So, youâve successfully rallied hundreds of strangers to pay for your brilliant game idea on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo or some other crowdfunding site. Now you need to make the damn thing. But an even bigger problem looms after you develop and test Amazing Game X: getting it to everyone who wants it, including backers.
EA, of all companies, wants to help with that wrinkle. Theyâve announced today that theyâll make crowd-financed games that are âfully-funded, complete and ready-to-publishâ available on their Origin digital distribution platform and will waive any distribution fees for three months. Of course, once those three months are over, EA presumably goes back to taking their cut.
Itâs savvy for EA as the mega-publisher tries to attract more games away from Valveâs Steam platform and looks like theyâre helping fledgling developers. And if youâre a veteran game creator like Brian Fargo, the loving audience who paid out to Kickstarter probably wonât care where theyâre buying your game from as long they get to play it. On the other hand, once a consumer signs up for Origin, EAâs free to dangle all of their own wares in front of them so they get a marketing boost off of this initiative, too.
