Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

[LucianoJJ]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?


Kickstarter might be a good way to launch lacrosse or rugby. Licensing would prevent college sports like baseball or hockey from being developed. EA, 2K, and Sony are tough competitors, but we need alternatives for sports gaming.

[Yrogergj24]

Some people I know are using it to raise money for a Godzilla fighting game

[pietasterp]

I'd be willing to kick in for a new College Hoops game, and for a new football game from 2k I'd donate my car...although come to think of it, $40-50 might be a better donation....

I also would love to see more niche games come out...like a home console online-enabled version of "Derby Owner's Club" (weirdo but oddly addictive horse-racing game). For that I'd pay $30-40. But there probably aren't 1000 people in the country who would be willing...

[iLLosophy]

Great article Jayson.

I often thought this myself for sports games not backed by a Major Sports organization (i.e. a NFL 2k13 without the NFL). If any studio with sports programming know-how outside of EA/2K saw how much money people were willing to put into a "no-name" sports game, the hardcore gamers could find something to break the monopoly on Sports video games

[macsomjrr]

I would totally back the following... 1) Mutant League Football, 2) An NFL coach sim that mirrors OOTP or Football Manager, 3) College Basketball 2K. Get on it all you talented computer programmer types!!!!

[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

[TDenverFan]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

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

[bukktown]

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?

[DMil55]

Id donate $100 to see another College Hoops 2K

[mcmax3000]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

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.

[GiantYankee]

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.

[Skurzilla]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

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.

[Skurzilla]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

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

[davefmurray]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

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?

[CoreySmall]

Re: Could Kickstarter Be Used to Fund Niche Sports Games?

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

i am interested in it too