I've backed a bunch and never regretted anything. I think I have a pretty good gauge of what is a BS project or a risky one and what isn't.
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Kickstarter regrets
- Thread starter alexi52
- Start date
Part of me is always weary about Kickstarter games. And then part of me realizes that masterclass games like Hollow Knight, or Darkest Dungeon wouldn't exist without backers, so I still back games from time to time if they look interesting.
Hoping Bloodstained isn't a dud.
Hoping Bloodstained isn't a dud.
As someone who owns and was really excited for the game, nah, not at all. It is really bad and not fun at all.
None of the games I've backed ended badly, so no real regret. But I do think I pledged a bit too much money to Massive Chalice considering how little I've played it. I should just have gone for the basic game pledge.
Armikrog: I didn't think the game would ever come out due to the claymation art style. I just wanted the OST. The game did come out, but after learning how Doug TenNapel was a racist... and a homophobe... and a transphobe... and a religious zealot... and a Breitbart editor... I never redeemed that code.
A Hat in Time: I also never redeemed the code, but the creator of this one isn't a bigot. Just a thief who doxes people & works with bigots.
Cryamore: I can't even not redeem it if I wanted to. Even with Atlus righting the ship, it's been 5 & a half years. I don't think I'm ever getting that Wii U version now.
Soul Saga: ... but at least Cryamore's delay appears to be gross incompetence. This one's creator announced his plan to use the money to fund a trip to Japan for "inspiration" after funding wrapped & now has to make the game from the pocket change he had left. The dude then had the gall to do an April Fool's joke where he said his dog ate the flash drive with all the data on it, & I actually believed it.
Mega Man: The Board Game: Every Kickstarter I ever funded save, like, 2 were delayed, so I wasn't surprised this one got delayed. But it was still several years' worth of delays, they announced the SF board game while silent on this during delays, & when it's finally came out, the game was too confusing & no one wanted to play it with me, so it sits on my board game shelf gathering dust next to the Sonic deck building game no one wants to play. At least that was only $5 & people are amused that the name was actually "Gotta Go Fast."
A Hat in Time: I also never redeemed the code, but the creator of this one isn't a bigot. Just a thief who doxes people & works with bigots.
Cryamore: I can't even not redeem it if I wanted to. Even with Atlus righting the ship, it's been 5 & a half years. I don't think I'm ever getting that Wii U version now.
Soul Saga: ... but at least Cryamore's delay appears to be gross incompetence. This one's creator announced his plan to use the money to fund a trip to Japan for "inspiration" after funding wrapped & now has to make the game from the pocket change he had left. The dude then had the gall to do an April Fool's joke where he said his dog ate the flash drive with all the data on it, & I actually believed it.
Mega Man: The Board Game: Every Kickstarter I ever funded save, like, 2 were delayed, so I wasn't surprised this one got delayed. But it was still several years' worth of delays, they announced the SF board game while silent on this during delays, & when it's finally came out, the game was too confusing & no one wanted to play it with me, so it sits on my board game shelf gathering dust next to the Sonic deck building game no one wants to play. At least that was only $5 & people are amused that the name was actually "Gotta Go Fast."
Communication (at least in my opinion) was an issue fairly early on and it really didn't get a lot better until this year.
It's one thing to have a project I backed take longer and giving me an understanding of why. Outside of switching engines (which I believe happened this year or pretty recently), I dont think it was ever communicated particularly well as to why the project was 4+ years late.
Again, no disrespect to the developer. I'm trying to be constructive with my criticism.
Bloodstained plays extremely well and the side game was great.
Pillars of Eternity was a fantastic RPG.
The Good Life just needs to be acceptably weird and I'll be good.
So, I'm satisfied with my kickstarters so far.
Pillars of Eternity was a fantastic RPG.
The Good Life just needs to be acceptably weird and I'll be good.
So, I'm satisfied with my kickstarters so far.
Keep in mind that Kickstarter requires all projects to have an estimated delivery date. If developers weren't required to put a date down, I'm sure most video game related crowdfunding campaigns would have a date of TBD.
