You may be here because you’re getting ready to look at Crowdfunding options to help with your game’s development. Everyone has heard of Kickstarter by now, but what are some alternatives to Kickstarter? What is the best platform to get your specific game funded?

This article will explore crowdfunding platforms for indie games that are currently available. You may find that you want to look towards equity-based funding, rather than a rewards-based Campaign. Or you may realize you want to do flex funding so that you can keep whatever you raise even if you don’t meet your ultimate goal.

We’ll take you through some options, starting with Kickstarter, then moving on to other crowdfunding options that you should look into.

Kickstarter

Year established: 2009
Kickstarter: Known as the world’s largest crowdfunding platform. They have a specific section for games.
Success rate: 34% (in the Games category)
How to get funded: You set a funding goal for your project to reach, along with associated rewards for varying amounts of Money contribution tiers. If you don’t reach it through backers, you will not be receiving any money.

Platform’s share of commission:

• Varies between countries, but we’ll take the US as an example
• Kickstarter takes 5% of total funds raised as fees
• To cover payment processing fees, they’ll take 3%-5% + $0.20USD per pledge
• If your project does not reach its goal, no fees will be collected

How it works:

1. Build your project and submit it for review
2. Kickstarter will review it to make sure it fits into one of their 15 creative categories and meets their rules (allow for 2-3 days for this process)
3. You can send your project to people to get feedback via a project preview
4. You can manually launch your project anytime after it has been approved 

Crowdfunded games on Kickstarter: Hyper Light Drifter, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Fig

Year established: 2015
Success rate: 64% (7 out of 11 total games as of this article)
About: Fig is a rewards and investment crowdfunding platform specifically for video games.
How to get funded: People can make pledges (for rewards) or invest in Game Shares™ (for equity). If your game does not reach its goal, you will not be receiving any money.
Platform’s share of commission:

• For pure pledges, 2.7% is charged by the credit card processor, and you’ll keep 97.3% of the pledge
• For Game Shares™, Fig will take 5% of the money raised (just from the Game Shares’ total amount) to cover publishing and offering costs. The remaining 95% will go to you
• When the game starts to sell in the future, Fig will collect the money. They will distribute the money to your investors and to you. Typically, the developer will get most of the money, while investors will get what they originally were allocated through the Game Shares (each game is different in this respect). Fig will take 5% of game sales to cover the cost of their services and paying out investors/developers (x)

How it works:

1. Apply to crowdfund through Fig. Your pitch will be evaluated by the Fig team before you can use the platform for crowdfunding
2. If accepted, Fig will help you determine what’s best for your campaign. They may also offer you an advance to help fund your initial development
3. You will work with Fig to determine the terms for Game Shares™ for investors, and also set up what rewards you’ll offer for regular reward pledges
4. If successfully funded, Fig will set up an LLC which will collect the game’s future sales. The sales will then be split between Fig, you, and your investors through Fig

Crowdfunded games on Fig: Psychonauts 2, Kingdoms and Castles

The Game Shares pages for the above games: Psychonauts 2, Kingdoms and Castles

IndieGoGo

Year established: 2007
Success rate: 9.8% in general/overall projects, 17.1% for fixed funding (x)
About: IndieGoGo is used from creative projects to charity needs. They have a gaming section dedicated to anything from dice to d-pads. 
How to get funded: Set either a fixed or flex goal. For fixed goals, you have to meet your target, or else you will not be receiving any money. For flex goals, you can keep the amount raised even if you do not reach your goal. If you use Indiegogo’s InDemand, you can continue raising funds after your campaign’s deadline.

Platform’s share of commission:

• 5% of funds raised will go to Indiegogo
• 3%-5% will go towards payment processing fees. Campaigns with bank accounts outside the US will have a $25 bank transfer fee

How it works:

1. Create your campaign with Indiegogo’s create/edit tool
2. Share your campaign’s draft with people for feedback
3. When you’re ready to launch you can submit your campaign page. If there’s any issues, you’ll be prompted to go back and fix them

Crowdfunded games on Indiegogo: Indivisible RPG, Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn

Seedrs

Year established: 2012
Success rate: n/a
About: Seedrs, in regards to gaming, is less about crowdfunding for a specific game title and more so for a game studio. For example, Fiddlesticks Games (and not Hue itself), the creator behind Hue, was backed by people on Seedrs.
How to get funded: There are three kinds of campaigns: equity, funds and convertibles. Seedrs’ current process is designed for equity campaigns, but you can email them for info on funds and convertible campaigns. In equity campaigns, an investor will decide on which business they’ll want to invest in. If that business gets funded, they’ll become a shareholder, allowing them opportunities to share in the future successes of the business.

