Square Enix Helping Indie Developers
SQUARE ENIX COLLECTIVE HAS HELPED TO RAISE OVER $1,000,000 USD FOR INDIE DEVELOPERS THUS FAR
LONDON, July 13: Square Enix Collective™, the indie-support and publishing initiative from Square Enix®, is celebrating a major milestone today as the total money raised via crowdfunding by teams assisted by Collective has now surpassed the $1,000,000 USD mark.
With the exception of last month’s successful Fear Effect Sedna™ campaign, all of the projects supported were based on original IP, from small teams around the world.
Since 2014, Square Enix Collective has assisted about 100 developers build awareness and collect feedback via the Collective website, and some of those projects have been successfully crowdfunded as a result.
2016 brings the first games to be published by Square Enix Collective, with upcoming E3 hits The Turing Test™ (August 2016) and Black The Fall™ (Late 2016) joining the platform’s first release, Goetia, which enjoys a 98% positive rating on Steam and a Metacritic rating of 82 at the time of writing.
With the idea of publishing up to ten games per year, Square Enix Collective enables developers to retain all rights to any original IP, as well as creative control and the majority of net revenue.
Later this year, similar to Fear Effect, Square Enix Collective plans to open up further selected Eidos® IP for developers to pitch for as a means of helping them generate greater awareness.
Meanwhile, every project that is supported through crowdfunding by Square Enix Collective undergoes a Team Assessment to check on the development team’s experience, capabilities, and planning.
“The data clearly shows that new teams with their own projects are finding it increasingly challenging to build awareness for their games, and even harder to raise meaningful amounts via crowdfunding,” said Phil Elliott, creator and project lead on Square Enix Collective.
“We’re delighted to have been able to use our Team Assessments to help build greater trust between blossoming talent and forward-thinking gamers, as well as open up our channels to spread the word and help drive interest.”
Square Enix Collective was first announced in 2013 and fully launched in 2014. Since then, it has posted almost 100 pitches on the Collective website, helped teams raise over $1,000,000 USD via Kickstarter, and signed a number of teams to investment and/or publishing deals.
