14 DAY TRIAL // Hairbrained Schemes, the development team working on Shadowrun Returns, says that it has spent all the funds it has raised via Kickstarter on video game development and it needs to increase the number of potential buyers ahead of launch.
Jordan Weisman, leader of Hairbrained Schemes, tells GamesIndustry.biz that, “We have 37,000 backers on Shadowrun Returns. Our hope is that there’s a lot more of them than just those 37,000, because if not then we lose the gamble. We’ve spent every penny and more that they gave us to make the game; we haven’t made any money.”
Kickstarter allows developers to set a monetary goal and then reveal content and rewards for those fans who contribute certain amounts of money.
Shadowrun Returns has managed to get a little over 1.8 million dollars (1.45 million Euro) from the crowd-funding service and Weisman says that all the money has gone straight into the game development process.
Despite the success of the project, the leader of Hairbrained Schemes believes that the amount is small when compared to AAA titles that the industry is creating via the traditional publisher system.
He adds, “When you look at the scope, it’s really small budget development. You have to have a project that is more design-focused than technology-focused. We have a lot of content in our game, but not compared to one of these giant epics.”
Despite the difference in resources, Weisman believes that Shadowrun Returns can compete with titles that will have development budgets that go over 40 million dollars (30 million Euro).
In order for the game to be a success, the team needs to attract a wider audience than the 37,000 people who have backed it via Kickstarter.
Shadowrun Returns is set to launch on the PC, Mac, Linux, as well as Android-powered tablets during the second quarter of the year.