So there's a new kid coming to the block of crowd-source funding, only this time the new kid on the block isn't about crowd-sourcing movies, music, art, etc,. it's all about video games. The service is called Gambitious.
The company running the service is also called Gambitious...makes it convenient in conversations, I guess. Anyways, the service emulates other crowd-sourcing companies like IndieGoGo and KickStarter, except there's a pretty big difference in the way Gambitious operates: investors have the opportunity to profit from helping kick-start a gaming project. Neat, eh?
As reported by Game Politics, CEO Korstiaan Zandvliet commented during a keynote speech, clarifying the biggest difference between Gambitious and KickStarter, saying...
"The main difference between Gambitious and the currently popular Kickstarter is that the former does not rely on donations," ... "Instead, a developer decides what percentage of the required funding people can buy. Someone who invests money in a project, becomes a shareholder and is entitled to dividends."
Well, according to Penny Arcade's take on the service, there can be a dark side to this Gambitious crowd-source funding initiative because if gamers become investors, and investors are potentially promised profit from the revenue of the project (assuming it does well and sells well) there are a lot of legal ramifications that could be potentially attached to Gambitious, which is one of the reasons it's taking slightly longer to get off the ground than other crowd-sourced services.
According to Penny Arcade's report, lawyers have more to gain than both game developers and gaming enthusiasts who invest in that project. The reason? Because what happens when investors don't like the way the developers are handling things and want to see a change? What happens when gamers want to exercise their entitlement? What happens if the project isn't to the liking of the board?
Of course, there are some structured hierarchical practices in place, such as veteran investors, directors and overseers who can approve or reject a project. There's also some rules that are in place that requires game developers to sort of come to the table with a professional outline of how they plan to tackle the project. Of course, this kind of paradigm isn't in practice, it's just on paper, for now.
RipTen managed to get a better clarification of the rules and regulations to assuage some fears that gamers might have going into something like Gambitious, instead of reiterating the potential "doom & gloom" mongering, they talked with the man behind the company, Paul Hanraets, where Hanraets explains that the investment isn't much different from KickStarter, the only difference is that there is opportunity to gain, monetary wise, from said investment...
“This is about more than ‘angel investors.’ It’s about gamers, followers and traditional investors. They’ll still get the game for free and all the things that come with crowd funding, but they’ll also get revenue shares.”“Our rules state that you need to be a studio with a track record. You must have published titles or, if you are a new studio, you must consist of industry veterans. We will be looking at every project,”
In this regards, gamers are only going to be seeing projects from "proven" industry experts, or the like. So not only will you have an opportunity to profit from your investment but there will also be a quality standard in place so not just anyone can throw smack on the wall and ask for a breezy $3 million.
What's more is that due to the business and investing structure of Gambitious, gamers are also now more likely to see kick-started, crowd-sourced games appear on platforms such as Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, due to the connections established by the higher-ups.
Another interesting part about it is that the fear of "the lawyers" that Penny Arcade briefly touches on isn't much different than the same kind of problems you could run into with KickStarter. There are still investors involved, there are still gamers involved, the only difference is that gamers who invest in Gambitious have an opportunity to profit alongside the developers, if the game generates enough revenue.
There are, of course, still various rules and regulations associated with operating a business like this and Hanraets confirms that they have the backing of a Dutch bank and Gambitious all fits within the specified regulations of the European tax bracket, however, they still have to iron out all the details for North American backers and developers.
As it stands, it's an interesting venture, no doubt. The risk to reward ratio doesn't seem much more far-fetched than IndieGoGo or KickStarter, the only difference is that I'm sure a lot more people will be keeping an eye on Gambitious projects since those who back a project could potentially profit big from the game.
You can check out Penny Arcade's thorough report for more details, or RipTen's recent interview for a detailed explanation on what gamers can fully expect from Gambitious.
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