I guess they had a bunch of $2 PSN codes because of Rock Band, because they gave us 10 of them.
Yep. Beyond programming and design being hard to estimate, there's also the fact that most companies inevitably encounter scenarios where they are unable to do anything as they are waiting on another company.
There's no real way to accurately estimate software times. You can estimate individual goals but that would turn most people off.
I've never given into kickstarter's and never plan to do so, it'll just turn out to be a waste of my money. I'd much rather use it towards other things.
I have yet to back something on Kickstarter but I do regret not backing Shovel Knight though, loved that game!
Amplitude. I don't know if they half-assed it because they didn't make enough on Kickstarter, but the game turned out to be pretty damn lame.
Dreamfall: Chapters somewhat. I'm glad that there's finally a conclusion to TLJ even if I didn't like the way it ended and I'd happily kickstart it again. But I'd back it at the lowest tier if I could do it all over again.
Dreamfall: Chapters was the most poorly run kickstarter I've ever backed. It had very little to no communication from the developers regarding rewards. When they said something they were either vague about it (happening soon!) or gave a date which when passed and nothing had shipped or released, still didn't give the backers any update on what happened.
Four years after the game started releasing, two years after it concluded, one year since it's been released physically on consoles, I finally received my 'Collector's Edition' copy a few weeks back which appears to be the flimsy physical German copy that came out four years ago.
It's not even the money lost that pisses me off. It's the lack of communication. If they were upfront about not being able to fulfill the rewards I'd be less upset about how this turned out.
While I had a bad experience with this, I'm not going to let this stop me from backing other games. I've backed 7 other projects and those turned out all fine or appear to be right on track.
Dreamfall: Chapters was the most poorly run kickstarter I've ever backed. It had very little to no communication from the developers regarding rewards. When they said something they were either vague about it (happening soon!) or gave a date which when passed and nothing had shipped or released, still didn't give the backers any update on what happened.
Four years after the game started releasing, two years after it concluded, one year since it's been released physically on consoles, I finally received my 'Collector's Edition' copy a few weeks back which appears to be the flimsy physical German copy that came out four years ago.
It's not even the money lost that pisses me off. It's the lack of communication. If they were upfront about not being able to fulfill the rewards I'd be less upset about how this turned out.
While I had a bad experience with this, I'm not going to let this stop me from backing other games. I've backed 7 other projects and those turned out all fine or appear to be right on track.
Payed 0 to Kickstarter. If a game is really good like Hollow Knight it'll be released and I can buy it normally.
Did HTC/Oculus not have there own controller solution at this point?
Yooka-Laylee.
What a disappointment that was. Not a bad game, but not a good one either. We were promised a new Banjo-Kazooie in spirit, which was a masterpiece in its genre, and got served what feels like an amateur-hour adaptation instead.
What a disappointment that was. Not a bad game, but not a good one either. We were promised a new Banjo-Kazooie in spirit, which was a masterpiece in its genre, and got served what feels like an amateur-hour adaptation instead.
Elite: Dangerous - Not delivering the promised single player mode, while later making it pretty clear that the promise was only added after the initial pitch in order to secure the funding, soured me on Braben and Frontier to the extent that I've never been able to bring myself to play the finished game.
The System Shock remaster also worries me. I'm not super confident that it'll turn out well after all the drama.
The System Shock remaster also worries me. I'm not super confident that it'll turn out well after all the drama.
I don't even care about my money anymore. I'm just sad that it never happened. Last thing he said was something about legal issues but hasn't updated since. I wonder what even happened.
I've only backed one thing on Kickstarter - Might Number 9. Backed it for $40 way back when.
Soured me on the whole platform, sadly. :( I'm sure there's plenty that have been great successes, but anytime I think of Kickstarter I just think of how terrible MN9 was and just think, "Well, if the product/game being kickstarted is good, I'll just buy it when it releases."
