Without Kickstarter, some great games of the past few years likely would have never come out. That said, it isn’t the perfect platform for funding a game. Former Double Fine COO Justin Bailey should know, as the company has funded games via Kickstarter, most notably the point-and-click adventure Broken Age.
Bailey is now the CEO of a brand new crowdfunding platform called Fig, which aims to treat backers’ contribution as actual investments, instead of simply donations with a vague promise of rewards. Tim Schafer, Feargus Urquhart, and Brian Fargo — CEOs of Double Fine, Obsidian Entertainment, and inXile Entertainment — are among those on Fig’s advisory board, GameInformer reports.
“By launching a Fig campaign, game studios can combine these two powerful methods of raising funds while retaining creative control and offering fans new ways to get involved,” Fig’s website reads. ”By supporting a campaign, fans journey with each studio as they go from development to launch (and beyond), all while gaining real insights and transparency into the business of making games.”
In addition to giving fans a better look at a game’s development, Fig also allows backers to become actual investors. Lower tiers are similar to Kickstarter, but SEC-accredited investors who contribute over a certain amount get a cut of that game’s revenue on certain platforms. Eventually, Fig plans to allow nonaccredited individuals to invest as well.
Fig is kicking off by hosting a campaign for space exploration game Outer Wilds. The game is already well into its development cycle, but developer Mobius Digital is looking for $150,000 to finish the game. The campaign only launched yesterday, but has already pulled in over $60,000 at the time of this writing.
Described as “Majora’s Mask meets Apollo 13” on Fig, Outer Wilds combines space flight with planet exploration. Though the campaign is similar to Kickstarter, those who contribute over $20 can leave a comment for the developers. Those who contribute over $1,000 to the game’s campaign and accredited are counted as investors, and so far $34,000 of the game’s funding has been raised by investors, so there is clearly interest in Fig.
More campaigns are already planned for 2015, and Double Fine, Obsidian, and inXile all plan to use Fig for future crowdfunding efforts. For more information on Fig or Outer Wilds, see the website.