Quote Originally Posted by Tulya View Post
You're missing the point: Crowdsourcing for such products serves to facilitate their very existence. For major publishers, profitability is only part of the equation. The size of the projected revenues also plays a considerable role in determining whether or not they'll start or maintain a project. (I believe there's a discussion relating to this, Hasbro, core brands, and Wizards of the Coast product lines somewhere on enworld.) It's a big part of why otherwise successful product lines are left to die, or licensed out to third parties, or brutalized to fit them into a format associated with greater revenues (like MMOs).

Crowdsourcing is a possible a way to enable reviving these licenses, and without tearing out their heart and soul. The success of Double Fine's adventure game has led to the serious possibility that Psychonauts might see the same treatment, for example.
But I think that is what is turning me off from their promotion. DoubleFine was a huge success (and I supported).

So then along comes another rather similar offering by somebody else. It just feels like they are trying to leech off the success of others, without actually having something unique to offer (the lack of documentary, for example), and the rewards lacking in any sort of creativity.

It just feels like after a few genuine successes with crowdsourcing, that others have decided to use it as a standard way of marketing. Others that don't need the crowdsourcing to raise funds, but are using it to ... spread advertising...??

I worry that is going to dilute the true 'upstarts' within the crowdsourcing (and Kickstarter) community. In fact, for me I'm already feeling that way because of this new entry feeling so similar to DoubleFine, but without any new creativity in "how" they offer their product/rewards - hence my reason for passing by on it.