Divinity: Original Sin II - Crowdfunding Ethics

Cliqist asks the question about the Original Sin 2 Kickstarter, if it is ethical for a developer to go to Kickstarter for a sequel of a game that sold well and answers the question themselves.

One could look at the campaign and ask an uncomfortable question though: “Why is this on Kickstarter? Didn’t the original sell well?” Well, to answer the question, yes the game did do well. While I don’t have exact figures on how many units of Divinity: Original Sin were sold, Larian Studios Creative Director Swen Vincke has indicated that the studio already has the budget in place to make the game based on the success of original.

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And to answer that with:

At the end of the day, Larian Studios asking fans of the original to pitch in a few bucks to help make Divinity: Original Sin 2 grander isn’t entirely wrong.

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Somewhow I feel they could have made more of this article, but it is what it is.

Thanks Couch.

More information.

Is it ethical? Yes. There's no deception involved; the contributors know what will be done with their money. They are spending money to fund their future happiness with a high likelihood of success.

The question for me becomes: why do people think it is unethical? I suspect the issue arises from people with anti-capitalistic tendencies who don't like successful commercial enterprises and want to see KS funds go to non-profit (or barely profitable) groups.

It is worse than that; not only did they (Larian) debate on if they should do a kickstarter; their primary motiviation is that the fans wanted them to do a kickstarter (for involvement). So of course it is ethical. It is an early pre-sale but in some ways it is even better (for the fans). While you are paying way in advance; you do get a significant price cut (or if you want to support them you can pay more).
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The only way I think it becomes unethical is (a) you mislead the fans (i.e, we need 2million or we can't make the game) or (b) you use the money to fund some other project.

I would rather give my money to help a company I know is going to make a good game hopefully make it better.

I see nothing wrong and the amount of money given would prove a lot of other people feel the same.

Bleedin hearts that will say kickstarter should be to help those that need the money.

I say to that we all need money or more money. Second if you feel that strongly, you give more don't tell me what to do with money period.

I think it is a little on the edge because Larian certainly have enough to put all the features into the game, even the stretch goals, without asking for money. On the other hand, it is mainly an early purchase option at a discounted rate with access to the beta and a voice in development and that is a good thing. It worked well for the first game, and Larian is my favorite studio and truly seems to care. Divine Divinity is the one of the best games ever in my opinion. As much as I love Original Sin, and it is the best RPG I have played in a while. (cant wait for extended version) what I truly truly want from Larian is a real sequel to Divine Divinity, single player.

"One could say that having a budget in place for a game that was earned from the success of your previous game, which was made possible because of a Kickstarter campaign, means that you probably shouldn’t go back to the well for more money..."

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I prefer free markets to decide. Until Larian did this, it presented a risk for them. That the market indicates that this was a good decision, congrats to Larian. It could have gone the other way, nobody could know until someone put their money where there mouth is, so to speak.

Unless you have the time (or it's your job, I guess) to mull around anguishing where the lines in the sand are as it relates to crowdfunding, I think the free market will do just fine punishing those who make bad decisions and rewarding those who don't.

I see nothing wrong here, except maybe that it obscures less known projects on Kickstarter. I would go as far as saying I wouldn't mind seeing EA or Ubisoft on Kickstarter if that meant they would make better and original games, but only when they clean their record a bit (actually A LOT). If people want to pay, let them pay.

while I prefer to give my money to the folks that really need it, I see no foul here. I'd just rather support indies instead of studios.

crpgnut said:

while I prefer to give my money to the folks that really need it, I see no foul here. I'd just rather support indies instead of studios.

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I'm not sure what the issue is with studios. An indie is a game developer that doesn't have a publisher. That should include Larian Studios, Obsidian, and inXile. Game publishers usually finance the game development, so they have a lot of influence (some would say negative) on the end product. Kickstarter helps indies to get around that model, so that makes it worth supporting. I don't think size is a factor, other than having access to a larger talent pool. Yes, the heroic lone indie developer is a nice image, but it's hard to pull off decent game development these days without a team.

its just a matter of how much money you give and when.
and considering you will buy the game anyway, and theres little risk/regret. why not preorder?
its just a preorder after all.
imo all games should allow preorders, and should strategize this early cash into improvements .. yeah, like a campaing, only with more focus on polish and quality rather than implementations of wild things

I don't see any great foul here, and if everyone is happy with it, good luck to them.

I do think it's slightly questionable to present it as a Kickstarter, in the sense that it is not really Kickstarting something. When the studio has the funds to invest in the project, and will keep all the eventual profits, it seems a little odd to couch it in terms of pledges, targets, and stretch-goals, when it's really just a pre-sale.

I can totally understand why someone might pledge a larger sum to make a game a reality, if hitting that funding goal is the only way it can happen. But I don't really understand why one would pledge more than the going rate in these circumstances - it just seems like choosing to pay more than you need to for a product.

Ripper said:

I don't see any great foul here, and if everyone is happy with it, good luck to them.

I do think it's slightly questionable to present it as a Kickstarter, in the sense that it is not really Kickstarting something. When the studio has the funds to invest in the project, and will keep all the eventual profits, it seems a little odd to couch it in terms of pledges, targets, and stretch-goals, when it's really just a pre-sale.

I can totally understand why someone might pledge a larger sum to make a game a reality, if hitting that funding goal is the only way it can happen. But I don't really understand why one would pledge more than the going rate in these circumstances - it just seems like choosing to pay more than you need to for a product.

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All valid points, though at the end of the day if I don't want to pledge or I want to pledge 10,000.00 that is up to me.

Ivanwah said:

I see nothing wrong here, except maybe that it obscures less known projects on Kickstarter. I would go as far as saying I wouldn't mind seeing EA or Ubisoft on Kickstarter if that meant they would make better and original games, but only when they clean their record a bit (actually A LOT). If people want to pay, let them pay.

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That's the only semi valid concern I ever hear in regards to the bigger / successful studios using Kickstarter. They hog the spotlight and get all the media attention and backer money so the small indie dev who really really needs the money to finish their game can't even raise their much smaller goal...

But it's also possible that the higher profile Kickstarter games will draw in people who never crowdfunded a game before and then they'll stick around and end up backing some smaller indie projects... Kickstarter can get pretty addictive; at least until you've realized you've backed a bunch of games that end up disappointing, or worse questionable projects that may never be released at all...

Anyway, I just hope this time Larian is able to actually implement all of their stretch goals... Didn't they fail to deliver about half of them from the D:OS KS? It's certainly somewhat understandable, but still... If anything is unethical in regards to crowdfunding, it's making promises you cannot keep.

I'm not backing this project because I'm waiting to see what sort of improvements they make to D:OS Enhanced Edition.... And can only hope it isn't just a bunch of crap that only console gamers care about.

I'm not sure it's a matter of ethics, really… And I also don't believe that anyone who has even the slightest problem with an established company doing another KS must be anti-capitalist. I just think that it's cheesy. But unethical? No.

That said, I'm fairly certain if an established company like EA or Ubisoft did the same thing, the opinions here would be much different. People really like Larian Studios right now, so therefore it's not an issue.

Bottom line is-- it's your money, give it to whomever you want.