Community Financed Games

[YellerDog]

I'm wondering what sort of "trade rule" hurdles this model could trip up on if it becomes successful.

[A Robot Bit Me]

It won't, though.

[kingoffighters]

I doubt this will be successful so don't worry too much about it.

[YellerDog]

Well, yeah. I called that way back at "post #2". But we're past that now. Now is the time for yapping about unlikely outcomes!

[JefmcC]

If they want investors, take the company public via IPO. And when they can't hit milestones and meet investors expectations of a return, I'd like to hear how great of an idea Gabe thinks it is.

"I'd gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today!"

[RoleTroll]

It's a good idea to tie game purchases to shareholding. I remember hearing that Vice President George H.W. Bush would take pictures with potential voters in New Hampshire in 1988. It was called the "picture on the mantle" theory: you'll enjoy having a picture of yourself with the vice president on your mantle, but it's even better to have a picture of yourself with the president so you'll likely vote for him in the primary. If a gamer* has a tiny stake in whether Shoot-Gun-Kill is successful, he'll probably buy the game even if the potential gain is less than the $60 price of the title.

* this does not apply to TNL, where people bitch about risking $20 on GameGO.

[Complex Games]

Hmmm... its interesting and a company like Valve could likely pull it off.

Its already happening amongst some smaller developers. They ask gamers to pay $5-$20 to buy the game in its unfinished state, the gamers get all updates up to its full gold release.

Valve already has millions of people who buy its games and could ask each customer to put up $10 towards a future game that would excite people. A million customers putting up $10 each would give Valve $10 million. It would be cheaper for the Gamer than buying a game that is later released via retail or web.

The net is changing everything, including the old style of game-financing!