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Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

04:04 PM - March 20, 2012 by RaychelSnr

Tim Schafer's Double Fine Production team (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend) wanted to make a new point-and-click adventure game.

Knowing that major game publishers would be hesitant to fund a new release in what's considered a "dated," arguably "dead" genre, Double Fine turned to its fans to subsidize some of their development costs.

Enter Kickstarter, "The world's largest funding program for creative projects." Kickstarter allows game developers to pitch an idea, set a fundraising goal for how much money it will take to get the project released, then see if fans on the Internet are willing to donate money to get the game launched.

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Member Comments

# 21 TDenverFan @ 03/26/12 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TDenverFan


	I bet you could get a part of the game funded. Problem is, some games can take millions. Still, using NBA 12 technology, all 2K would need is updated teams/stadiums, which wouldn't be too costly. I'd donate whatever amount is a pre-order of the game, up to $60

I take this back. DOuble Fine is at 3.3 million. I thin CHoops could
1) Pass That
2) Be made for little more than that

# 22 bukktown @ 03/26/12 10:46 PM

The elephant in the room is licensing and how to work around it. The rhinoceros in the room is online and recurring costs to keep online servers running. Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?

# 23 DMil55 @ 03/28/12 01:01 AM

Id donate $100 to see another College Hoops 2K

# 24 mcmax3000 @ 03/28/12 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TDenverFan


	I take this back. DOuble Fine is at 3.3 million. I thin CHoops could 1) Pass That 2) Be made for little more than that

I honestly don't believe either of those things to be true.

1) My Google research tells me that College Hoops 2K8 did about 26,000 sales in its first week on Xbox 360. Lets estimate that PS3 sales bumped it up to 40,000 (which given the disparity between 360 & PS3 install bases in fall of 2007 is probably a pretty generous estimate).

You would need each of those people who bought it in the first week to donate $82.50, just to match what Double Fine raised, never mind exceeding it.

I don't see that happening, especially when you consider that of Double Fine's 87,142 backers, 72,528 of them donated less than $60.

(Unfortunately without relying on the never accurate VGChartz, I couldn't find any total to date sales data for each platform to give a better estimate for my calculation above)

2) While I'm sure if they based it on the current NBA 2K engine, the project wouldn't be terribly expensive, when you add in licensing & distribution costs, I think it would definitely be quite a bit more than that to develop, with next to no return at the end because to raise that much money, they'd pretty much need every person in their potential audience to have donated and I'm sure those people aren't going to donate if they're not going to get a copy of the game when it is finished.

# 25 GiantYankee @ 04/03/12 09:43 PM

I would probably pay $100 for a highly customizable College BasketBall or Football Game. I'd pay $60 for a football text sim on the level of OOTP series.

# 26 Skurzilla @ 04/17/12 01:02 PM

I definitely think that Kickstarter can be used to fund niche sports games. Obviously, it will be easy for the dungeons and dragons crowd to get funded, but there have been several sports project on Kickstarter recently.

# 27 Skurzilla @ 04/17/12 01:04 PM

You might be interested in our Kickstarter project Touchdown Wars. It is a Sim, like you mentioned.

# 28 davefmurray @ 04/18/12 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skurzilla


	I definitely think that Kickstarter can be used to fund niche sports games. Obviously, it will be easy for the dungeons and dragons crowd to get funded, but there have been several sports project on Kickstarter recently.

How is it "obviously" easy for D&D crowds to get funded?
What other recent sports projects have been successful?

# 29 CoreySmall @ 04/19/12 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skurzilla


	You might be interested in our Kickstarter project Touchdown Wars. It is a Sim, like you mentioned.

i am interested in it too

# 30 Juce734 @ 09/20/12 03:44 PM

I'd help fund an original Sierra Front Page Sports Football Pro type of game. I played the 93 version until I was 10 and it is what got me into franchise mode. Loved that game and how customizable it was.

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Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?