Currently doing that with Bloodstained. Looks great, somewhat regret not backing it, but I'll for sure buy it day one assuming it's not bad!
Soured me on the whole platform, sadly. :( I'm sure there's plenty that have been great successes, but anytime I think of Kickstarter I just think of how terrible MN9 was and just think, "Well, if the product/game being kickstarted is good, I'll just buy it when it releases."
Currently doing that with Bloodstained. Looks great, somewhat regret not backing it, but I'll for sure buy it day one assuming it's not bad!
A Hat in Time's dev tricked the Nintendo crowd in order to fund his game. He made the game as love letter to N64 era 3D Platformers/Collect-a-thons, clearly aiming at Nintendo. In the end, the game never came out for any Nintendo platform under dubious and questionable excuses. It was a nice platformer, but how it managed to be funded was scummy. From what I heard, it bombed sales-wise (well deserved, IMO).
I am guessing whoever owns the Knight Rider IP gave him a C&D because the car in Power Drive is basically just KITT.
But I'd much rather have an actual official cancelation and explanation than a vague tweet from over a year ago. I just want transparency.
Literally no regrets. I only back CRPG revival stuff, and even the disappointments (Wasteland 2, Torment) have been solid enough. Then there's the likes of Shadowrun, Pillars, Battletech. Batting 1.000.
No regrets for me, at least not yet. I've only backed two video games and neither have come out yet, but I am optimistic about both.
Bloodstained - I already got the fantastic Curse of the Moon and Ritual of the Night is looking freaking fantastic. The demo plays exactly what I wanted, which was basically another SotN.
The other kickstarter I backed was The Good Life, and only time will tell whether it turns out well.
Bloodstained - I already got the fantastic Curse of the Moon and Ritual of the Night is looking freaking fantastic. The demo plays exactly what I wanted, which was basically another SotN.
The other kickstarter I backed was The Good Life, and only time will tell whether it turns out well.
Yep. Another reason I won't back a game where the console I want is a stretch goal. Stretch goals is really just shorthand for "Goals that stretch the developer too thin".
I backed several game-related projects back between 2013 & 2014 and regret backing almost all of them.
Here's my list of unfulfilled projects (sorted by estimated delivery dates):
Dinosaur Battlegrounds $25 Mar-14
Ghost Song: A Journey of Hope $15 May-14
You Are Not the Hero $15 Sep-14
Paradise Lost: First Contact $25 Dec-14
Midora $10 Jan-15
Temporus $25 Jan-15
Band Saga $25 Jan-15
Heart Forth, Alicia $115 May-15
OMORI $15 May-15
Timespinner $70 Nov-15
Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove $25 Nov-15
Bloom: Memories $15 Dec-15
La Mulana 2 $45 Dec-15
Elysian Shadows $60 Dec-15
Drift Stage $10 Dec-15
Steel Assault $10 May-16
Many of these projects haven't posted updates in over a year and if/when they do, it feels like it's always some vague comment about how great things are progressing with no mention of an actual release date.
It's frustrating to think that I may have thrown my money away on these projects but they're not even the worst offenders!
As many others have mentioned, I also backed Mighty No. 9.
But did I settle for a $20 Digital Copy?? Nope! I had to have all of the physical junk too!
I pissed away $286 to get some crappy NES/Famicom replica boxes with copies of the game on flash drives (which showed up 2+ years late), a poster (which I don't recall ever receiving), t-shirts (which I'll never wear), a plush (which ended up being some stupid cube thing), and a signed hardcover guide/art book (which again, arrived several years late and I don't think was even signed).
The biggest slap in the face is that I was able to find new retail copies of the game for every platform for under $10 each and I saw a copy of the hardcover art book at Half-Price Books for $7.99. FML.
The absolute worst Kickstarter I've backed was Japanese: The Game - Tokyo Edition.
Japanese: The Game was a card game designed by Bernhard Hamaker that looked like a fun way to learn/practice Japanese language skills.
