Gabe Newell: Game community could help fund projects

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Gabe Newell: Game community could help fund projects

Posted Jul 20th 2009 8:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz

As the costs of creating games with high end graphics and artwork continue to rise, indie game developers might wonder where the money to begin development can come from if a publisher or high-end investory is not involved. Valve's head man Gabe Newell has a suggestion: let the game community do it.

In a video interview with an Australian based ~~web site~~ TV show Good Game, Newell states, "It would be really great if we could evolve Steam in a way that made it possible so that a developer could say, you know, 'if you want this game to start moving forward, here's the sort of 'seed round',' were people can sort of opt-in and say 'I'll pay thirty dollars and I own a piece of this game going forward.'"

At least one developer, Stardock allows people to play beta versions of their upcoming games if they pre-order the title. We are sure that asking for money from game fans to fund their game development will run into all sorts of tax issues for both parties. However if there are simple loopholes around such laws a community funded game project should be possible

[Via Blue's News]

Tags: gabe-newell, steam, valve

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Err... Good Game is a TV show, not a website. (Okay, they do have a website which has an extended version of the interview with Gabe they showed on the show, but it is still primarily a show.)Posted at 8:28PM on Jul 20th 2009 by Slashee the Cow

Having people "own a piece" of the game sounds like a recipe for disaster. I can imaging the Left4 Dead 2 situation times 10. Valve might as well be a public company if they wanted to do what they were suggesting.

The system Stardock uses seems to be the most sensible. Giving your consumers early access to a purchased game as beta testers is one thing...making them partial owners of your IP is another.Posted at 12:27AM on Jul 21st 2009 by ChimpWithAHandgun

Good Game is a TV show and i find the idea of community funded games intriging.Posted at 8:40AM on Jul 21st 2009 by Ferginator

In a way I've already done this with two games, Natural Selection 2 and Lugaru, it is more like just an extended preorder with some other special things on the side. I mean, developers like these are in it to make good games- not just for your money. At the end of the day you can even look back on how much was spent and see it was nothing, it was not more then $80 AUS or so.

If you want it to succeed the only way for it to happen is to support it, standing around saying it's going to fail is a self fulfilling prophecy.Posted at 6:00AM on Jul 21st 2009 by Ihavepants

we don't already pay enough for games? (especially steam with their inflated prices usually higher than retail)Posted at 7:47AM on Jul 21st 2009 by Adam