KickStarter Fig - a new equity-based crowdfunding platform - shut down, RIP

[Mustawd]

Also, the lack of transparency doesn't exactly engender a sense of confidence in this type of crowdsourcing. Still, if it gets funded then good for them; even if they are being kind of ass backwards about it.

 

[28.8bps Modem]

Down to a week to go, and despite all the manipulation they're still 10K short. Anyone want to bet which day the money will magically appear? I'm guessing Monday.

 

[Turjan]

The use of a non-standard URL won't help with popularity I guess.

Regarding the game, it looks very familiar. Colors are slightly stronger, but that's about it. I can't remember the name though.

 

[AwesomeButton]

"So, game developers who ran kickstarters by pulling design decisions out of their asses (and this actually made them feel good enough about themselves to boast about that fact in interviews) are now trying to create and spin some hype about "our own Kickstarter platform, but we'll only admit backers who are rich enough to not care at all about the projects' production values".

The demo project for the platform resembles a pile of dog vomit, which is only fitting, as the creative engine behind it is a bunch of moronic entitled hipsters, whose real place is mopping floors in Starbucks, so the project is inexorably heading to a failiure.

In the end, the whole platform becomes irrelevant because, for a number of reasons, it cannot attract confidence. In the end the platform is taken down, and a single static page opens in its place, showing an image of Schafer and his sock puppet - one of the main anonymous investors in Outer Wilds.

A touching story about entrepenurial spirit, innovation, and bringing together "by gamers for gamers" and "gamers are dead, let's get some high-rollers to finance our unearthly talent". Shining ideals and the brave people who carry on "the struggle" for them, once again falling victims to the Patriarchy and to market forces."

Run this on first page when the news is confirmed.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/jobs-act.shtml

http://www.polygon.com/2015/8/18/91...-equity-investment-games-outer-wilds-masi-oka

This is why 'fig' exists now. People kept saying something about this being illegal, well, technically it's not anymore.

 

[Mustawd]

https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/jobs-act.shtml

http://www.polygon.com/2015/8/18/91...-equity-investment-games-outer-wilds-masi-oka

This is why 'fig' exists now. People kept saying something about this being illegal, well, technically it's not anymore.

Spoiler

Put together an FAQ for those codexers who can't into binessess:

1. Is what Fig doing legal? I thought they had to be a public company to sell shares...

Spoiler

Yes. companies who sale shares to the public must register with the SEC. However, there are a number of exceptions to these rules. The exception Fig is using is the JOBS act exception for both the accredited investors portion as well as the crowdfunding portion.

Spoiler

The JOBS Act requires the SEC to develop new rules permitting capital raising by “crowdfunding.” Crowdfunding is a means to raise money by attracting relatively small individual contributions from a large number of people. In recent years, crowdfunding websites have proliferated to raise funds for charities, artistic endeavors and businesses. These sites did not offer securities, such as an ownership interest or share of profits in a business; rather, money was contributed in the form of donations, or in return for the product being made. The JOBS Act creates an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act that provides for a form of securities crowdfunding.

Under JOBS Act crowdfunding, companies will be limited to raising $1 million in any 12-month period. Companies cannot crowdfund on their own, but will have to engage an intermediary that is registered with the SEC. These intermediaries will be subject to a number of requirements.

source: http://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/qasbsec.htm

2. So does that mean I own shares like in the stock market?

Spoiler

Not really. There are a variety of ways to participate in Private Equity...direct ownership, partnership, non-voting shares, etc. However, the model Fig seems to be using is one in which money is pooled from a variety of investors by PE fund managers, put into a time limited fund, and then invested by an investment fund manager (usually the same people who put the fund together in the first place).

This fund has a ramping up period (where funds are used to acquire investments), and a winding down phase (where investments are sold off for what the fund hopes is a profit). In Fig, an investor has a return schedule where he's paid up to certain $ amounts and then a percentage of revenues thereafter. This is a bit different than owning an interest in a company, as your involvement is on a project to project basis.

Here's an example of this PE model:

Spoiler

3. Ok, whatever....but isn't this just like Kickstarter?

Spoiler

I'd probably say it's the difference between your good old hamburger (Kickstarter) and a nice cut of sirloin at a top steak house (Fig). Reason being that Fig is a platform that attracts a different kind of donor. One who is a bit more knowledgeable on business, project management, and realistic expectations. Which ultimately means the devs will be trolled a bit less than your average rabid neckbeard fanboi.

Not saying one type of donor is better than the other, but it's obvious that a dev would appreciate a more forgiving donor base.

4. So is this a good or bad thing?

Spoiler

It's hard to say. It actually depends on a variety of things we don't have the details about. Consider these questions:

-How can donors be assured the revenue amounts are accurate? Public companies get audited, but there's no requirement for audits of private companies, and Fig has not indicated there will be any kind of oversight to ensure payout are accurate.

-Won't having the pressure of actual returns on investment increase the risk of every project? Remember...kickstarter is essentially fire and forget. Once the dev has the funds he can experiment, add new ideas, etc. The only obligation one has is to his/her own sense of morality, as they can just screw around as much as they want.

The flipside is that devs can feel free to pitch and make any game they simply feel is cool. Which leads to a ton of failures, but also to a ton of new ideas never before tried. If becoming profitable becomes a concern, then the natural propensity is to play it safer. This goes for both devs AND investors.