He ran a Kickstarter for the original version of the game in January 2014 (which I also backed) and started up the Tokyo Edition campaign in early October 2014, before the original was fulfilled. It seemed odd but I still had blind faith in all Kickstarter campaigns back then so I went ahead and backed it without hesitation. I actually got my cards from the first campaign in late-2014 so everything seemed fine but then the updates started:
Bernhard was taking yet another trip to Japan. There was an issue with the printing company and they were looking for a new one. Check out this 3rd Japanese: The Game Kickstarter Campaign! Still haven't found a printing company. Taking another trip to Japan. Oh now there's an issue printing the boxes. Bernhard is depressed and going back to Japan.
The cards were supposed to be delivered back in May 2015 but it's just been years of of bullshit excuses, all months apart, until finally in June 2017 there was a post stating that a new company was taking over fulfillment of the campaign's rewards and asking backers to contact them through Facebook. A year later and still nothing so I'm just chalking this us as an $80 loss.
Here's my list of unfulfilled projects (sorted by estimated delivery dates):
Dinosaur Battlegrounds $25 Mar-14
Ghost Song: A Journey of Hope $15 May-14
You Are Not the Hero $15 Sep-14
Paradise Lost: First Contact $25 Dec-14
Midora $10 Jan-15
Temporus $25 Jan-15
Band Saga $25 Jan-15
Heart Forth, Alicia $115 May-15
OMORI $15 May-15
Timespinner $70 Nov-15
Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove $25 Nov-15
Bloom: Memories $15 Dec-15
La Mulana 2 $45 Dec-15
Elysian Shadows $60 Dec-15
Drift Stage $10 Dec-15
Steel Assault $10 May-16
Many of these projects haven't posted updates in over a year and if/when they do, it feels like it's always some vague comment about how great things are progressing with no mention of an actual release date.
It's frustrating to think that I may have thrown my money away on these projects but they're not even the worst offenders!
As many others have mentioned, I also backed Mighty No. 9.
But did I settle for a $20 Digital Copy?? Nope! I had to have all of the physical junk too!
I pissed away $286 to get some crappy NES/Famicom replica boxes with copies of the game on flash drives (which showed up 2+ years late), a poster (which I don't recall ever receiving), t-shirts (which I'll never wear), a plush (which ended up being some stupid cube thing), and a signed hardcover guide/art book (which again, arrived several years late and I don't think was even signed).
The biggest slap in the face is that I was able to find new retail copies of the game for every platform for under $10 each and I saw a copy of the hardcover art book at Half-Price Books for $7.99. FML.
The absolute worst Kickstarter I've backed was Japanese: The Game - Tokyo Edition.
Japanese: The Game was a card game designed by Bernhard Hamaker that looked like a fun way to learn/practice Japanese language skills.
He ran a Kickstarter for the original version of the game in January 2014 (which I also backed) and started up the Tokyo Edition campaign in early October 2014, before the original was fulfilled. It seemed odd but I still had blind faith in all Kickstarter campaigns back then so I went ahead and backed it without hesitation. I actually got my cards from the first campaign in late-2014 so everything seemed fine but then the updates started:
Bernhard was taking yet another trip to Japan. There was an issue with the printing company and they were looking for a new one. Check out this 3rd Japanese: The Game Kickstarter Campaign! Still haven't found a printing company. Taking another trip to Japan. Oh now there's an issue printing the boxes. Bernhard is depressed and going back to Japan.
The cards were supposed to be delivered back in May 2015 but it's just been years of of bullshit excuses, all months apart, until finally in June 2017 there was a post stating that a new company was taking over fulfillment of the campaign's rewards and asking backers to contact them through Facebook. A year later and still nothing so I'm just chalking this us as an $80 loss.
Always bet on a PC release, I too would avoid any console commitments.
Shit, I've actually avoided KS since Battletech (which was a resounding, complete success!).
But Distance is seriously good even unfinished. I bought it outright (didn't even know it was a kickstarter) and i've spent over 60 hours playing community levels. Some of them are just incredible.
