Following in the footsteps of Gamefound, which upgraded from a pledge manager to a full crowdfunding platform a few years ago, BackerKit recently announced “Crowdfunding by BackerKit”.
This isn’t breaking news, but I wanted to wait until a few projects appeared on the platform before I discussed it here. While there are no full game projects on BackerKit yet, there are now 7 total projects there (mostly gaming accessories).
BackerKit offers a few things that Kickstarter doesn’t, including:
- A built-in polling system
- Threaded comments
- A navigation sidebar
- Fully integrated pledge manager and preorder system post-campaign
- A devoted pledge level subpage with images of each pledge (I love this; see example below)
It doesn’t yet offer one of Gamefound’s killer features, the stretch goal status bar at the top of the page. But I think the importance of stretch goals may be decreasing anyway, so it isn’t a huge deal.
In a shrewd move, BackerKit announced partnerships with some major game companies out of the gate–it sounds like they gathered feedback from these creators, and the publishers committed to trying BackerKit for their next campaigns. They include Cephalofair Games, Restoration Games, Leder Games, Thundergryph, Greater Than Games, and more. You can find the full list here; if you click through, you can sign up for launch notifications.
Overall, I think crowdfunding competition is a good thing for creators, particularly if they truly do have multiple viable choices. I have just two small concerns:
- There was a time that Indiegogo was a viable platform for tabletop games (I was 1 of the 258 people to back Sushi Go). But game projects shifted entirely over to Kickstarter–they’re now exceptionally rare on Indiegogo. I think Gamefound is working because they’re focusing specifically on tabletop games, and I’m curious how BackerKit will avoid the fate that befell Indiegogo, given that they seem to be casting a wider net.
- With a significant number of backers discovering campaigns from the publishers themselves (opposed to casually browsing through Kickstarter, for example), I don’t think the increase in platforms raises any discoverability issues. However, with more platforms I think it’s increasingly important for backers to have the option to receive notifications when people they know and trust support various campaigns. I learn about compelling Kickstarter campaigns all the time that way. I think we’ll soon see the need for a centralized, opt-in notification system that receives information from Kickstarter, Gamefound, BackerKit, and Game On Tabletop and shares it with those who sign up to follow other fellow backers.
What do you think about BackerKit’s new platform? Are you curious to try it as a creator or backer? Are you excited or wary about the increase in viable crowdfunding platforms?
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Also read:
- 4 Intriguing Alternatives to Kickstarter
- Gamefound’s First Launch: Is This the Future of Tabletop Crowdfunding?
- An Insider’s Perspective on Gamefound vs Kickstarter
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18 Comments on “BackerKit Enters the Crowdfunding Fray!”
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[…] BackerKit Enters the Crowdfunding Fray! […]
Just wondering if there have been any projects that have run their campaign simultaneously on more than one platform, or if that’s something that’s against terms of service.
I also wonder if that would be too much to manage one project on several platforms. If we do see a trend like that, I wonder how it would affect the overall market.
As a consumer, I typically browse KickStarter for projects and only visit Gamefound if directed there from an outside source (publisher/developer or content creator preview, e.g.)
Derrick: I think the only example I’ve seen of that is when a creator is offering different language versions of a game, but even that’s very rare, as you can use the same crowdfunding page to offer multiple languages. It would be a lot of work for a creator to make and maintain multiple campaigns, it would be confusing for backers, and I think each project would cannibalize the other (and both would suffer as a result). In a vacuum it would be an interesting experiment, though!
I think competition is good for business, and it drives innovations and improvements, but unless they are similarly growing the board gaming (and crowdfunding) market along with it I just see divergence, which doesn’t really help small creators reach larger audiences.
From a small designer/publisher point of view I see the primary purpose of a crowdfunding platform as a marketing tool – it helps reach people that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach (because they discover the project through friends, through the platforms discovery features, or through other people discussing the campaign on social media). Yes it offers things creators need to bring a life, such as payment facilities, and preorders, and community, but to me they are actually secondary features to support the goal of getting more people to get your game.
Whilst Kickstarter’s tools are not that great, I still see most first time and smaller creators wanting to use Kickstarter simply for the larger reach. Those larger companies that can already drive successful campaigns will probably want to use the more refined tools and features, and maybe one platform becomes big and popular enough that small creators follow, as I think reach beats features for those creators. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t think that more platforms is a bad thing, but its not a good thing either. I think we’ll see a little turbulence for quite a while until a dominant platform emerges. Perhaps before that happens, crowdfunding fatigue and a cost of living crisis will have caused a (r)evolution in how we create and buy board games anyway.
