Namco Bandai is going all out with the US and European releases of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The collector’s edition of the game doesn’t give you some namby-pamby soft-cover art book and a tin case for the game that looks funny next to all the other Blu-ray cases on your PlayStation 3 shelf. There’s a mammoth hardcover book and a stuffed animal in addition to the Level 5-developed RPG! That’s quite a package.
Smelling more money in the making though, Namco Bandia has taken a page out of the independent developer’s 2012 handbook and opened a Kickstarter campaign to raise interest and funds for the game. Not a Kickstarter actually. It’s a Ninostarter.
Namco is tallying pre-orders for the “Wizard’s Edition” of the game on the Ninostarter website. When a “goal” number of preorders is reached, it will add new goods to the limited edition package. It’s 35 percent of the way to the first goal marker with just 2463 fans.
This is a pretty novel way to promote a game. Kickstarter’s popularity as a method for funding new video games has proven to publishers this simple truth: People like getting more stuff for their money.
