J T wrote:Why couldn't publishers see it?
Because publishers are trapped in a mentality that rejects anything that is not a blockbuster. Activision is the obvious example here. It considers any game that doesn't sell a million copies and has a version released every year a failure, but the real failure is them killing several profitable franchises that could have made proportionatedly the same money.
Also, giving a game to Schafer, who has captained several market bombs (even if critically aclaimed, and hell, none of them had the obvious market P&C adventures does), is icing the cake of acepting that there's a market for adventures. When strategy games are regarded as "not contemporary", how adventures must be seen as terrible.
Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general will form an important part of the industry sooner or later. Perhaps not when it comes to amount of money made, but probably as a better way of catering to a niche audience. Wargame companies like GMT run in this model, and they have been very succesful.
This model also provides a low risk, low investment solution for creating games that keeps the door open for wider distribution. If your game is a huge success, you can license it to a publisher to make more copies and reach a wider audience.
The downside is that there will be a bubble. Once this game rolls out, lots of developers are going to try to follow this route. And many won't be good developers or have any experience. After Alien Frontiers, a kickstarter boardgame, became a blockbuster, we have seen dozens of projects, most of them being nothing but bland.
But alas, big publishers pull bland stuff all the time and competition will surely lead to good things. Players will become more involved with the games, and now that they are putting their money in front of them, they will be more demanding, which is great.
With this model and digital distribution I think we are on the way for very good things.
