Did you hear about the Rock Band 4 crowdfunding campaign? Long story short, Harmonix wanted $1.5 million dollars from investors on Fig to bring the game to the PC. It started March 1, and ended April 6 with only $792,817, about half the necessary funds, raised. It failed.
But, something interesting has come from it. Harmonix posted a final update about the crowdfunding campaign, and many of the comments and questions from potential supporters were critical. One comment posted said people should finish what the developer started with Rock Band 4 on consoles before starting something new. Another said Harmonix should have completely finished the Amplitude Kickstarter tasks before starting another campaign. Naturally, people also were asking why it needed so much money.
These sorts of questions mark a shift in the behavior and attitudes of people willing to fund crowdfunding campaigns. The Rock Band 4 PC effort was one from an established developer who had already delivered on a previous Kickstarter. Yet, instead of blindly trusting that Harmonix would come through again, people were smart. They questioned the system. Money wasn’t tossed at a project, all because the revival of the Rock Band Network was appealing. They were ready to ask difficult questions.
Perhaps we’ve finally reached a point where people are learning their lessons when it comes to crowdfunding. Think about it. Three years ago, people were ready to go all in on things they’d always wanted. Mighty No. 9 made the money it needed to succeed within two days of being on Kickstarter. Unsung Story got people to put in $600,000 because of the Yasumi Matsuno ( Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story ) name alone.
Both efforts faltered. Unsung Story’ s development has stopped. Mighty No. 9 is in development hell, with radio silence on social media and no updates about the alleged spring 2016 launch window it was supposed to make. And these are only two of the most prominent and recent examples of people being burned by games from established personalities in the gaming industry.
It seems Rock Band 4’ s failure is something of a sign. People know what they want. They still dream of all the games they’d like to have. Yet, they’re more cynical when it comes to crowdfunding now. The sins of other campaigns are causing them to question unrelated ones. While this may suck for developers who genuinely want to do well and deliver a product, the cautious behavior is for the best. People will invest their money wisely, and we’ll hopefully come to a point where a crowdfunded game’s release date isn’t a running joke.