Kickstarter ‘offers a great feedback mechanism’

Kickstarter provides developers with a great feedback mechanism to judge their product’s audience, says Jason Holtman.

Speaking at Develop in Brighton, Valve’s director of business development said that whilst many people view the popular crowdfunding website as just a source of investment, it is a useful indicator to show whether a developer’s game can be a success.

He added that feedback offered by contributors was also a trustworthy source, as they had put money toward it.

"Finding out what’s good and interesting seems to be the key," said Holtman.

"If you ask people about kickstarter they seem to see it purely as a funding mechanism. The money you make is not enough to make the full product. But it is a great feedback mechanism.

"Even if you had no money and had the hard problem of getting the money the old fashioned way, if you knew you had the interest you would feel much better about it.

"It’s also a feedback group that’s trustable because they’ve put money in it."

MakieLab CEO Alice Taylor said however that whilst Kickstarter was currently a great success, she felt it would dip in popularity over the next few years, with discoverability also becoming an increasingly difficult issue.

"I think Kickstarter is very much a now thing, the peak point was Double Fine," said Taylor.

"I think in a couple of years it is going to get really hard to get noticed there just like anywhere else."