In general, this year, games had an all-around successful year on Kickstarter. From tabletop games to gaming accessories to video games, the gaming genre broke funding records despite being in a pandemic – maybe even because of that fact. More people have been playing games this year as seen with the PlayStation 5 having its biggest launch month in U.S. history and popular indie game, Among Us, reaching close to half billion players last month.
Video games have seen an increase in their funding on Kickstarter this year after being in a plateau for the last half-decade. For the past four years, video games on Kickstarter garnered around $17 million a year, dipping in 2018 to $15.8 million. However, in 2020, this shot up to $22.9 million pledged so far this year. The two top-funded games were Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes and The Wonderful 101: Remastered. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was the third most funded video game in Kickstarter history. There were four games in total that cleared $1 million US dollars. Those include the aforementioned two titles, as well as, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Sea of Stars. Much of the increase in video game funding can be attributed to the growth of the kickstarting market in Japan said Kickstarter’s vice president of community, Luke Crane, in an interview at Polygon.
The culture of asking for money in Japan […] for a creative project is very different than it is here. We’ve been working with the communities there and trying to understand what it is they need to be comfortable to launch, and also building up partnerships [in that country].
Tabletop games, however, obliterated the gaming category, reaching the incredible milestone of raising over $233.8 million this year. The most funded tabletop game from this year was Frosthaven, which is a sequel to Gloomhaven a fantasy-themed, campaign-based tactical skirmish game. This one Kickstarter alone amassed almost $13 million.