Home Gaming Yogscast’s kickstarter game is dead, and backers are screwed

Yogscast’s kickstarter game is dead, and backers are screwed

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Yog

I’m rather wary of Kickstarter. I’ve always been afraid of the recipient of all of that delicious crowd-funding to take the money and run, or run out of funding and end up not being able to deliver the product. Nobody imagined that would happen with Yogventures, the Yogscast game. Those YouTubers have become a a beloved media empire  – so this is inconceivable! Only that’s what’s happened – and backers are now out of pocket.

Riding on the Yogscast name, The Yogventure project raised $570,000 on Kickstarter, with the game being developed by indie outfit Winterkewl Games. It was set for release in 2013, but that’s not happening. In fact, the developer is now very much under threat of bankruptcy, and the entire project has now been disowned by Yogscast.

“As you may have heard, Winterkewl Games have stopped work on Yogventures – but this is actually a good thing,” Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley wrote in an email to the game’s (via Eurogamer) “The project was proving too ambitious and difficult for them to complete with their six-man team.

“While this was Winterkewl’s project, we put a lot of time, energy and effort into trying to help them realise their dream. Since we heard the news, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that you still get awesome stuff and cool experiences.

Those who have backed are getting close to nothing back; all they’re getting for funding the now cancelled project is a Steam key for another game. Five backers put in over $10 000 of their own money – and now they’re getting a Steam key in reciprocation. Brilliant.

“Although we’re under no obligation to do anything, instead we’re going to do our best to make this right, and make you really glad you backed the project!

“So to begin with we’re very lucky to have met a team of really smart guys at Nerd Kingdom who ran their own Kickstarter for a very similar game called TUG (http://www.nerdkingdom.com/game/). They have a larger team of engineers and programmers who are creating a game that is much further along in development.

“In many ways TUG is the game we were hoping Winterkewl would create – and it has huge potential for the future. We’ve been playing the Early Access version on Steam and you’ll soon be able to see us playing the game on Yogscast channels.

“So – as a backer or early-access purchaser of Yogventures, we are delighted to be able to deliver a steam key to redeem a full copy of TUG as soon as we can.

“Because Yogventures was never completed it’s going to be impossible to deliver the rewards relating the finished game. However we’ll do everything we can to find cool things to take their place.”

That;s poor form on Yogscast’s part, if you ask me. Many people want an actual refund – but this is unlikely to happen. Lead developer Kris Vale says That Winterkewl may have to shut its doors and file for bankruptcy.

“The Yogscast have been given full ownership of all things Yogventures including all work that’s been done up to this point, code, art, project files etc,” he said.

“My company Winterkewl Games will unfortunately, probably need to go out of business and possibly file for bankruptcy if things get much worse.

“I can’t speak for the Yogscast and I make no claims that I do, for their own reasons they decided the game wasn’t up to the quality they needed it to be to make videos supporting our pre-order business model. That was and is their prerogative and we had no way of influencing that decision other than making the game as best we could with what we had to work with.

“We missed milestone after milestone and continued to come up short of the quality expectations and thus the Yogscast didn’t want to advertise the pre-orders until it did meet those expectations.

“I wish more than anything I would have had this fore-knowledge before we ever began this project,” he concluded. “If we would have limited the scope and made a solid plan for working more closely with the Yogscast I have every faith this project would have been a real stand-out achievement in the indie game world.”

I’ve always been hesitant to back Kickstarter projects – and now I’m even more so.

Last Updated: July 17, 2014

46 Comments

  1. BacchusZA

    July 17, 2014 at 17:23

    Simply put, caveat empator. Only with kickstarter, you’re not actually buying anything, you’re speculating in essence.

    You’re giving them money for whatever project they’re looking to fund, and you’re essentially betting that they’ll be able to deliver something even remotely close to what they promised, if at all.

    It happened in the fligh-sim community recently, where the kickstarter for DCS WWII met its initial goal & I think one of the stretch goals, but the developer has since run out of funds. That project has since been bailed out by Eagle Dynamics, and is still going ahead, but the rewards have been cut – evidently to something realistic that can actually be delivered – and a lot of people who funded the kickstarter are understandbly unhappy.

    So yeah, you pays your money, makes your choices, and takes your chances…….

    Reply

    • Day_is_Over

      July 17, 2014 at 17:37

      But when you’re dealing with normal people and kids who gave money they don’t understand these things.

      Reply

  2. Day_is_Over

    July 17, 2014 at 17:36

    Investments are a gamble. This is true of any investment. So yeah welcome to the real world kickstarter fools.

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      July 18, 2014 at 09:17

      This is not an investment. How do I make my money back?.

