Since crowdfunding website and service Kickstarter launched in 2009, a staggering $108.52 million has been pledged to games projects, both video and tabletop. Of that, $90.83 million went towards successful projects -- those that met their funding goal and are either already on general release or in development.
On the technology side, $47.99 million has been raised by pledges for projects, while $38.33 million of that sum went to successful ventures. In both cases, Kickstarter did not claim the shortfalls.
What do these figures tell us? For a start, Kickstarter does rather well as it claims a percentage of each pledge. But more importantly that crowd funding is a very good means to raise capital for a good project.
Some of the games that have been backed and are now available to buy include Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, which is now available on PS3, Xbox 360 (through PSN and Xbox Live respectively) and PC. There's also the brilliant, retro-gaming sensation that is Organ Trail for iOS, Android, PC (via Steam and Windows), Mac and Linux. And we're particularly fond of FTL: Faster Than Light for the PC, which you can buy for just $4.99.
There have been other major success stories in Kickstarter's four years. The OUYA Android games console, which should start shipping soon, raised a staggering $8.5 million when it was just looking for $950,000. And the Pebble e-paper smart watch raised more than $10 million.
Sadly, there are also losers on Kickstarter. Dizzy Returns by The Oliver Twins, which we featured in Pocket-lint's look at the revival hopes for some of our favorite games of the past, only made $25,000 of its $350,000 goal.
Both Elite: Dangerous and Peter Molyneux's Godus, which were also featured, hit their funding goals. Hey, two out of three ain't bad.