The new crowd-funding platform called Fig was put together by people like Justin Bailey, Brian Fargo and Tim Schafer. Schafer's own Double Fine Production utilized Fig for Psychonauts 2's funding, and even more than that, the ability to get returns on investment through that funding. Well, the SEC just made a huge decision regarding the future of Psychonauts 2.
Fig sent out a press release that Polygon recently reported on where they explain that the Securities Exchange Commission -- the organization responsible for overseeing investment securities and trades -- approved Fig for non-accredited investor transactions. As explained by Polygon, this means it's possible for non-accredited investors to purchase equity in Psychonauts 2.
The game was originally funded on Fig back during the summer of 2015, where gamers and other investors contributed a total of $3.8 million to the project. This included investment reservations from more than 24,000 investors who contributed to the project. According to the press release, the SEC qualified Fig Publishing's offering statement, which means that anyone who registered their investment interest can now buy Fig game shares.
The press release further states that Fig shares for Psychonauts 2 will be available on both the Fig official website and on the SEC's official website.
Fig basically was designed to give backers more equity in their investments of crowd-funded projects. The idea was that people who have something to gain (instead of simply something to lose) would be a much better incentive than what's currently offered by Kickstarter.
By comparison, if you invest in a Kickstarter project, you have to hope that the project creator delivers on what was promised and not just take the money and jet. There have been a few projects on Kickstarter where the developers have gone completely silent after pocketing thousands of dollars.
In one case the FTC got involved to track down and fine one creator for attempting to take people's contributions and not deliver on the project.
It's become a sad time for the crowd-funding bubble, which has no longer been as big or carries the momentum it once did several years ago due to scams and unfinished projects.
Fig, however, is hoping to turn some of that around by giving investors more incentive to invest. Additionally, if any of the creators attempt to take flight like in some of those Kickstarter projects, the SEC will come down hard on them like a sack of bricks.
There have also been some critical spotlights aimed at Fig, the investment opportunities and a very thorough breakdown of the differences between accredited and non-accredited investors making use of the service in a detailed article by Cliqist.
Nevertheless, some gamers are probably just happy to see that Psychonauts 2 is fully funded and that the SEC has allowed for investment opportunities to take place for non-accredited backers. Will this speed up the development in anyway? Not likely. Will this mean that Psychonauts 2 will finally become a reality? Well, if development stays on track and the finances don't dry up as quickly as they did with a few other Double Fine crowd-funding projects... then yeah, sure.
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