14 DAY TRIAL // Brian Fargo, the leader of the inXile studio working on Wasteland 2 at the moment, says that he has plans to use crowd funding for its future video game projects even if the game he is currently working on fails to become a success.
The developer told GamesIndustry International that, “Yeah, I still would. It allows us to give things to people that they can’t get from just buying a product. Some people want to be an NPC, or they want a shrine in their honour in the game, or they want a boxed copy, or a novella. These things aren’t just gimmicks; they add real value.”
Most crowd-funding video game projects are linked at the moment to Kickstarter and the service allows development teams to offer a number of perks to those who are willing to pledge significant amounts of money for a project.
Fargo adds, “I like having that communication, because when people put their money down they’re more invested emotionally. And when you have this army of people who are a part of it, when you do launch you don’t need a big marketing campaign.”
The early contact with potential players means that development teams are better able to understand which of their mechanics make sense and how they can better shape the game to appeal to their audience.
Wasteland 2 was funded through Kickstarter and has managed to get more than 2.9 million dollars (2.24 million Euro) from fans of the concept.
The development team at inXile promises to create an old-school role-playing game that uses a post-apocalyptic world that served as inspiration for the very successful Fallout.
The game creators say that all the core mechanics of the game are now in place and have been steadily releasing concept art.
Wasteland 2 will be launched on the PC during the fall of 2013.