Wasteland 2 - Interview @ Digital Spy

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Brian Fargo of inXile Entertainment is interviewed on the Digital Spy to talk about Wasteland 2, and gives his opinion on Kickstarter fatigue.

Brian Fargo, the creator of crowdfunded project Wasteland 2, doesn't believe there's a fatigue on Kickstarter.

The inXile Entertainment founder said the most successful projects are those that only exist through crowdfunding, or fill a niche that's missing in the market, which is becoming more difficult over time.

"I think sometimes some of the projects that have failed is Kickstarter doing its job," he told Digital Spy.

"Which is saying, 'We don't really want that, or there's already too much like it'. I think it worked very well for us, and it worked well for [Broken Age's Tim] Schafer, because it's quite honest to say this game wouldn't have existed without it, period, because we're a middle-ground developer, we're not two guys.

"I think the projects that do most well on Kickstarter are things where you've been denied the ability to get it somehow, or there's a hole in the marketplace that needs to be filled with a fanbase behind it.

"Well, those holes have been filled over the past couple of years. It's getting harder to find things where people resonate and think, 'I really want some of those things'.

"I don't think it's so much it's a Kickstarter fatigue, but if there isn't a strong demand - if they think there's a bunch of those out there - then I think it's very difficult. I think that's where some people are hitting some problems.
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I think he's only part right, and it may be that he's just being polite. theer are a huge number of people who think Kickstarter is a way to get paid to make junk (though in fairness, they may not be aware it is junk). Look at modding sites like the Nexus, for example. The folks there want quantity and care little about quality. And look how many dye jobs for black and pink armor and weapons they get, where all somebody did is spend 5 minutes in Photoshop to make something so ugly no sane person would ruin their game with it. Even superior modding sites, where the administrators attempt to keep the quality up and encourage modders and critics to take responsibility for what's on there, always have a few bad apples who think what the site really needs is to be flooded with a bunch of buggy hideous looking crap. I view kickstarter as having the same demographics when it comes to would-be entrepreneurs. A few good ones, and a lot of bad ones.

By the way, I think a game like Wasteland II would still do well on kickstarter right now, if it was being done by somebody else who had a decent rep and a history of doing good games along the same line. That niche isn't going to be filled by one game, or even a few.
 
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So I've spent about 10 hours with the latest Wasteland 2 beta version and I gotta say- it's damn fun! I think this is comfortably in the "hit" category for Kickstarter. That said, there have been many misses lately, which has prompted me to halt all KS donations until all the stuff I supported last year comes to fruition. Not really KS 'fatigue' but it's ultimately the same as I'm not throwing money at projects right now.
 
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Interesting choice, using actual footage and live actors instead of CGI. Seems like it works pretty well, though.
 
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Still waiting for that spiritual successor to KOTOR 1 & 2 to get filled....
 
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Mostly it's probably crap fatigue, but it is disappointing that it's very obviously becoming just another marketing tool for established businesses and probably won't ever kickstart anything truly new. I guess it's better than nothing, though.
 
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So I've spent about 10 hours with the latest Wasteland 2 beta version and I gotta say- it's damn fun! I think this is comfortably in the "hit" category for Kickstarter. That said, there have been many misses lately, which has prompted me to halt all KS donations until all the stuff I supported last year comes to fruition. Not really KS 'fatigue' but it's ultimately the same as I'm not throwing money at projects right now.

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. I've backed literally 10 projects on KS. Of those, 3 have come out so far. All of them were great and delivered exactly what they initially promised, but: Now, with 7 projects still in limbo, why back even more stuff? I don't want to have 20 backed projects at some point. Most of these are games, often huge RPGs and I still have to play them when they come out. It's literally only about a massive overflow. I haven't even backed one project so far that turned out to be crap. They were all at least okay, most good.

It's normal and to be expected, that people will have to filter more.
 
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Don't worry, I am at 32 backed Kickstarter games now. The spread of release-dates is just too high. ;)
 
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Hmm, I've backed 34 successful video game projects. Of those, 3 have been released (not counting the ones in early Access) and have pretty much met my expectations. I'm fine waiting, I just hope most of the others end up being at least somewhat enjoyable. I wouldn't say I'm fatigued... I just have become more selective about what I back, and there's a few I most likely wouldn't have backed had they been launched recently. But if there's a KS for a decent looking cRPG in a seldom used setting odds are I will back it.
 
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