The Background
Around 2010 the popularity of websites like Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/) allowed people to source small contributions from a large number of individuals to fund their video game projects. The projects began with modest amounts and supported indie sized games but have grown to include projects in the millions and large scale development studios. Many of these projects seem to target gaps in the market for abandoned IP or spiritual successors. The quality has been mostly high as many of these projects have received lots of fan support and a development team that believes in the project. Naturally many of these games have come to Nintendo systems and due to the time period it has mostly been Wii U and Switch, with some appearing on both. So, let's take a look at these games and share our experiences with supporting such projects.
The Games
The list of games below has information in the following order:
Game Title (Developer, Campaign End Date-Game Release Date [Elapsed Time in Days], Amount Raised (USD), Platforms, NWR Reviews)
- Kentucky Route Zero (Jake Elliott, 2/6/11-1/7/13 [701 days], $8,583, Switch 9.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/52747)
- Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, 5/8/12-6/30/12 [53 days], $2,452, Wii U, Switch
- Project Giana (Black Forest Games, 8/31/12-10/23/12 [53 days], $186,158, Wii U 6.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/35384), Switch 6 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48542)
- Mercenary Kings (Tribute Games, 8/31/12-3/25/14 [571 days], $116,064, Switch 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/46369)
- Freedom Planet (Galaxy Trail, 2/14/13-6/21/14 [492 days], $25,472, Wii U9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/41261), Switch 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48123)
- Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games, 4/13/13-6/26/14 [639 days], $311,502, Wii U 10 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/37927), 3DS, Switch
- A Hat in Time (Gears for Breakfast, 6/28/13-10/5/17 [1560 days], $296,360, Switch 7 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/51985)
- Mighty No. 9 (Comcept, 10/1/13-6/21/16 [994 days], $4,031,550, Wii U 5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/42940)
- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (WayForward, 10/4/13-12/20/16 [1173 days], $947,937, Wii U 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/43818), Switch 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/44918)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine, 10/12/13-5/31/16 [962 days], Switch 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/48226)
- Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall, 11/22/13-2/21/17 [1187 days], $209,375, Switch 9 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/46345)
- Tadpole Treble (Matthew Tarranto, 12/7/13-5/6/16 [881 days], $34,250, Wii U 8.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/43191), Switch 7 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/56086)
- The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (King Art Games, 5/23/14-2/20/15 [273 days], $171,593, Wii U, Switch
- Jotun (William Dube, 8/21/14-9/29/15 [404 days], $64,265, Wii U 8.5 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/43408), Switch 7 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/47102)
- Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 12/19/14-2/24/17 [798 days], $57,138, Switch 10 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/47609)
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Koji Igarashi, 6/12/15-6/18/19 [1467 days], $5,545,991, Switch 8 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/51016)
- Yooka-Laylee (Playtonic Games, 6/17/15-4/11/17 [664 days], $2,881,700, Switch 6 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/46041)
- The Wonderful 101 Remastered (Platinum Games, 3/6/20-5/19/20 [74 days], $2,235,545, Switch 6 from NWR (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/53693)
The Highlights
Starting with the NWR review scores we can see that these projects are hit or miss. The best reviewed games in the list are Shovel Knight and Hollow Knight which both received a 10 from NWR. The lowest score is unsurprisingly Mighty No. 9, though Yooka-Laylee was not much better. We are still waiting on that 3DS version Inafune >:(
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/33577/1/4.gif)
Turning next to the amount raised by the campaign we see amounts ranging from a low of $2,452 (Thomas Was Alone) to a high of $5,545,991 (Bloodstained). It is worth noting that Iga had the record for the most raised in one of these projects until Shenmue III came along.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/44347/1/16.jpg)
Lastly, we consider the time that elapsed between the end of the campaign and the initial release date. The fastest time from date to date was 53 days, which is actually a tie between Thomas Was Alone and Project Giana. The longest span between funding and release was 1560 days (just over 4 years) which occurred with A Hat in Time.
(https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/51985/4/3.jpg)
The Comments
Sound off in the forums with your experiences with these games.
Did you support any of these projects?
Were you satisfied with the end product?
What is the future of crowdfunding in video games?