More and more people are becoming familiar with Kickstarter on a daily basis. It’s easy to see that many projects are funding in the hundreds of thousands, and some even in the millions. So as it would naturally follow, this model of crowd funding is becoming apparently enticing to artists, creators, designers and many others. All with the hopes their visionary idea will be seen and heard and the funds will just start rolling in. But is this really what is happening? Theory 12 Games, an aspiring new game company is trying their hand at the crowd funding game with high hopes for their first game release called Xenofaction.
Xenofaction is the name they hope gamers all around will be familiar with soon. As the title of their first board game release would imply, Xenofaction is a Sci-Fi/Horror based tactical action game. Set in a distant future with dire circumstances bringing extraordinary alien races with outlandish technology and weaponry all to converge upon a seemingly derelict space station floating above earth, this game is sure to act as a flagship model for what is to come from Theory 12 Games. They , like many other up and coming game developers don’t have the funding to lift their project off the ground, at least not yet! Their Kickstarter campaign (their project can be found here) just launched January 6th with only 36 days to reach their funding goal of $10,000. That may not seem like an enormous amount of money for many, but for Theory 12 Games and Xenofaction, it represents their first run of games shipped right to their backers and the start of a campaign to conventions and retailers in hopes of pushing their game to the next level.
So what kind of profit are we talking? That is one of the main and obvious questions that any investor would ask. The same goes for backers pledging on Kickstarter. For backers, their profit comes in the form of a reward which varies depending on what rewards are actually offered and the amount they pledge. Generally if something is being created, say for instance a game, a reward would typically be a copy of the game. Their are all sort of other rewards project creators come up and it’s easy to just visit the Kickstarter website and just browse through hundreds of projects and see the lengths of rewards they will offer.
Ok, so what’s in it for the project creators? If you look at some of the smaller projects having low funding goals, usually under $2,000, you will see their project is mainly to raise funds to accomplish some sort of goal, such as a band looking for extra funds to record a demo for their new songs. It’s usually cut and dry at this level, the project creators need a certain level of funds to do what they propose and those funds, if successfully funded, go directly towards that goal leaving close to zero, or just zero funds left. Then on the other end of the spectrum, you have projects that ask for a very high level of funding, like a computer game being created with servers, developers, teams of art designers and programmers (the list goes on). They may set a funding level in the 6 figure mark, and it gets hard to actually follow and understand all of their expenses and costs and see where that funding is planning to go. Then we have those projects that fall in the middle, the ones at funding levels somewhere in the ten thousands. There are records of projects being funded over 3,000% of their goal! Either way, the question of where all the funds go is always in every ones mind.
For Theory 12 Games and Xenofaction, this is just a realistic way to fund their first edition of their game, not get rich quick. They have broken down the gist of their expenses so we can see just where their $10,000 is planning to go. The game itself is going to cost around $25-35 just to produce, possibly even more since they are only running 200 copies or so increasing production costs. Where as if they produced 3,000 units, their costs could be halved for their game. Once the game is made it will need to be stored, as well as shipped to their backers, which fulfillment companies usually take the place of that role since it ends up costing more money and time and personal space if they were to try and do it straight from home. These costs of storage and handling can run up to 10% of their funding. Shipping is another mountain of a cost especially for a board game weighing around 4lbs in a large box. This can be upwards of $25 for shipping just in the US. Lastly Kickstarter and Amazon Payments (the company used to process all the funding from Kickstarter) take around 5% EACH! Most developers must factor in the cost of illustrators and graphic design artists, but Theory 12 Games has been lucky enough to have some skill at that themselves. So in the end, what does this all mean? They plan to have an amazing game they have been envisioning for 3 years finally come to fruition and be enjoyed in the hands of 100 plus backers. Profit?, that’s not what they’re after nor will it be a likely result even if they exceed their goal as costs will grow along with the excess funding, more backers means more rewards, means more costs. Kickstarter is merely a means for Xenofaction to be created, to get the kickstart it needs to move onto bigger and better environments.
So if you are looking for way to sell your product and quit your day job, Kickstarter isn’t exactly the immediate answer, but it may just put you on the right track to realizing your dreams. All granted you are willing to work hard for it earn it.
Visit the Xenofaction Kickstarter project and see if you may want to back this project.
If you would like more information about Xenofaction or Theory 12 Games, contact Jacob Gissin (Co-Founder of Theory 12 Games) at (585) 851-9163 or jacobgissin@theory12games.com
