Early Access videogames and Kickstarter: Why funding games is ruining them.

For a few years now, many videogames have funded development using the new hype of crowd funding.  Games don't make themselves, and the people responsible for the code, graphics, story, game design, and fixing bugs all need to eat.  In the past, publishers would invest in the development of a game, and the developers would make the game under the iron fist of the publisher.  Some developers have sought freedom through crowd funding, where in the past they would have to personally fund their own games to avoid strict publishers.  Publishers have been seen as "the problem" with games in the past - the reason the games are released with bugs, without additional interesting content, and without the full dream of the developer being realized.  Recent events suggest that publishers may not be all that bad for the gaming industry.

Now, I'm not saying that crowd funded games turn out bad.  However, with crowd funding the cost of failed games is directly put on the shoulders of fans who supported its development.  Furthermore, ideas are being funded even if the idea-makers can't do any of the things necessary to bring them to fruition.  Publishers are discerning like an employer hiring an employee - does their skill sound good or not?  Gamers are discerning in a different way - does the game sound good or not?  The fact is, a great game coming out is a lot harder than a great game idea coming out.

Furthermore, publishers put restrictions on developers that keep them working in a realistic goal-oriented environment.  Some developers can't stand the thought of their babies being anything less than perfect, and so the game's development has the dreamer priority set instead of the publisher priority set.  The dream sounds so good that gamers throw money at their screens, even if a game is never actually made.

One last note about crowd-funding, in general, is that the risk is entirely on the funders, but the benefits are not.  Oculus Rift raised $2.4 million in crowd-funding, and was purchased by facebook for $2 Billion.  The crowd didn't get any return on the investment, like would be seen with a standard investment.  And yet, if it had failed, as many projects do, they would have lost their contribution for nothing.

Examples of games that have successfully used crowd funding include:

Starbound
I like to explain Starbound as Terraria meets Mass Effect.  A rich space-age lore mixed with the addictive build-n-survive game mechanics of Terraria or Minecraft make for a great experience.  The game is in an open beta for those who have prepurchased the game.  It seems to be making good progress, despite the fact that no true gamer can say they're happy waiting for such a masterpiece of 2D pixelart.  Chucklefish, the company behind Starbound, has raised over $4 million in presales and support so far.  Of note, the game is not yet finished, but progress is steady, and near-daily reports are given by the team on the front of their website.
Pillars of Eternity
I don't know much about this popular RPG in the works.  However, it is being produced by the same people who made Wasteland 2, another popular crowd-funded game.  I guess Obsidian Entertainment must know how to put crowd funds to use.  This project raised $4 million on Kickstarter.
Star Citizen
Imagine flying a spaceship.  While previous space games have done a good job of giving you the sense of being in space, the vastness of the universe, and the open-ended ability to accomplish what you think is important (such as gaining riches, or amassing an army to tear across the universe), Star Citizen promises to take it all to a whole new level.  Besides the exceptional graphics and attention to detail that immerse the player in this universe unlike ever before, the game promises a sense of scale unseen in other games.  You can exit your spaceship to walk around the space-station, or land on a planet and explore; and while these things have been done before to some extent, it has never been addressed so fully in all aspects.  This project raised over $2 million from Kickstarter, and has raised over $62 million overall.  Of note, though, this ambitious game is still not completed, 2 years after being successfully funded, which is understandable given its scope.  I doubt it'll run out of budget before completion.

Examples of games that have been crowd-funded, but failed in some way:

Spacebase DF9
Double-fine hit a niche market with the promise of this space-station simulator.  It followed in the tradition of Dwarf Fortress, which doesn't tend to turn out well for games.  Many Dwarf Fortress-like games have been critically bashed, and hated by their fandom.  While technically Spacebase DF9 was completed, it wasn't what Double-fine, nor their fans, wanted in the complete product.  The game feels like a cheap/incomplete version of what it ought to be.  This title became a money pit before they reached their production goals, and that's after they spent a half million dollars.
Yogventures
An unreasonably popular minecraft-like game based on Yogscast, a popular gameplay-broadcasting group.  It raised a half million dollars and was never produced.
Dark Matter
The game's original ending so infuriated fans that the makers replaced it.  More or less, the game ended midway, and excused itself from the room.  When first released, it popped up a black screen with white text that boringly explained the end, and then stated, "You have reached the end of the game."  The replacement ending included a video instead of a black screen. However, it was still a testament to the fact that the game couldn't meet its production goals with its funding.  Granted, only about $9000 were raised through crowd funding.  If games could be produced for that much, it would make game development insanely profitable.
Broken Age
Another Double-fine debacle.  While this game was a relative success compared to most of the others on this list, the funding was still insufficient to complete the entire game, and so it was broken (no pun intended) into two games, effectively increasing the price to the gamer.  Double fine asked for $400,000 in crowed funding, and received $3.5 million.  It is beyond me how their original figure could be so far off.
Godus
My understanding is that this game was more popular than it was good.  However, being a god has always been an appealing idea to gamers.  This game has been compared to the now ancient game Populace.  Metacritic scores are about the lowest I've ever seen.  The scores should be taken with a grain of salt, since most reliable reviewers wait until a game is complete before rating it.  22cans received something like $900,000 from crowd-funding.
Prison Architect
Although the game is coming together, and it is a fun success, the game began as a cute little prison-building game, then changed.  Early access enabled supporting this title before its rather gory later version came out, including graphic criminal cut-scenes.  This may not seem like a failure to many supporters, since they never expected it to remain the cutesy prison simulator that it was.  However, it raises questions such as which countries will the game be able to sell in?  Should all early access games have restricted sales in countries that don't allow extremely graphic scenes in videogames, just in case?  For gamers who care about the specific moral education provided by videogames, can early access titles be trusted?  Crowd funding supplied about $250,000.

Update:  This post is actually somewhat timely.  Yesterday, Valve released a new set of guidelines for Early Access games.