Crowdfunding Cautionary: Game Developer Raises $37K on Kickstarter... But Ends Up With Just $6K to Develop Game

Crowdfunding games is easily this year's most exciting trend in game development, but it comes with risks that new developers especially need to be aware of before going in. Case in point: Star Command, a very cool looking sci-fi sim project which raised nearly $37K in pledges on Kickstarter, which was nearly twice as much as their $20K goal. But as the developers explain to their funders, they then had to spend about $10K on pledge rewards, which included printing up this cool T-shirt, not to mention shipping costs "(thanks Australia)". Other upfront costs popped up:

• Music - $6,000
• Attorneys, startup fees, CPA - $4000
• Poster art - $2000
• iPads - $1000
• PAX East [game conference]- $3000

So after all these expenses, the developers were left with just $6000 to spend on actually developing the game. In retrospect, they would have done their rewards differently (I'd suggest not giving away a lot of physical items that require shipping) and not hired lawyers (which I don't quite agree with, you do want a lawyer involved). None of which is to say crowdfunding is a bad idea, just that it needs careful cost management and planning. In fact, maybe this is the solution: A Kickstarter to pay game producers to help Kickstarter game developers to better manage their Kickstarter money.

Link via Reddit/gaming.

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Comments

[Sasy Scarborough]

what is with the Thanks Australia comment? so it is ok to send money from here, but we suck postage wise, really? that was just rude.

[Hamlet Au]

I think they just mean they hadn't anticipated the shipping costs to Australia would be so high. They are pretty steep. I once sent a book to Oz from SF, and the costs were about as much as the actual book.

[Sasy Scarborough]

It is a real shame though that they said it that way, seeing as they asked for people to include 15USD extra if living outside of the US and Canada.
That it cost more than that they should have looked into it prior. Yes it costs a lot, and it is a shame, but it is a lot of work to get things down here.

[allfrgog]

plus attorney fees when CBS sues for STAR TREK infringements....