"There is a new breed of publisher partner...an' this town aint big enough for the both of us..."
Well there might be and there might not. In some circles it has lead to a great deal of speculation on what the long term effects it might have on gaming. If you've not been following the board gaming trends, let me catch you up to speed (a bit- because it is starting to get complicated)
So I'm talking about the small group of publishers who have banded together to help support each other. They have their roots in Kickstarter even though some of them predate that phenomenon.
Tasty Minstrel, CleverMojo, 5th street games, GozerGames, DicehatemeGames, CrashGames, Nevermore, and a slew of others have had one or two successes on Kickstarter and now are poised to continue the momentum with more releases.
There is a whole progression to the process as well. Once a designer goes through the work it takes to track down artists and graphics designers and works out the details of printing and distribution, the groundwork is set for follow up games.
There are podcasts now solely dedicated to the KS board gaming. In Funding the dream (http://www.thegamewhisperer.com/) The Gamewhisperer has begun exploring the impact of KS on the game community and how it is going to change the dynamics of what kinds of games make it to the market and how it will impact established publishers.
Right now there are two schools of thought. Some companies like Eagle games have begun using KS as an ancillory way to get some of their games to the market. In many cases, these games would (or perhaps already have) been published but the company can use KS as direct marketing for the public.
Another company GameSalute, is offering a full pakage that takes all the work out of the learning curve that comes with KS and facilitates getting the game to the market. In this case they operate much like a traditional publisher but are contingent on a successful KS campaign.
There is a lot of speculation about what the long term impact of crowd funded games will have on the market. but I'll have to save that for a whole other blog post...
