Another year, another successful bout of crowdfunded video games via Kickstarter. Ever since the platform gained prominence as a means to ask fans to fund games that might otherwise not get made for whatever reason, Kickstarter’s crowdfunding programs for video games have been trucking along. In 2014, Kickstarter raised $89 million for game projects (this includes video games, card games, and board games, but the vast majority of money would naturally be needed and going towards video games, simply because of how resource intensive they are). This money was spread out over 1,980 games, with Kingdom Come: Deliverance being the biggest beneficiary, with over 35,000 backers and $1.1 million raised.
Of course, this isn’t even the most successful crowdfunding story for video games in 2014- the continued success of Star Citizen, which has now grossed roughly $60 million in crowdfunding (or over two thirds of as much as all of the games on Kickstarter could manage) certainly bears notice.
But most of all, what bears notice is that games that would otherwise not have been made are now being made, and that is a good thing.