      Reply

      • Johan Heymans

        July 18, 2014 at 09:56

        Investment for having to play a game you really think will be good

        Reply

        • Brady miaau

          July 18, 2014 at 10:08

          so not a financial investment then.

          I think that might be better, like a mini stock exchange. But who to run? Hah

          Reply

  3. Sir Rants A Lot Llew

    July 17, 2014 at 17:42

    This is why I don’t purchase anything until it’s 100% complete. So risky. It’s like buying a house but while it hasn’t been built yet.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      July 17, 2014 at 17:52

      Or a car without wheel nuts. I mean the wheels could fall off at any moment

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew

        July 18, 2014 at 08:15

        Exactly!

        Reply

      • Brady miaau

        July 18, 2014 at 09:16

        Another good pun.

        Um, good, yes! lets go with that (quite inventive actually)

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          July 18, 2014 at 09:22

          One tries XD

          Reply

    • Brady miaau

      July 18, 2014 at 09:16

      so why do we (collective) buy games like Battlefield and Diablo 3 and so forth? Cause we think they are finished

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew

        July 18, 2014 at 09:43

        I don’t buy at launch anymore

        Reply

        • Brady miaau

          July 18, 2014 at 09:51

          yeah, me neither. till Dragon Age Inquisition. I am afraid I cannot help myself

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew

            July 18, 2014 at 10:10

            I will stay strong even with DA. I am done being suckered in to crappy launch titles. D3 was the straw that broke the camel’s back so to say

  4. Umar Fong Wong

    July 17, 2014 at 17:46

    “Although we’re under no obligation to do anything, instead we’re going to do our best to make this right, and make you really glad you backed the project!”

    Ouch right in the PR….Was just reading about this now while I was in the bus. It’s pretty scummy. I get we’re the ones taking a risk backing these people and we shouldn’t technically get upset but where exactly are the morals and professionalism from the developers. They are under no obligation to produce said product yes but it doesn’t make it right…and I hope people aren’t actually gonna go ahead and start funding the next game from these peeps.

    Reply

  5. Kerrian Walker

    July 17, 2014 at 17:50

    “I rather wary of Kickstarter.”

    Mate, go play Divinity: Original Sin and see what kickstarter can achieve.

    Reply

    • iPixelPierre

      July 17, 2014 at 17:58

      I think you missing the point. Or I am.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        July 17, 2014 at 19:21

        It means you can get disasters like above or fantastic successes like D:OS.

        Reply

        • ToshZA

          July 18, 2014 at 08:21

          The difference is that D:OS is a team of guys who made 3 games before that.

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            July 18, 2014 at 08:26

            Yes, & I backed it because I played those & loved them. People need to do their due diligence before throwing their cash around on Kickstarter, or limit themselves to what they donate. It’s foolishness otherwise. I’ve got little sympathy for people throw cash at unproven devs. Take a risk sure, but $1,000 – mad.

          • ToshZA

            July 18, 2014 at 08:27

            Agreed 100%.

        • iPixelPierre

          July 18, 2014 at 15:39

          I know, but I still don’t see what the correlation is between “being cautious about projects” & “whether or not a project is successful”

          Reply

    • Brady miaau

      July 18, 2014 at 09:15

      1 or two out of many does not a success story make

      Reply

  6. Hammersteyn

    July 17, 2014 at 17:51

    Did I just hear a bubble burst

    Reply

  7. Theokins

    July 17, 2014 at 18:17

    I read a post earlier today that said the Game was dead, and that the Yogscast weren’t going to do anything- I love the Yogscast, but even I had to admit this was pretty poor and I was pretty upset with how things turned out- However, giving all the kickstarter funders a key to TUG on steam seems to be the right thing to do- I think although they haven’t completely solved the issue, they’ve at least done something to soften the blow.

    Reply

  8. Zubair

    July 17, 2014 at 18:32

    I’m guessing that perhaps a bit more regulation is required for these schemes? Just a tad?
    At the moment how is Kickstarting any better than a ghetto Wall Street? Yes I understand that it’s the POTENTIAL you’re paying for, but then you can’t get upset if it flops… You are the one who bought those failed shares, nobody else.

    Being sensible is a trait that’s far too rare these days. Just ask any Kardashian fan.

    Reply

  9. HisDivineOrder

    July 17, 2014 at 18:40

    Kickstarters represent a few of the best and many of the worst aspects of the gaming industry. They can take you to incredible highs, but often will drag you through wretched lows. To bet on one is to bet on the improbable.

    Eh. I guess investing in one is better than buying a lottery ticket. Not much better, though.

