Tom Woodhouse
How is "crowd
funding" affecting the relationship between institutions and audiences at the Publishing, Design, Marketing, and
Distribution level? Answer with specific reference to Assassin's Creed 3 and
Double Fine Adventure
Crowd funding affects the relationship between institutions and audiences at the publishing level because, firstly, traditional control exerted by big companies on indie game producers can be avoided. Companies such as Double Fine Studios, with the help of sites such as Kickstarter, can raise money through crowd funding to complete projects such as their new game, Double Fine Adventure, which raised over 3 million dollars in funds, avoiding big publishers such as Ubisoft who may want to portray their game in a different way, or may simply not want to take on such a project. Traditionally, games like Assassins Creed 3, published by Ubisoft, are taken through the entire publishing process without much input from the consumers and the publisher has complete control over the process, as they will make their games appeal to as wide a target audience as they can and make as much money as possible, whilst with indie publishers like Double Fine Studios, this doesn’t happen as they have complete creative license to do whatever they like with their game. This allows indie companies to rival the big superpowers in the game industry, for example the backing for Tim Schafer of Double Fine, who has generated over 87,000 backers for his game through crowd funding alone.
Crowd funding also affects the relationship between institutions and audiences at the design level because, firstly, crowd funding allows the audience to get involved in a typically "closed doors policy" of game design. Double Fine Studios, for example, with the 87,000 backers they have, can give access to a beta or alpha version of their game, allowing input from these backers as to what they want to be changed or fixed. Usually, games such as the Assassins Creed franchise are taken through the design process without any input from consumers, who are very passive in the process and all decisions are made by Ubisoft, who simply want to turn over as much profit as they can on the game, whereas with Double Fine, they have complete freedom in the direction they want their game to go. This input allows indie companies to generate massive backing, as consumers feel like they are a part of the game design, as shown by the over 3 million dollars in funds raised by Double Fine Studios, and the huge support given to these games allows them to have free creative license and make a game that will provide the most enjoyment for the audience.
Crowd funding again has a huge impact on the relationship between institutions and audiences at the marketing level because it allows indie developers such as Haemimont Games, producers of games like Tropico 3, to cut huge costs on marketing. Games such as Assassins Creed 3 have ludicrous amounts spent on marketing, with Ubisoft spending in excess of 4 million pounds on marketing in the U.K alone. With the use of crowd funding, indie companies like Double Fine and Llamasoft, producers of games such as Gridrunner Revolution don't have to spend anywhere near that amount on marketing, as they already have their audience, with 87,000 people in Double Fine Adventure's case. This allows the indie developers to produce higher quality games for a much cheaper price, as their marketing relies on people telling friends, relatives etc instead of shelling out huge amounts of money to gain an audience, as in Assassins Creed and Ubisofts case. Websites like Kickstarter allow companies to gain an audience for free, letting them rival the big companies and franchises in the video game industry.
Lastly, crowd funding has a big impact on the relationship between institutions and audiences at the distribution level because it allows indie developers like Double Fine, to cut huge costs on the distribution of the game. Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 have to spend huge sums of money, in this case over 15 million, just to simply get their game to online retailers and supermarkets such as Amazon and Tesco. Sites like Kickstarter essentially kick these costs out completely for indie game developers, as they know their audience and who to send their finished games to before they even begin creating the game, for example with the 87,000 people who paid for Double Fine Adventures. This allows them to rival big companies such as Ubisoft whilst keeping costs low and letting them make a quality game without risking running out of money half way through.
In conclusion, I feel that "crowd funding" has a huge impact on the relationship between institutions and audiences, as judging by my findings in the previous paragraphs, it allows indie games developers to make a game that can be enjoyed by their audience with little to no cost for the developer themselves. It gives them a direct audience to begin with, and allows them to rival big companies and franchises such as Assassins Creed 3 and Ubisoft with simple ideas and concepts like Double Fine Adventures.
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