UKIE CEO Jo Twist: Low interest in Kickstarter game means “it may not be a good idea”
Jamie Donnelly November 23, 2012 - 12:54 pmNews: If you can’t convince people to back your game idea on crowdfunding platforms with their money, it might be not be such a good idea, according to UKIE CEO Jo Twist.
The successes of Kickstarter are well known, and receive such grand attention that everybody’s now trying to get in on the act, from reputable developers to start-up studios. But what about those who fail? They seem to get forgotten about, and you’d be forgiven for thinking every Kickstarter achieves its goal based on the coverage the crowdfunding platform receives. What if upcoming developers feel the same, and don’t account for the fact their Kickstarters might fail? I put that question to UKIE CEO Jo Twist.
“You should never put your eggs in one basket,” said Twist, in an interview with BeefJack. “There are all sorts of different pots of money out there, and we try to make companies aware of where they can get financing from, but I think if you’re going to go into crowdfunding projects, you need to be really aware and really savvy and really clever about getting traction and getting noticed, which is what all developers have to do in this marketplace anyway, even on iOS.”
“And the fact is, good ideas do cut through,” added Twist. “And if you’re not getting cut through you’ve got to seriously look at the market signal you’re getting back: it may not be a good idea.
“That’s the other thing about crowdfounding that’s really interesting, is having that market signal, being able to look at how many likes on Facebook that you’re getting for something that at this stage is an idea or a prototype, and understanding what your audience like and don’t like, and then being able to take that data to a VC or another source of funding, to be able to say ‘look, loads of people like this idea!’.”
There are plenty of good ideas on Kickstarter, though, some of which may not get funded. Maia, the sci-fi managment sim from Simon Roth, is running out of time and cutting it close, but it’s generated huge excitement and interest from the people who have noticed it. If Maia doesn’t make it, it might well show that sometimes even a good idea isn’t enough.
