This is fraud, right?
"Development is under control, we just need €100,000."
After collecting €300,000: Whoopsies! No refunds.
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
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Studio Camelia shuts down a year after raising €300,000 on Kickstarter to fund JRPG (Alzara Radiant Echoes)
(www.gamedeveloper.com)
They'll release the sources now right? Right?
Kickstarter is not a preorder site. The risk of Kickstarter is the same as investing in anything else, that whatever you're funding goes belly-up and you lose what you invested
The point of that is to allow risky projects the opportunity to succeed in comfortable financial circumstances.
Cases like this abuse the system to scam people while using the ToS to skirt legal implications. So it is fraud, just dressed up as a gambling.
That said, the outcome is the same: don't waste your money on Kickstarter unless you'd be willing to use the same money at a blackjack table
While it is fraud, it’s murky waters when you realize this is what every Kickstarter does. Gamers don’t easily fathom the full sum of what it costs to pay qualified artists for a full development cycle. Kickstarters have only existed to prove to investors that there’s monetary interest in a concept.
I mean when a small team with no budget can make a good demo that sells the idea but then can't complete the project with years and houdreds of thousands what is going on? I backed like 8 kickstarters and only 3 made it out and 1 is saying they are about to be done after 7 years. Also one of the successful one's shut down because of not enough post launch monetization. I'm still going to help with stuff i believe in after many failures but just not as enthusiastically.
Well, turns out people need to feed their families, keep a roof over their heads, and games are hard. 300k isn't a lot of money to actually keep the lights on at a studio. Also keep in mind, depending on the tools you use, you could end up giving a portion of your game sales to the engine dev, then on top of that you have steam who wants a 30% cut for selling your game on their store. That's maybe 50-55% left after all that depending on other bills and sales to fund anything after profits are left over.
I know first hand that JRPGs are a hefty projects to make, but I'm a little surprised they opted for shutting it all down and not going for Early Access to continue funding, especially as the idea seemed popular.
I can only guess that means the game is still in a pretty bad state.
Looking at KSP2, it doesn't really matter what state it's in for EA
Oof, but yeah.
In my mind, having "something" to show is better than nothing, even if that something is mediocre.
From the Risks and challenges section of their Kickstarter:
We understand that backing a Kickstarter campaign carries a certain level of risk for our backers. With our seasoned team at the helm, we've meticulously planned every aspect of the game's development to adhere to strict budgets and timelines, all while prioritizing the best player experience possible.
Our extensive network of trusted studios and partners further fortifies our ability to deliver on our promises and ensure the utmost quality for our project. Your support means the world to us, and we're dedicated to going above and beyond to ensure your satisfaction throughout this journey.
Why didn't they include the point about needing additional investment beyond their Kickstarter target for the project to be viable?
100k was never going to be enough. Honestly that’s a rookie mistake with crowdfunding
The goal with crowdfunding is usually to show publishers that the game has interest and that they should help bring it to life.
The goal with crowdfunding is different for every single project. I didn’t see anything at the time of the Kickstarter (admittedly I am hazy on the details) About some larger strategy to gain publisher interest and funding.
Also if that was their goal, 3Xing your Kickstarter goal and seeing the ground swell behind it… They should’ve found at least a small indie publisher to throw them some bones. If they did have those conversations, there’s clearly a reason they weren’t funded. Either way there were a lot of red flags about this project unfortunately - and it started with their funding goal. I also remember them having some pretty physical copy, which out the gate was likely going to burn thousands if not get into the tens of thousands of dollars for them to produce and distribute. That is a classic blunder: over promising deliverables that chews through all the funding you raised. I would know, I did that myself once lmao
Games are expensive to make 🤷♂️