Platform’s share of commission:

• First £150,000, the fee is 6%
• From £150,000 up to £500,000, 4% fee will be taken
• For everything over £500,000, a 2% fee will be taken (x)

How it works:

1. Create your crowdfunding pitch and submit it to Seedrs’ team for review
2. Their team will review before it’ll be allowed to go live. Projects that are too brief or too early in development will not be suitable for this platform. They will go through the issues they find with you until they’re happy with the final product
3. When you launch your Seedrs campaign, it’ll run for 60 days

Crowdfunded games/studios on Seedrs: Kuju Startups Fund, Hue

Patreon 

Year established: 2013
Success rate: There are different goals for success on Patreon, so instead we can share the general November 2016 Patreon stats. These are the amounts earned for that month. Out of 11,220 Patreon campaigns,  6428 earned $100+, 3361 earned $300+, 1092 earned $1000+, and 338 earned $3000+.
About: Patreon is a way for developers and creators to earn on-going revenue and support from their fans. They have a section for games.
How to get funded: There are various tiers of rewards that are either in the form of monthly payments or payments for each new piece of content. Fans have the choice to choose what reward tier to pledge for that month (or which piece of content), and will be charged at the beginning of the month.

Platform’s share of commission: 

• Patreon will take 5% of successfully processed payments
• Payment processing fees come to 2.9% + 30¢. Patreon reduces your fees for payment processing by batching the charges to the beginning of the month
• Payout fees occur when you transfer money from Patreon to your bank account. This fee varies depending on if you are a US creator or an international creator, and your method of transferring via Paypal, Stripe, or Payoneer (x)

How it works:

• Sign up on Patreon and start building your page
• Choose your payment type between either monthly payments or per piece of content
• Set up the goals for your page. Goals are a way of showing your fans what you are going to do with the money
• Launch and share your page (x)

Crowdfunded games on Patreon: Dwarf Fortress, Dark Flame

Ulule

Year established: 2010
Success rate: 68% in 2016 (total of 15,752 projects funded) (x)
About: Ulule isn’t just for gaming projects, though it has a fair chunk of projects on the platform that is gaming-related.
How to get funded: Set a budget target to reach by the end of the campaign, or set a target number of objects/items to pre-sell. If the target is not reached, your donors will not be charged and you will not be receiving any money.

Platform’s share of commission:

• Money in another currency than Euros is 6.67% (VAT not included) for all funds received by credit card and 4.17% (VAT not included) for all funds received by check or via Paypal
• For projects that collect funds in Euros, Ulule’s commission rate for collected funds are based on VAT

VAT will be charged based on the project creator’s home location. If they are based in the EU, the VAT of their country will be charged. If the creator is based outside the EU, no VAT is applicable.

How it works:

1. Make sure your project is eligible as per their FAQ
2. Submit a proposal in order to be accepted onto the crowdfunding platform
3. Set up your page to either meet a target number of objects/items to pre-sell, or a budget target

Crowdfunded games on Ulule: A Blind Legend, 2Dark

PixelFunder

Year established: 2016
Success rate: n/a (very new platform)
About: PixelFunder is a pretty new non-equity crowdfunding platform. They are specifically tailored to indie games. It seems that games that are looking for financial support on this platform ask for smaller amounts of money.
How to get funded: You set a funding goal for your project to reach, along with associated rewards for varying amounts of money contribution tiers. If you don’t reach it through backers, you will not be receiving any money. 

Platform’s share of commission:

• PixelFunder takes a 4% fee to the funds collected if a game is successfully funded
• For Paypal’s payment processing:
  • $0 – $3,000 = 2.9% + $0.30 per pledge
  • $3,000 – $10,000 = 2.5% + $0.30 per pledge
  • $10,000+ = 2.2% + $0.30 per pledge
• WePay (for debit/credit transactions) take 2.9% + $0.30 per pledge

How it works:

1. Submit your game and the PixelFunder team will go over it to make sure it is appropriate and that it is an indie game
2. When approved, they will provide you support in launching your campaign

Crowdfunded games on PixelFunder: Currently, they do not seem to share past campaign pages. However, Volanti Globus asked for $200 and went over their goal (105% from what we can find). Jewelama asked for $500 and they got funded.

We wish you all the best in your crowdfunding efforts, and we hope that you will be able to find a platform that best suits your game. It’s important to get the word out before and during your crowdfunding campaign. Make sure your target customers know about your campaign and that your crowdfunding page is tailored to them so that they see the benefits to backing you.

If you need some extra marketing support during or prior to your campaign, we at Mana Marketing can provide you with indie game marketing services. We’re never more than an email away!

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