    Reply

  10. Unavengedavo

    July 17, 2014 at 18:43

    I backed Drinking Quest a while ago, a tabletop RPG drinking game, but they just needed help to kickstart a trilogy version of their 3 games already on the market. Doubt I would back any projects that have a solid plan

    Reply

  11. AuthorX

    July 17, 2014 at 18:59

    I have no problem backing kickstarters when I know the risk, and I’ve been proud to help several great games get created (most recently, the fantastic Shovel Knight). However, this is the main reason I’ll always stick to $10-$15 range, (unless there’s some tangible reward I expect to get like a shirt or poster I really want). Not that I have $10,000 to throw around anyway, but if I did I doubt I’d put it down on a project where I’d mayyybe get a reward as a result.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      July 17, 2014 at 19:19

      Me too, I usually just put down enough for the base game. A $20 every now & again doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things & who else is making a new Baldur’s Gate, Planescape Torment, Wasteland, Jagged Alliance, etc?

      Reply

  12. Alien Emperor Trevor

    July 17, 2014 at 19:14

    That’s the chance you take when you back a Kickstarter project. It’s not a preorder. It’s a weird combination of a donation & an investment. If it fails you get nothing, if it works you get something – and even then it may or may not be good.

    Reply

  13. brad coetzee

    July 17, 2014 at 21:14

    Anyone who decides to back things on kickstarter is a complete fool. Sure giving total strangers money for making lavish promises……how the shit can this be considered a good idea?

    rather give your money to a car guard. At least keep your money in your own damn country instead of jetisoning it out your ass across the sea.

    Kickstarter, its actually e-begging. i bet more than half of kickstarter projects could be self funded.

    Reply

    • Rags

      July 18, 2014 at 10:09

      Yes, because everyone on Kickstarter are complete strangers 😉

      Reply

  14. Kensei Seraph

    July 17, 2014 at 21:26

    And then you get this kind of success story.
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/324283889/potato-salad

    Reply

  15. Ultimo_Cleric N7

    July 17, 2014 at 23:36

    And this is why as much as I am excited for Star Citizen, I am very VERY wary.

    There is no accountability on the recipients part, and it’s so easy for the studio turn the title into vapourware while they cash in. If they eventually release a crappy, half finished game, they have still technically “met obligations”

    Case and point: Star Citizen is now sitting on close to $50 mil. We were promised a Dogfighting module in May, yet it’s still a no show.

    Anyone else feeling a little suspicious about this?

    Reply

  16. Axon1988

    July 18, 2014 at 08:33

    This makes me think of Star Citizen. They are sitting on a pile of cash and they keep promising things… I’m not quite sure what is going to happen with this one. I do have a feeling that they will not be able to deliver on what’s promised though.

    Luckily there is Elite Dangerous… which seems a bit more realistic.

    Reply

    • BacchusZA

      July 18, 2014 at 09:56

      Nah, I’m confident SC will be delivered & that it’ll be good. It won’t meet a lot of peoples insane expectations certainly, because people have really gotten carried away with their expectations of what SC will be (I say that having given them over $100 myself….), but I’m happy that CIG haven’t over-promised.

      E; D is utterly amazing by the way. I’m playing in the first Beta round at the moment, and it truly is a thing of beauty. The content is a bit sparse right now, and a lot of the gameplay infrastructure – NPCs, missions, etc – is still to be introduced in the next and subsequent beta & gamma phases, but what’s in place already is fantastic.

      IF SC is half as good, and it really should be, and am confident that it will be, it’ll also be an amazing game

      Reply

      • Axon1988

        July 18, 2014 at 09:58

        ED is one of those games that I look very forward to playing. Unfortunately there is no way I can justify it’s current price.

        Reply

        • BacchusZA

          July 18, 2014 at 10:19

          Yeah, the buy in for early access / beta testing is painfully expensive, but I pledged at the level of the base game and all expansions. so when they gave a bit of a discount for premium beta access it wasn’t **too** much more for me to chip in.

          It’ll be getting a LOT cheaper soon though, I understand, when standard beta goes live, and the game will be the same price as pretty much everything else at release, in the $50-60 range.

          Reply

          • Axon1988

            July 18, 2014 at 11:01

            Still too much for my bum ass. 😛 I am a patient man.

  17. Rags

    July 18, 2014 at 09:00

    This is why not everyone should be a broker. You need to have that skill called discrimination and a willingness to accept risk. 😉

    Reply

  18. Your Wife

    July 20, 2014 at 05:57

    They’re actually legally obligated to provide funders with the advertised product otherwise Kickstarter as an entity would cease to exist. The people that put in $10,000 will be refunded unless they have the mental capacity of a 12 year old and don’t flex their legal muscle.

    Reply

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