Kickstarter on The Economist

One reason that games get financed is that gamers are tech-savvy. With an average age in America of 37, they also have plenty of disposable income. They expect no return on their money, save a free or cut-price copy of the game itself.
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Nerds getting old, too ? ;)

[snip] big publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision have become risk-averse. Like Hollywood studios before them, they have taken the safe option of churning out endless sequels to already-popular titles in big-selling genres, such as military-themed shooting games. That leaves a long tail of disgruntled fans who can’t find new games they enjoy. The three biggest Kickstarter games are all from underserved genres.
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Meanwhile, developers are unhappy, too. Making games is a hard way to earn a living. Contracts are often short. Long hours are common. Deadlines arrive like a never-ending shower of “Tetris” blocks. Publishers keep most development studios on a tight leash; many developers feel creatively stifled. Stories of burnout and depression abound. “The games industry doesn’t retain developers very well,” notes Mr Hesselgren dryly. “But it’s pretty good at training up rebels.”
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A comment from there :

I think you can broaden it from 'video games' or 'game-related' to 'geek stuff'.
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Right, I believe.

Another comment from here :

I think what Kickstarter really highlights is how broken markets really are. Markets are supposed to foster competition; however, when you look at industries what you see are risk averse giants who use marketing to sell products rather than a quality product. It sounds rather collusionary.
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Right, imho.

And an imho very interesting look into a (possible) future :

What’s still yet to come is the use of crowdfunding for common people,
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