A week ago they announced they have 1.0 almost wrapped, with a launch date soon. Even if for some reason they don't release 1.0, i've had my fill.
Yeah, same. Even if they were to deliver on it now, I've already got a Vive. I don't need another base station and more controllers. :\
I've actually had pretty great luck with gaming Kickstarters. Granted I haven't joined many, but the ones I have all delivered:
-Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Hong Kong
-Cosmic Star Heroine
-Divinity Original Sin and Divinity 2
-Shovel Knight
-Pillars of Eternity
-Hyper Light Drifter
-Wasteland 2
-FTL
-Torment: Tides of Numenera
My biggest disappointment is sort of tangentially related to games, Jeremy Soule's first symphony "The Northerner" (composer for the Elder Scrolls series and a bunch of other games).
I paid $20 for a signed CD copy....in early 2013. He originally claimed that it would be recorded within a year, but it's still nowhere in sight over 5 years later.
There's also been a lot of weird stuff surrounding updates for the campaign and Soule himself comes off as a little crazy (good Kotaku piece covering some of it https://kotaku.com/four-and-a-half-years-after-raising-121-000-skyrim-co-1820800661).
-Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Hong Kong
-Cosmic Star Heroine
-Divinity Original Sin and Divinity 2
-Shovel Knight
-Pillars of Eternity
-Hyper Light Drifter
-Wasteland 2
-FTL
-Torment: Tides of Numenera
My biggest disappointment is sort of tangentially related to games, Jeremy Soule's first symphony "The Northerner" (composer for the Elder Scrolls series and a bunch of other games).
I paid $20 for a signed CD copy....in early 2013. He originally claimed that it would be recorded within a year, but it's still nowhere in sight over 5 years later.
There's also been a lot of weird stuff surrounding updates for the campaign and Soule himself comes off as a little crazy (good Kotaku piece covering some of it https://kotaku.com/four-and-a-half-years-after-raising-121-000-skyrim-co-1820800661).
You're right about communication, it's absolutely the weakest link for many campaigns. People are a hell of a lot more forgiving if you're honest and forthright about what's going on.
Just FYI, Hollow Knight wasn't a sure thing on Kickstarter like some projects are. They made 57K after asking for 35K. For comparison, Hyper Light Drifter was asking for 27K and they made 645K. For a lot of Hollow Knight's campaign it wasn't at all certain that they were going to make it.
What I'm saying is, don't make the mistake of thinking that these games would just have released "somehow" without the support of backers on Kickstarter.
I just wish people judge things less emotionally like Mighty no 9.
I like how Project Phoenix crapped out updates like crazy over the years with nothing but fluff and bullshit grade school demos and then nothing. I think they pooped out well over 100 updates. It's for the best. After seeing the direction they were going artistically, I lost interest. I'm not a fan of super ultra chibi characters.
I was a backer on MN9, and while I feel essentially nothing about it (I just wanted a fun platformer, I have no history with Mega Man) I understand why people were so bummed. You have this legendary creator promising a spiritual successor to a classic series that many people hold dear. You have a campaign that raises more than four times its already lofty target of $900,000; to put that in perspective, they were asking for 25 times more than Team Cherry asked for, and they ultimately made 67 times more than TC did.
The game simply should've been better. I feel as a backer you should try to be calm about it, but I do get it.
I've backed a bunch of games over the years, beginning with Broken Age which kinda started the whole game-crowdfunding renaissance that happened. I've had projects get completed/received, and there are still some from 2012 that I'm waiting on...
Jack Houston and the Necronauts - Funded: August 9, 2012; Estimated Delivery: December 2013 - Still not received. Apparently being made by just 1 guy who has been streaming his progress on the game for 6 years.
Barkley 2 - Funded: December 28, 2012; Estimated Delivery: December 2013 - Still not received, last update October 2017.
Stonehearth - Funded: May 30, 2013; Estimated Delivery: December 2013 - Only just recently out of Early Access with the project now essentially abandoned and features missing.
