You have to give it to Gabe Newell, at least he thinks out of the box.
In a recent interview with ABC Gabe talks about the difficulties of the early stages in game development. Outlining the enormous costs and risks associated with getting development off the ground. Millions of dollars have to be invested, either by publishers, banks or other financial backers. “There’s a huge amount of risk associated with those dollars and decisions have to be incredibly conservative,” he said.
What Gabe would like to see in the future is a possible connection between the gaming community and the game developers themselves. “What I think would be much better would be if the community could finance the games. In other words, ‘Hey, I really like this idea you have. I’ll be an early investor in that and, as a result, at a later point I may make a return on that product, but I’ll also get a copy of that game.’”
The idea is interesting, but would be difficult to pull off because of legal issues. And it might create more problems then it solves. How would you determine how much each investor would receive if the game is a success? What kind of return would you be talking about? Besides, isn’t that $59.99 I just shelled out for the game an investment itself?
Would you be willing to invest your money and help financially back a game’s development?