I think that’s a really excellent point about the marketing function Kickstarter serves for new creators, Ben.
I hope Backerkit releases a mobile phone app, I feel gamefound is hurting themselves by not having one. I own a MacBook but in all honesty I barely use it, most of my internet usage is via my phone as I travel for work quite frequently; The fact Kickstarter has a very mobile friendly app makes it easier for me to check out new campaigns more often. Where as I’ve already missed a few campaigns on gamefound that I probably would have backed, had they had an easy to use app. It’s not that I can’t check out gamefound on my phone, it’s just the extra effort to go type in their website, sign in, etc. vs the Kickstarter app I just hit a button, it remembers all my data, and I’m just instantly browsing projects. Really unless I am truly already excited about a project, I’m couldn’t be arsed to put in the extra effort to sign in to browse unknown projects on gamefound.
While it doesn’t have every show, https://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/ is good for knowing when certain shows are airing/premiering.
JustWatch is also a good service helping identify which streaming service/etc a show or movie may be available on.
Thanks for sharing! I spent some time today on Trakt.tv, and I think it’ll work pretty well. I have the JustWatch app–it’s really helpful.
I was against this at first but the more we can move away from Kickstarter with them doubling down on NFTs, I think it will be a good thing. Gamefound has been great but still need a unified activity feed so I can see updates from all the campaigns I follow. Hoping BackerKit will be great.
Kickstarter just announced that they are going to the crypto space. I doubt they will ever go that route (most likely it was a PR move that backfired. They will try to sweep under the rug or say “we tried and could not make it work”).
MK: It was a while ago (see my December 2021 article), and I think they’ve already backed off it a bit: https://stonemaiergames.com/the-fascinating-difference-between-the-future-visions-of-kickstarter-and-gamefound/
@successfulgeek the issue of crypto and specifically NFT’s was a driver for me to consider Gamefound. We’re in the pre-launch phase right now with a campaign. I do see the robust options for pre-launch as a big plus for GF vs KS.
It reminds me a bit of the streaming wars. Time was, Netflix had it all, and it sure beat having multiple cable packages. Now if you want to see all the hit shows you’ve gotta also be on Apple+, Amazon, HBO Max, Peacock, Hulu, not to mention YouTube. We’re back where we started. With all the proliferating crowdfunding platforms, we’re going to need an aggregator just to keep in the loop!
“With a significant number of backers discovering campaigns from the publishers themselves (opposed to casually browsing through Kickstarter, for example), I don’t think the increase in platforms raises an discoverability issues.” On that, I will say that I’m still a bit nervous about discoverability, or the lack thereof, on GF and BK compared to KS.
I’ve run three KS campaigns and according not just to KS’s internal metrics (I know they take credit for certain traffic that might not truthfully be theirs) but also Google Analytics, Kickstarter’s discoverability accounts for 55-60% of backers. More than half! And yeah there are lots of factors to consider, stuff like, someone might already be my follower and intend to back my project but actually click and go through with it from the footer of a different project’s update, for example…but even if it’s truly only 25%, that’s still so many backers.
Gamefound seems to be thriving mostly with big projects that already bring massive followings, so far anyway. So as a mid-level KS creator I’m wary. But BK does have the ability to reach out to, by their reckoning, 2/3rds of all crowdfunding campaigns. Plus the all-in-one (ads – campaigns – pledge management) is so tempting.
If I run my next project on BK and it underperforms, how will I know if that’s due to the project, or something I did, or due to BK vs KS? One of the great things about sticking with one platform is that you can compare results to your previous project.
It’s such a tough choice!
I would really love for there to be a streaming aggregator to let me know when I have new episodes of various shows–I currently use sticky notes and calendar reminders, but it’s a lot to keep track of!
I have huge doubts about those metrics from Kickstarter. Perhaps I’ll run a poll about how people discover campaigns. :)
“One of the great things about sticking with one platform is that you can compare results to your previous project.” That’s a really excellent point.
@Jamey, have you heard of Trakt.tv? You can log the series you are watching and it will show you the new episodes in a kind of dashboard.
That’s awesome! I’m not familiar with it, but I’ll check it out now. Thank you!
I doubted those metrics too, and I assumed that Kickstarter was quite ‘generous’ in attributing backers to its own system.
For the recent campaign, of 1000 backers, Kickstarter attributed 75% of backers as coming through Kickstarter. Based on the list of backers in comparison to my email list, I had around 700 ‘new’ emails. After running ads for late pledges on Gamefound, and seeing them barely return results, I think I have to admit that Kickstarter does actually do a very good job of bringing additional backers to a project.
Oof. Yeah this is my worry