-What stops the advisory council (aka Fargo & Co.) from acting like just another publisher? Absolutely nothing really. They are now in control of the type of games THEY want to make, regardless of the demand for other types. They in form, have become the publisher because they control the access to funding.

Which....is really not a bad thing IMO. Don't forget, devs are historically bad at budgeting, seeting realistic expectations, project management, etc. without some kind of external force making thm do it. It's the truth for many other creative fields.

EDIT: The main issue then becomes...who are the decision/king makers? *looks at Shafer* ....

TL;DR Fig is a stupid name.

read the thread son...

 

[Turjan]

This is why 'fig' exists now. People kept saying something about this being illegal, well, technically it's not anymore.

My own question regarding legality was whether this is open to non-US residents. I know of the new rules, at least in general, but I had some small funds in a similar setup that forced me to sell my investments when I was not a US resident anymore.

Edit: Regarding the game, now I know why it looks familiar. We have a thread here on the forums (with video):
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/outer-wilds.96179/

Thread and Let's Play video are from last year :D.

 

[Mustawd]

My own question regarding legality was whether this is open to non-US residents. I know of the new rules, at least in general, but I had some small funds in a similar setup that forced me to sell my investments when I was not a US resident anymore.

As far as I understand it there are no citizenship or residency requirements to be an "accredited investor" as long as you meet the income requirements.

However, as a foreign investor you might need to go through additional procedures (anti-money laundering agreement, etc.) that a lawyer could help you with.

 

[Infinitron]

Outer Wilds made its funding goal.

 

[J_C]

Outer Wilds made its funding goal.

Was there ever a doubt?

 

[Abu Antar]

Yeah, there was no way it was going to fail.

 

[Mustawd]

Yeah, there was no way it was the founders were going to let it fail.

 

[Abu Antar]

I was trying to be inconspicuous.

 

[28.8bps Modem]

I'm just waiting for the guy who pledged 10K to cancel his pledge 5 minutes before the funding period is up. That would be the ultimate trolling.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm just waiting for the guy who pledged 10K to cancel his pledge 5 minutes before the funding period is up. That would be the ultimate trolling.

Nah, it's happened on several campaigns already. They'll just throw in more of their own money if this happens.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I'd probably say it's the difference between your good old hamburger (Kickstarter) and a nice cut of sirloin at a top steak house (Fig). Reason being that Fig is a platform that attracts a different kind of donor. One who is a bit more knowledgeable on business, project management, and realistic expectations. Which ultimately means the devs will be trolled a bit less than your average rabid neckbeard fanboi.

Not saying one type of donor is better than the other, but it's obvious that a dev would appreciate a more forgiving donor base.

It's like that thing that Awor Szurkrarz was talking about. They know they failed their primary audience and now are looking for ways to finance games without Kickstarter.

 

[Infinitron]

Now the site has changed: https://www.fig.co/

Welcome to Fig! We’re a new curated platform for crowdfunding and investing in games, and we’re hard at work preparing for our next campaign. You just missed the first one, but don’t worry — there’s more good stuff to come.

Our first game campaign saw over $750,000 of investment interest. Want to pre-register to invest?

 

[aratuk]

It's possibly interesting, for what it's worth, that this game funded with 866 supporters, according to an email I received after the campaign ended.

It so happens that I was the 865th supporter. 43 hours and 12 minutes before the campaign ended, I pledged $20. At the time, they were still about $5000 away from their goal.
So, in that almost two days following my pledge, they seemed to have raised another five grand from only one additional backer

However, now when I look at the page, it touts 968 supporters for the completed campaign. Maybe they added the number of 102 …Paypal backers (?)… to the total, if that was a thing here as it sometimes is on Kickstarter.

Hmmm

 

[Infinitron]

It's possibly interesting, for what it's worth, that this game funded with 866 supporters, according to an email I received after the campaign ended.

It so happens that I was the 865th supporter. 43 hours and 12 minutes before the campaign ended, I pledged $20. At the time, they were still about $5000 away from their goal.
So, in that almost two days following my pledge, they seemed to have raised another five grand from only one additional backer

However, now when I look at the page, it touts 968 supporters for the completed campaign. Maybe they added the number of 102 …Paypal backers (?)… to the total, if that was a thing here as it sometimes is on Kickstarter.

Hmmm

You can view the breakdown of investors vs regular backers by clicking the little "I" button. It's 75k investors, 51k backers. Was 50k yesterday.

I think the number of backers was already over 900 yesterday, though.

 

[Perkel]

I said it in 2012 that if every developer would drop 5$ on someone elses project they literally wouldn't need consumers to even fund their crowdfundings.
And we are talking about devs here so 5$ for someone usually making 60-100k a year i nothing.

It would be interesting where it could go:

 

[Immortal]

I feel so embarrassed for that campaign.. All edyness aside..

When I put myself in their shoes.. They have all these stretch goals planned.. with a little pretty image drawn showing the journey through space as each one is reached.. Now we have mysterious backers seeding money into the project just to get the damn thing funded. It was almost a pity backing just so fig doesn't look like a complete failure..

I almost cringe looking at that campaign..

 

[Bubbles]

So, when's the next one?

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Double Fine is preparing a figstarter for an oldschool adventure game. Be patient Bubbles.

 

[Bubbles]

Double Fine is preparing a figstarter for an oldschool adventure game. Be patient Bubbles.

That sounds like... Broken Age 2?

 

[Havoc]

Oldschool. Double Fine.