LIONESS - Funded: August 6, 2013; Estimated Delivery: First episode was supposed to be released at the end of 2014 - Still not received because the dev ran away with the money
Ghost Song - Funded: September 4, 2013; Estimated Delivery: May 2014 - Still not received, project was apparently restarted on a different engine with the dev still updating and stating it will be released.
Octopus City Blues - Funded: September 26, 2013; Estimated Delivery: December 2014 - Still not received. Lots of in-universe updates get released with the last being a couple of weeks ago.
The Mandate - Funded: December 2, 2013; Estimated Delivery: March 2015 - Still not received. Last update was April 2017 and the devs disappeared.
Unsung Story - Funded: February 14, 2014; Estimated Delivery: July 2015 - Still not received.Probably one of the more infamous unreleased Kickstarter games.
Last Life - Funded: May 9, 2014; Estimated Delivery: May 2015 - Still not received. Tim Schafer of Double Fine endorsed the project and the dev has ran away with the money. Video detailing the events.
Drift Stage - Funded: February 8, 2015; Estimated Delivery: December 2015 - Still not received, last update April 2018. I do have a beta version on Steam, though.
Praey for the Gods - Funded: August 6, 2016; Estimated Delivery: December 2017 - Still not received. Apparently they had to change the name from "Prey..." to "Praey..." because Bethesda was going to sue them? Either way, last update was a few weeks ago.
I never backed more than the lowest tier possible to receive the game, so I didn't lose much money - but I won't crowdfund any more games ever again. From now on I'll just hope the project gets funded and buy it on release.
I also backed Star Citizen and, quite frankly, I don't know what the status of that game is right now and I just don't really care enough to figure it out.
Jack Houston and the Necronauts - Funded: August 9, 2012; Estimated Delivery: December 2013 - Still not received. Apparently being made by just 1 guy who has been streaming his progress on the game for 6 years.
Barkley 2 - Funded: December 28, 2012; Estimated Delivery: December 2013 - Still not received, last update October 2017.
Stonehearth - Funded: May 30, 2013; Estimated Delivery: December 2013 - Only just recently out of Early Access with the project now essentially abandoned and features missing.
LIONESS - Funded: August 6, 2013; Estimated Delivery: First episode was supposed to be released at the end of 2014 - Still not received because the dev ran away with the money
Ghost Song - Funded: September 4, 2013; Estimated Delivery: May 2014 - Still not received, project was apparently restarted on a different engine with the dev still updating and stating it will be released.
Octopus City Blues - Funded: September 26, 2013; Estimated Delivery: December 2014 - Still not received. Lots of in-universe updates get released with the last being a couple of weeks ago.
The Mandate - Funded: December 2, 2013; Estimated Delivery: March 2015 - Still not received. Last update was April 2017 and the devs disappeared.
Unsung Story - Funded: February 14, 2014; Estimated Delivery: July 2015 - Still not received.Probably one of the more infamous unreleased Kickstarter games.
Last Life - Funded: May 9, 2014; Estimated Delivery: May 2015 - Still not received. Tim Schafer of Double Fine endorsed the project and the dev has ran away with the money. Video detailing the events.
Drift Stage - Funded: February 8, 2015; Estimated Delivery: December 2015 - Still not received, last update April 2018. I do have a beta version on Steam, though.
Praey for the Gods - Funded: August 6, 2016; Estimated Delivery: December 2017 - Still not received. Apparently they had to change the name from "Prey..." to "Praey..." because Bethesda was going to sue them? Either way, last update was a few weeks ago.
I never backed more than the lowest tier possible to receive the game, so I didn't lose much money - but I won't crowdfund any more games ever again. From now on I'll just hope the project gets funded and buy it on release.
I also backed Star Citizen and, quite frankly, I don't know what the status of that game is right now and I just don't really care enough to figure it out.
I don't regret donating to the Bloodstained kickstarter, but I did so during a real slow point in my life, so the $300 makes less sense to me now haha. Still really excited for it.
Oh yeah, and Mighty No. 9
Oh yeah, and Mighty No. 9