Crowdfunding, also known as collective funding, is a fairly new phenomenon. As the name suggests, it indicates using the power of the collective to gather funds online for a worthy cause or a project.
Now, who decides whether it a worthy cause? Of course, the discerning audience makes the ultimate decision of injecting money and popularity in a seemingly unknown business. Various crowdfunding sites in the market are vying for attentionthese days and Kickstarter is one such crowdfunding platform that promises the moon and stars to the audience. Incepted in 2009 and still going strong, it recently completed a decade of successful existence.
Online Gaming Companies Gaining Momentum
Kickstarter’s Starry Eyed Performer: Star Citizen
Some of the unknown businesses rather gaming businesses recently made a fortunethrough the Kickstarter crowdfunding online campaigns. Cloud Emporium Games, an international independent game company, launched an initial campaignnamed Star Citizen on Kickstarter in 2012. It is touted to be an epic space adventure game. This campaign instantly brought in USD 2.1 million funding for the founders from approximately 34,000 supporters according to a study conducted by Betway. The original target request amount was four times less than what was received. Seven years post the original campaign date; the online community is still contributing even when the expiry date has been postponed several times. The extra money is being utilized for improving the game’selements, which includes developing imaginary in-game languages.
The Star Citizen campaign has Wired magazine’s Vapourware award to its creditfor having nothing substantial to show after a lot of pomp and show. Although the Star Citizen game is yet to be materialised, it showcases a thrill and charm for online games among the millennials who are willing to spend money even though there are no results in sight. Patience will definitely bear fruit in the end. Its time to wait and watch!
Game with Most Supporters: Exploding Kittens
Another Kickstarter gaming campaign, Exploding Kittens, gained popularity for attracting the most number of promoters for a single campaign. In theory and on paper, the campaign drew nearly USD 8.8 million with the extraordinary support of approximately 219,000 patrons. Exploding Kittens is a card game co-created by game designer Elan Lee, cartoonist Matthew Inman and Shane Small. The campaign originally set out to collect USD 10,000 and achieved its target in merely a day.
Exploding Kittens campaign was done deftly wherein the additional funds were pumped in to further engage the supporter community. Some of the patrons were funnily involved in the game and were made to do juvenile tasks such as posting a photo of 10 individuals wearing cat ears, in exchange of prizes like a limited-edition box of the game that “meowed” when opened. The creators also invited ideas and suggestions from the backers for the improving the game.
The gaming community is growing in a big way. Seemingly innocuous ideas, games, and campaigns gain popularity and even funds at the blink of an eye. It’s about time to put on your gaming hats and think of a clever game to entice the audience and make some money.
