Tim Schafer got 3.3 MILLION DOLLARS FOR HIS ADVENTURE GAME. 3.3 MILLION DOLLARS.
That's a lot of money, and the fact that he went over-budget for this with a POINT AND CLICK ADVENTURE GAME shows that he either is spending this poorly, or just wants more money.
He raised 3.3m but he doesnt have 3.3 for the game. There the kickstarter fee, the cost for the rewards and taxes. He still got more then what he was originally asking for, but as far as video game budget goes, hes gotta take a mad piss and can barely afford the pot to do it in.
FYI, the original kickstarter goal was 400 000. They were funded 8 times over.
And?
He asked for 400k for a game with X feature set.
He got wai moar money then that, and expanded that feature list.
So the original starting amount, is arguably a none-issue, as he not making that 400k game anymore. Hes attempting to make this much more expanded 3.3m game.
Which doesn't cost 3.3 million. By his own numbers, roughly 6 million.
If the head of a studio can't budget himself for 3.3 million, and KNOWINGLY GOES OVER, and then asks for more money, I'd call that a problem.
Seriously, you overfund 8x, go insane on features, don't exercise any of the restraint knowing you have a limited budget....and it's all hunky dorey because you're going to release your game in stages through a paid alpha?
This is basically what I've been waiting for since the first $1 million kickstarter. Guys get way more funding than they asked for, throw caution to the wind, expand their teams, start dreaming of the $20 million dollar game they would have made with publisher monies, and then end up needing far more money than they earned. And they plow ahead because they know the internet is just going to throw more money at them.
It's about accountability in my mind. It's the same routine with publishers, just half the money.
"So how are things going Tim?"
"Well, we're about 2 years off schedule. We're going to need another cash infusion."
"*Sigh* for how much?"
"Not sure. How much you got?"
Except now it's done with smiles and snark (Thanks for putting into the "tip jar?" Nice, ass.)
Basically, it's undercutting the premise that Kickstarter will actually get you anything when it comes to projects like this, because they dream bigger than their funding allows. Why would I back a Kickstarter knowing the game will have to end up on Early Access to have a prayer of making release?
And Tim even basically said "without more money, I'd have to scrap the game I sold you guys on Kickstarter." I mean, he can't even put up
Part 1 of his game on $3.3 million. Think about that, in comparison to alllll the other projects that have released their Kickstarter titles.
How is that not a problem? How does terrible business management like that not send up red flags? Oh right. He's Tim Schafer. The rules don't apply to him. Yet people will excoriate an unknown developer for asking for $10,000 more than they personally think the project is worth.