After over 87,000 suckers were fleeced nearly $3.4 million dollars - an unholy process today referred to as "crowdfunding" - well documented has-been Tim Schafer reported a few days ago that Broken Age will likely recoup the cost of its production, as reported by gamesindustry.biz.
That a former titan like Tim Schafer can now only "break even" with his games is a depressing testimony to the declining quality of his games, his studio, and his ability to create. The creator of Grim Fandango and Psychonauts should be dazzling audiences with his new titles. Instead we get Broken Age, so plain I mistook it for a loaf of white bread.
But Tim Schafer and Double Fine are protected from the consequences of producing low quality video games by pandering to very hollow hipster nostalgia and abusing the already questionable crowd funding system. The 87,000 contributors must feel such pride to have contributed to such a project. Hopefully they were satisfied with the end product. If not, well, there is absolutely no means for them to hold Schafer, Double Fine, or KickStarter responsible.
This is the flaw of Crowd Funding and why I would advise anyone reading this (all you millions around the world) to never participate in crowd funding in any form. When crowd funding you are making a risky investment that offers you no reward for your risk and no guarantee of a good product. It is capitalism for chumps.
Returning to the point, Tim Schafer and Double Fine are surely better than just breaking even. Now that they are past Broken Age hopefully they abandon KickStarter forever and return to a higher standard of quality? Or maybe not.
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