Brian Fargo Interview on Crowd-Funding

Gamesindustry.biz are offering up an article-style interview with inXile’s main man, Brian Fargo.  As one of the first game-related Kickstarter success stories, the CEO behind the upcoming Wasteland 2 shared his thoughts specifically on crowd-funding.  Even though the project may not be profitable in the long run, Fargo still seems intent on using crowd-funding opportunities like Kickstarter in the future:

Speaking to GamesIndustry International at this year’s Unite conference in Amsterdam, Fargo explained that the benefits that a platform like Kickstarter offers are too powerful to disregard, even if you have money in the bank.

“Yeah, I still would [return to crowd-funding],” Fargo said. “It allows us to give things to people that they can’t get from just buying a product. Some people want to be an NPC, or they want a shrine in their honour in the game, or they want a boxed copy, or a novella. These things aren’t just gimmicks; they add real value.”

“It’s also a great way of vetting the product in general. I like having that communication, because when people put their money down they’re more invested emotionally. And when you have this army of people who are a part of it, when you do launch you don’t need a big marketing campaign.”

He’s definitely right in that offering fans what they want, rather than what a marketing or publishing department thinks they want, has its advantages.