Video game development has typically been funded by large publishing companies or are alternatively paid for mostly by the developers themselves as independent titles. Other funding may come from government incentives or from private funding.
Crowdfunding, where the players of the video games pay to back the development efforts of a game, has become a popular means of finding alternate investment routes. As a way of game monetization, the use of crowdfunding in video games has had a history for several years prior to 2012, but was not seen as viable and limited to small-scale games. The crowdfunding mechanism for video games received significant attention in February 2012 due to the success of Double Fine Adventure (later renamed as Broken Age), a point-and-click adventure game which raised more than 3millionthroughtheKickstarterservice,greatlyexceedingtheinitial400,000 request and becoming the highest funded project through Kickstarter at that time. A further boost to the model was seen in July 2012 when the Ouya, a low-cost video game console to be built on the open Android system and designed to take advantage of the mobile video game trend, surpassed 8millioninfunding.Bymid−2016,morethan186 million has been pledged to video game-related projects through Kickstarter alone.
Less than half of video game crowd-funded projects successfully raise their target funds.
Crowdfunding is a means to raise money for a project by eliciting funds from potential users of the completed project. While no third party is required for crowdfunding to occur, web sites like Kickstarter have been created to act as an intermediate in the process: they create space for project creators to share their project, provide ways for users to pledge their funds, and then supply the pledged funds to the creators for those projects that are successfully funded.
Projects using the Kickstarter model generally create multiple tiers of support. A minimum pledge assures that the funder will get the product in some form, but higher pledges will include additional benefits.
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Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alpha, alpha, and/or beta, while the developer is able to use those funds to continue further development on the game. Those that pay to participate typically help to debug the game, provide feedback and suggestions, may have access to special materials in the game.
Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC and console games is normally funded by a publisher and can take several years to reach completion. Indie games usually take less time and money and can be produced by individuals and smaller developers.
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. Because of their independence and freedom to develop, indie games often focus on innovation, experimental gameplay, and taking risks not usually afforded in AAA games. Indie games tend to be sold through digital distribution channels rather than at retail due to lack of publisher support.
Explores the journey of HyLite, a cleantech start-up, from prototype development to product industrialization, emphasizing the importance of minimal viable products and low-cost prototyping.