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Ico Partners: Successful video game Kickstarters raised $16m in 2018

Ico Partners: Successful video game Kickstarters raised $16m in 2018

Almost $16m was raised by successful video game Kickstarters last year.

That's according to data from Ico Partners boss Thomas Bidaux, which shows that $15,862,307 was raised by projects in 2018, a dip of eight per cent year-on-year.

While pretty much flat between years, this is the lowest amount raised by video games since 2012.

$17,744,588 was donated to projects in total, but not all these projects were successfully funded.

There were 1,501 projects on Kickstarter last year, a 13.1 per cent year-on-year, with 1,149 video games reaching their funding goals.

In 2018, Bidaux notes that the $100,000 to $500,000 tier for fundraising dropped substantially.

Meanwhile, money raised on rival crowdfunding platform Fig disappointed massively for video games.

Just $1,238,114 was made for this category, down from 2017's $6,513,449, while successful projects raised a mere $441,044, down from the impressive $5,613,561 from the year before.

Overall, growth on Kickstarter in 2018 came from the tabletop gaming category.

"Video games numbers are unimpressive, but they stay stable. 350+ games a year getting extra support through crowdfunding is a significant number," Bidaux wrote.

"The drop in the number of projects launching on the platforms also suggests maturity and a better quality of the projects trying their hand at it."

Bidaux will be discussing crowdfunding at PC Connects London 2019 on January 21st and 22nd.

Tickets for just PC Connects London 2019 are available right here, with tickets for the entire show on sale here  - buy now to save big. 

More info about the event can be found right here


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.