I researched hundreds of Kickstarter campaigns since 2021 to find the most successful, tracking how much money they earned, how many backers they had, their country of origin, and whether or not they’ve since released. What I found might surprise you! Or it might not! Or maybe you’ll be mildly interested!

  • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
    91·
    18 days ago

    Haven’t watched the vid yet, but my opinion on Kickstarter is that funding anything other than things like board games isn’t worth the risk. With simple physical objects they’re done and just need money to begin mass production.

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      18 days ago

      No shit four years ago I funded a game. They got funding and was supposed to get game 3 years ago. Still nothing. Hell haven’t had update since the summer. Want my money back. Not even interested in the game anymore. Fuck every doing kickstarter again.

  • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    19 days ago

    It can be. You basically just have to accept that there is a 50/50 chance that you are putting that money in the toilet and never seeing the final project.

    I backed System Shock remake, and that was a nightmare. I put in $350 and the project was delivered extremely late after pretty egregious mismanagement. I think the only thing that saved the project was that Night Dive Studios is kind of a well known studio. Probably a nobody or start up would have just given up and kept the money.

    • naticus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      19 days ago

      Yeah I also backed System Shock and it took so damn long. Was happy it finally released, but the experience like that gives me pause about other projects. Project Phoenix is another example of one that went on for years, but then ultimately fizzled out with zero product.

  • kipo@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    18 days ago

    I backed the PS version of a game three years ago and they released it for PC but not for PlayStation. They still claim the PS release is coming. I don’t believe them, so I pirated the PC version.

    Crowdfunding is scammy. You aren’t actually buying anything and have few rights or consumer protections. Stay away.

  • Ⓜ3️⃣3️⃣ 🌌@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    53·
    19 days ago

    Never used kickstarter again after being scamed by Pebble watch, when Fibbit bought Peeble all Pebble v2 watch pre-orders were canceled without refund. Lesson learned

  • Nikls94@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    18 days ago

    I’ve always known about kickstarter but never did something with it.

    I only ever funded one thing this October; that thing was the GC Ultimate Controller.

    I get regular updates, shipment will be around februaty.