Battle Chasers: Nightwar has silently removed mentions of Linux support a few hours before release (updated)

Quoting: ZlopezBut it at least helps to make some games come true. For a small team it is really a kickstart for they project.
But I know that some studios are using the kickstarter only as a statistic to see how much this particular game is wanted and if they should spend any time and resources to make it. Which is bad.

Yes, but that's exactly the same as a preorder: the company gets cash for development and a better idea about the potential return on investment, allowing them to make business decisions. Calling it investment is disingenuous.

Quoting: mcphailErm, I hate to break it to you, but Kickstarter has nothing to do with investment.

Erm, I hate to break it to you, but investment has nothing to do with shares. [Investment -- the act of putting money or effort into something to make a profit or achieve a result](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/investment).
I.e. to "back" a project is to put your money in hopes the product in question will be made. Whether you get said product or not is irrelevant.
I invest in Kickstarter in order to enlarge Linux gaming catalog, not to "buy games" or "get a share in profits".


Last edited by Alm888 on 3 October 2017 at 3:54 pm UTC

That is sneaky af and getting really old. I wished it could be proven this is just a tactic for more money and actually see a larger publisher be punished for it. At least publicly hand slapped by Valve or another platform.

[quote=Alm888]

Quoting: mcphail[...] [Investment -- the act of putting money or effort into something to make a profit or achieve a result](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/investment).
I.e. to "back" a project is to put your money in hopes the product in question will be made. [...]

I don't think you understand the definition correctly. You put in money to get a profit (a business investment) or put in effort to get a result (a personal investment). I might be wrong, of course. Just saying I agree with Guppy. Saying Kickstarter helps at least some games to get on Linux is false advertisement. Pre-order process helps games come to Linux and the difference is you get the final product or your money back. Crowd funding where some of the users get their product and some not is simply scam.

Quoting: Zlopez

Quoting: Alm888Steam and GOG are encouraging this type of behaviour. Even Valve itself did this with HTC Vive!

I've yet to see a single developer who got punished for release-day cancelling.

At this stage the "No Tux == No Bucks" and "Never Pre-Order" rules are obligatory.

What about kickstarter?

Never ever EVER pre-order!!!

[quote=cprn]

Quoting: Alm888

Quoting: mcphail[...] [Investment -- the act of putting money or effort into something to make a profit or achieve a result](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/investment).
I.e. to "back" a project is to put your money in hopes the product in question will be made. [...]

I don't think you understand the definition correctly. You put in money to get a profit (a business investment) or put in effort to get a result (a personal investment). I might be wrong, of course.

You are most certainly wrong here. The act of investing just means you expect something in return. What that something is, is completely open. In general, of course, it is investing money and hope for more money in return.
In case of a KS campaign, it is investing money and hope for a game you would like to play in return.

Quoting: cprnCrowd funding where some of the users get their product and some not is simply scam.

A scam is when you promise something and then don't even try to deliver, with the intention of never doing so.
That Which Sleeps comes to mind as a KS scam. Or Unsung Story.
And there are many others where people basically just vanished with the money.

But everyone putting money in KS knows (or should know) that they are paying for a dream, or some hope.
There's no guarantee whatsoever and there shouldn't be - as you said correctly, crowdfunding is NOT preordering.
If everything works out positively, the end result is the same, though.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 3 October 2017 at 1:57 pm UTC

Pre-ordering only had an advantage in physical media days. If you didn't want to wait a week or sometimes longer to find a copy of a hot, new game, you pre-ordered. Since games are vastly digital today, even on consoles to some percentage I don't know, pre-ordering has like no incentive other than that little feeling you get when you spend money. Basically, the same feeling that drives us to buy games on sale even if we don't have time to play the games we already own. What does this all sound like to me? Addiction.

GOG release article should mention that if they are honest. Often they let it slide silently, which I don't like at all.

Quoting: mcphailErm, I hate to break it to you, but Kickstarter has nothing to do with investment. "Backers" do not get shares in the company or profits. It is only a preorder mechanism disguised as an investment to circumvent expectations of a guaranteed product at the end of the process. It is preordering made worse.

That's because you understand investment in terms of shares. Crowdfunding is an investment, but not in your regular corporate understanding. Backers enable the project, and their dividends is the creation of the project itself (and depending on their tier, the final product for free later).

Pre-orders on the other hand don't enable anything, they are usually done for already nearly completed project, so it's just an interest free loan that developers take from customers. That's the key difference.


Last edited by Shmerl on 3 October 2017 at 2:36 pm UTC

Images about backstabbers traitors and Deus ex's Adam Jensen appear in my mind when i feel sneaky actions. All of them are enemies of tux. Protect linux gamers. And yet again i say we need good porting company which is dedicated for Linux


Last edited by Kuduzkehpan on 3 October 2017 at 3:04 pm UTC