11 Projects Have Earned $1 Million on Kickstarter this Year

Kickstarter has revealed statistics for game-related projects through August 31st, referring to this year as the “Year of the Game.” According to Kickstarter, eight of the 11 projects that crossed $1 million this year were related to games (seven were games, one was a comic about a game), and more money has been put into game projects than any other category in 2012. Games earned $50 million through August 31st, compared to $42 million for film, $40 million for design, $25 million for music and $16 million for technology.

Games have gone from the eighth most-funded category in Kickstarter history to the second most-funded, earning $50,330,275 in 2012 compared to $48,190 in 2009. Overall, 23% of all money pledged to Kickstarter in 2012 has been for games, compared to only 3.6% last year. “Of the 36 projects that have raised more than $500,000 this year, 20 have been games,” Kickstarter noted.

Kickstarter largely credits the success of Double Fine’s campaign with the sudden interest in games, commenting “The gaming world hasn’t looked at Kickstarter the same way since. Double Fine signaled to game developers that they could use Kickstarter to do something that previously seemed impossible: make the game they wanted without outside interference.” Game projects have noticeably increased since Double Fine’s campaign launched in February.

People who back game projects are also Kickstarter’s most frequent recurring backers, funding an average of 2.43 projects compared to 1.78 projects for backers in other categories. “Game projects have brought game backers who have inspired more game projects that have brought even more backers, and so on.”

The statistics include both subcategories of Games: Board & Card Games and Video Games. While video games have grown the most, Kickstarter notes a marked success for board & card games as well, which have earned more than $15 million in 2012.

Game projects continue to thrive on Kickstarter even outside these categories, with recent successes including Fangamer’s game-inspired Retrowear clothing campaign, Nathan Meunier’s guide for freelance video game journalists and the Gaymercon LGBT gaming and tech convention.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com