2014 Drops by More Than Half. Retrieved December 12, 2014.