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[nenjin]

But then its not EA or Activision who is doing the Kickstarter, its Treyarch. There is a difference and its a big one. If it failed to live up to what was expected then Treyarch would be the one personally losing face, you can't not take responcibility when your the one who took public responsibility

You do know that Treyarch is owned by Activision, just like EA owns DICE and Zenimax owns Bethesda right? If devs appear on Kickstarter, they're doing so either at the behest of, or with permission from the corp. That'd make them both party to its success or failure.

Also what would be the difference from Steve Jackson asking for support in something we all know he can deliver on and Treyarch asking his fandom the same thing thing? Does playing CoD suddenly make you less of a valid supporter on Kickstarter?

No. But I'd question why a game series that is the #1 selling piece of entertainment in recorded history would need a Kickstarter. And I'm not sure many of the fans would, they'd just plop down money on the next CoD installment.

It's one thing when you're fans of a game that hasn't seen the light of day in decades because publishers wouldn't back it or have ruined it in previous attempts. I think it's another when you're a fan of a game that makes millions upon millions upon millions in sales every single year, that gets cranked out like clockwork and has one of the biggest assholes in gaming at the helm of the company.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

   I don't see anywhere on Kickstarter that says if you make more then a certain amount of money you are not allowed to use it. If we deny one person for making too much money where does it stop?

[jester]

If they just put a 'No EA affiliates on kickstarter'  clause in I wouldnt be totally unhappy.

[MrWiggles]

Why do you think Steve Jackson and Steve Jackson Game is a company that is well to do?

Hobbist Gaming industry has very thin margins, and fairly high production cost. The reason why Steve Jackson Games has been around as long as it has is because Steve Jackson & Games have had so far a brilliant ability to read trends and feel the future for the industry.

Munchin, is a very well selling game, but it's not selling like M:tG well. The other source of income that Steve Jackson Games has is it's rpg on line store, which also have low margins.

The Orge game is very very expensive to make, (to physically make, not including the money on RD and prototyping) , expensive to ship, and takes /alot/ of storage space due to its HUGE (relatively speaking to modern hobbist games) size.

It's very expensive product to do anything with. When Steve Jackson said they'd only be able to make 3k for one production run they figure it'd sell in about a year, that should tell  just how expensive, and how low selling they thought this product would be.

Kickstarter is a great place for someone, liken Steve Jackson Games. A company that has a long history on delivering products but doesn't have the easiest time in getting venture capitalism to invest in new product lines.

And with the Kickstarter, it allows Steve Jackson & Game to have pre-orders, and to see just how far they can really take the game, while lessening the damage of Over Production.

[Wayward Device]

Yeah, MrWiggles gives an accurate assessment of the hobbyist games industry. There is some profit, but if your looking for the serious richness then your really either talking about WOTC/M:tG or Games Workshop and its products. Both of those make money cause they use their size to employ really successful business models. In the case of GW, this involves having loads of stores (and worldwide, too) and selling all their stuff for a crazy high price. There's a reason getting a decent size army is costs so much: it makes them  a profitable company. Also, their shameless crappy (with a few gems) computer game crossovers.   

I've resigned myself to the fact that there'll never be a firefly kickstarter, but stuff like this raises my hopes for other revivals of non-economically viable stuff I love.

[MrWiggles]

Exactly. The Hobbyist Gaming industry has not ridden it's last crash well, and the bad recession hasn't been kind to them either. The hobbyist gaming industry is in very weird waters, I mean, like not that long ago White Wolf was bought up by a video game company. White Wolf was a paragon for the hobbyist industry, with sales to back them up. They were/are a (distant) second largest rpg company.

Probably the only really healthy company for hobbyist gaming is WotC.  Though, that's starting to change now, Steve Jackson Games boasted some impressive 20% increase in sales from 2010.

I'll stop ranting now.

[PTTG??]

White Wolf was Apple in the '90s.

[nenjin]

   I don't see anywhere on Kickstarter that says if you make more then a certain amount of money you are not allowed to use it. If we deny one person for making too much money where does it stop?

I did note above this is a hole in perspective because it's the kind of thing you can't put a number on. It's one of those things I feel but I can't put a rule to.

As for SJG, I spent most of the 90s in gaming hobbyists shops. And his games were everywhere (and they were some of the best and most playable.) So while his games may not be up to the level MtG or GWS, he was always sitting right next to them on the shelves.

[blackmagechill]

Bartlett is now John Videogames.

[MrWiggles]

 No wai, that's a satire of Your World?

[Aklyon]

John Videogames is nowhere near enough pearshapedness to imitate Your World Pizza Guy.

[Lord Dullard]

Oh hell no. John Videogames > Elwood Bartlett by x1000.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

I can see more people falling for a $20 Lamborghini then fell for Your World.

[MrWiggles]

   I don't see anywhere on Kickstarter that says if you make more then a certain amount of money you are not allowed to use it. If we deny one person for making too much money where does it stop?

I did note above this is a hole in perspective because it's the kind of thing you can't put a number on. It's one of those things I feel but I can't put a rule to.

As for SJG, I spent most of the 90s in gaming hobbyists shops. And his games were everywhere (and they were some of the best and most playable.) So while his games may not be up to the level MtG or GWS, he was always sitting right next to them on the shelves.

That has to do with the maturity of GURPS at the time. During the early nineties and even through crash of '94 SJG was #3-#4 largest, but that when TSR was still about, White Worlf was doing LARPS in Seattle and WotC was almost sued out of existence (I wanna say by FASA.).

[blackmagechill]

No wai, that's a satire of Your World?

That's an insult to John Videogames.