If you are a game developer and you have faith in your idea, Kickstarter may be able to help even more than you think. That’s because crowdfunders are absolutely throwing their money at game projects on the site. Seriously, Kickstarter has been hijacked by gaming enthusiasts.
The company highlights this today in a blog post entitled “The Year of the Game.” Its main point? More money is currently being pledged for gaming projects than any other type of project on the site. In 2012, crowdfunders have pledged over $50 million (and the year is only two-thirds complete). That compares with $42 million spent on film projects, $40 million on design, $25 million on music, and $16 million on Technology.
And it’s not just that Kickstarter users are spending more on games than all of the other categories. It’s also important to note that this is a new trend. There hasn’t been a gradual increase in money spent on game projects over the last few years – it’s been exponential.
In 2009, $48,190 was pledged for games. In 2010, that number climbed to $519,885. In 2011, it increased sizably to $3,615,841.
Now, it stands at the aforementioned $50 million+. Here’s what that looks like on a graph, if you were curious:
And there’s still four months to go in 2012.
Kickstarter says that 23% of all dollars pledged this year are for games. Last year, it was only 3.6%. Seven out of the eleven projects that broke through the $1 million barrier are games. Apparently, the time is now to get your project set up on the site.
Kickstarter points to a game project called Double Fine Adventure as a catalyst for the surge in game-related pledges. That game currently has over 87,000 backers who have pledged over $3.3 million. As you would expect, this kind of success prompted other developers to get to work on Kickstarter.
“Crowd-sourced fundraising sites like Kickstarter have been an incredible boon to the independent development community. They democratize the process by allowing consumers to support the games they want to see developed and give the developers the freedom to experiment, take risks, and design without anyone else compromising their vision. It’s the kind of creative luxury that most major, established studios simply can’t afford. At least, not until now,” says the game’s developers.