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[YoungMan]

He's playing with a double edged sword here.
If he succeeds, as mentioned, it's going to revolutionize PC gaming. Games will be made depending on whether people actually like it, in turn, the quality of games will increase substantially.
If he fucks up, it's gonna leave a bad taste and make people reluctant or skeptical when investing in kickstarter games.

Oh snap, dis' gon' be good. I wanna see this unfold now...

[SKYMTL]

Personally, I think using just 6 million to develop a game like this in under 2 years is going to be hard. Let's take the average salary of a mid-level dev which currently stands at about $70K. Hire 10 (a VERY small number) and suddenly, after 2 years, you're up to 1.4 million, nearly 1/3 the budget without factoring in hardware, software licenses, sound engineers, voice talent, distribution, notaries, lawyers, etc.

Most importantly, there's the question of profit. If this crowd funding thing is going to be a viable industry, the companies involved have to make a profit. Without that it won't go on since companies can't function without the guys at the top taking a paycheck. Now that causes an issue since the "community" doesn't like seeing their direct money go into the owner's new mansion or Ferrari. This (IMO) is where we start getting into a slippery slope. At what point does the "crowd" start getting pissed that more money wasn't put into development rather than in an owner's bank account?

[Skyllz]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Most importantly, there's the question of profit. If this crowd funding thing is going to be a viable industry, the companies involved have to make a profit. Without that it won't go on since companies can't function without the guys at the top taking a paycheck. Now that causes an issue since the "community" doesn't like seeing their direct money go into the owner's new mansion or Ferrari. This (IMO) is where we start getting into a slippery slope. At what point does the "crowd" start getting pissed that more money wasn't put into development rather than in an owner's bank account?

Exactly.

Also, to another level, at what amount of money does someone become an investor expecting a return once the product is finished vs a "kickstarter"? I see those kickstarter thing come up range of donations from 20 to 100+$ in some cases. That's a good chunk of change for the Average Joe out there.

[SugarJ]

The community funding is not the only funding they have. CR said all along that if they raised the 2 million, other private investors would kick in. It was the tipping point to show that there was enough interest to go ahead and finish the game. I think we showed them we're interested.

[muse108dc]

Yup there are additional big backers that will be providing a large portion of the funding. The high numbers for the crowd funding do give him more breathing room and more freedom in terms of development though. Chris Roberts said he'd have a main teamp of about 40-50 people but would scale where necessary and that could reach 100 or so.

The other things the record breaking numbers say is that PC gaming is very much alive and I think after this the bigger publishers might look at the PC again. We have shouted from the top of the mountain now and I truly think this is the start of a new age in PC gaming.

As for people getting upset about profits, I look at it this way, crowd funding is a mix between pay what you want and a donation system, it is NOT an investment. As for the actual game making profit I'm not worried, crowdfunding represents a small portion of the gaming market and with the actual sales of the game + the micro transactions Chris has planned. A saying from the forums before they died, Trust in Roberts.

[belgolas]

Agreed muse108dc. Also many of us not only donated money to make an awesome game but also as a statement that we are tired of the PC being left out/not being pushed.

[muse108dc]

And insurance is explained Insurance FAQ and Update | Roberts Space Industries

Trust Chris ™

[muse108dc]

Just a quick update, there's a sale going on currently for the Aurora with a LX model available with Leather Seats. It comes with Lifetime insurance once again, sale ends tomorrow at midnight so if you missed out on the crowd funding last year here is you chance to once again back this game that I think keeps looking better and better.

The Aurora Revealed | Roberts Space Industries