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The amount of money pledged to video game crowdfunding projects on Kickstarter has more than halved during 2016 – but it’s not all bad news.
Breaking down the platform’s figures so far, Ico Partners’ Thomas Bidaux noted that the first half of this year has seen just $8.2 million raised by backers, compared to the booming $20 million in the second half of 2015 – the first half of 2015 also saw more than $20 million go to video game campaigns.
Bidaux suggested that the absence of money-making blockbuster campaigns earning over $500,000 had led to the dip, following the appearance of major titles such as Shenmue 3 last year.
“It’s obvious that what has been missing in the last six months is a couple of large projects, as all the other tiers have actually raised more money than in either of the two 2015 semesters,” Bidaux observed.
“We are not at the levels of 2014, but it is reassuring to see that despite less money being seen, the amount of funded projects has actually stayed about the same.”
He added that there had also been a reduction in the number of projects amassing under $10,000, while the majority of price tiers had remained consistently successful.
“As fewer projects were put on the platform, but a similar number of them got funded, we can see that the ratio of successfully funded projects has increased,” Bidaux continued.
“The same happened with “junk” projects (projects with $0 pledged to them), possibly indicating the notion that Kickstarter projects are not easy to get funded is sinking in to the larger audience.”
Bidaux offer his advice on crowdfunding alongside Playtonic’s Andy Robinson and Revolution’s Charles Cecile at this year’s Interface – catch up on their top tips here.
