Double Fine's 2 Million Dollar Adventure

We've all been following Double Fine's Kickstarter campaign fairly closely. Our interest has continually morphed from skepticism, to introspection -as to what this could mean for publishers-, and now it's finally become a slightly fetishized curiosity to see just how much of the green-stuff they can pull in.  And as if there was any question; a lot.

Double Fine just recently surpassed the 2 Million Dollar mark for their project - $2,007,892 to be exact- , far above and beyond the original $400,000 goal.  And while the project was originally going to be a fairly simple Point and Click Adventure game for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, I think we can assume that this project will find itself expanded in the near future.  The possibility also exists that some of this money might be put toward other projects, but things tend to become a little complicated when people give you loads of free money for something that doesn't yet exist. 'Delicate' doesn't really capture how Double Fine may need to tread here.

Overall, the Kickstarter is an interesting way to go about funding, and even though we're now starting to see a deluge of people trying their luck on the same wheel I don't see it permanently changing an industry so much as creating a new avenue to it. It reminds me a lot of what happened to music when musicians found they could simply distribute their music without a record company's backing. DIY (Do it Yourself) no longer was just the mantra of the poor and local punk bands. It was an actual business model that worked. Why give a record company 99% of your profits to distribute your album (somewhat poorly) in the United States when you could keep 99% of your profits and distribute yourself Internationally. It didn't completely change the music industry for good, but it increased access, and that's one of the most important things that these Kickstarter campaigns can do.

Will a small indie outfit pull in 2 million? No. Tim Schafer and Double Fine are beloved institutions within the Gaming Industry and have the ability to command those types of numbers. But an indie studio can do well, and should certainly try. Why, with a little Kickstarter campaign, and Steam distribution, I can see a lot of very good -previously unknown- talent emerging in the near future.

[Source: CVG]