Gamesplanet Lab offers Kickstarter alternative with more power to backers
The inmates are running the asylum
In the past 12 months there has been no greater industry-altering force than Kickstarter. From the landmark success of D🌳ouble Fine's adventure game, to Republique, Wasteland, and Leisure Suit Larry, crowdfunding has emerged as a legitimate way to fund a gaming project.
Today, GamesPlanet is announcing a new crowdfunding service designed around games. Dubbed , they'll be partnering with existing crowdsourcing site . The crux of the idea is to give some of the power back to the backers/investors in a crowdsourced project. On a service like Kickstarter, you don't have much recourse if a game you backed is terrible. GPL says they'll onl✅y be supporting a limited amount of projects at a time, and that each project is discussed individually with the developer to determine things like feasibility, budget, and schedule.
From there, i꧃f a project is backed, a panel is selected from amongst the pool of backers to keep tabs on the project and report back to the comꦓmunity. Projects that receive a higher than 70% approval rating from their backers will be awarded a special seal of approval as a signal to future players that their first batch of customers were satisfied.
The first product that will be released on💮 the service, , is even implementing a system whereby it will not be released until the backers approve. About six months into the project they'll release a demo along with a survey. If they receive a r🐭ating under 4.0 (out of 5) the game will go back into development until the backers approve.
It will be interesting to see if a service designed around video gaming will be able to usurp the all-consuming brand power of Kickstarter. We look forward to seeing how GamesPla🎀net does with this venture, because its goals are noble and could ♓help improve the long-term viability of crowdsourcing.
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Andrew is a freelance video game journalist, writing for sites like Wired and GamesRadar. Andrew🥂 has also written a b🔴ook called EMPIRES OF EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online.