As fun as the gaming industry is, it can be critical and risky. Platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and even Patreon are a great way for creators to fund their projects and gather a loyal community by directly appealing to gamers eager to support their favourite genres or concepts. On the other hand, the dark side of Crowdfunding projects is not very fun; with the rise in Crowdfunding comes an unfortunate downfall, notably Crowdfunding Scams.
These scammers target gamers’ enthusiasm for new titles, promising exciting gameplay, cutting-edge features, or even nostalgic revivals that never materialise. To elaborate, instead of delivering their promises, scammers pocket the funds and leave the backers frustrated and out of money.
In this blog, we will help you avoid scammers and ensure your money goes to the right hands: game developers, and not into the hands of fraudsters. Here is what you need to do about spotting and avoiding crowdfunding scams in the gaming industry.
What Are Crowdfunding Scams in Gaming?
To start, Crowdfunding Scams in the gaming industry come when individuals or groups create fake campaigns to solicit donations under the guise of developing a new game. To further explain, these campaigns often showcase appealing and attractive content featuring arts, vague descriptions, and overpromising updates to attract the backers’ attention. Unfortunately, as soon as enough money is raised, the scammers disappear and, of course, without delivering anything tangible, or worse, use low-quality assets and half-finished prototypes to keep the backers hanging indefinitely.
Naturally, gamers lose trust in Crowdfunding Platforms, and legitimate developers face scepticism from potential backers.
How to protect yourself
If you want to protect yourself and support independent developers and exciting new games without falling into the trap of fraud, follow these tips:
1. Research the developers
The first thing that you should do is do background research on the game’s developer and investigate the campaign. In that case, the game developers, without telling, usually provide bios, links, previous works, or active social media profiles showcasing their experience or work. That’s why, look for inconsistencies! If the developers claim years of expertise but have no portfolio or online presence, or zero evidence whatsoever of their expertise, take your precautions.
2. Check their track record
If the developer has completed other projects, the previous backers can provide insights and reviews into whether the game designers are reliable or not. On the other hand, don’t let your guards down for the first time, designers who make high promises with zero evidence of technical capabilities.
3. Examine the prototype
A credible game campaign must include at least a basic playable demo, gameplay footage, or documentation of the progress. Hence, be aware of the campaigns that only show the concept art or cinematic trailers. Those could be created using stock visuals.
4. Read between the lines
Stretch goals and reward tiers can be tricky. Some scammers use unrealistic rewards, like as example, physical merchandise for a digital-only game, or overambitious stretch goals might be a fraud alert. Moreover, you need to be careful with content that uses overly generic language or grammatical errors in the campaign description, which could reflect a lack of professionalism.
5. Verify assets
It is recommended to use reverse image search or look up online if the concept art of the campaign or screenshots is original or stolen from other sources. Also, you can listen closely to the audio and songs used in the clips or music tracks, they might be stock sounds reused from unrelated projects.
6. Understand refund policies
Another thing that you should be aware of is the refund policy. Before backing, make sure whether refunds are available if the project fails to meet its goals or deadlines. Let’s take Kickstarter as an example; it does not guarantee refunds unless the creator explicitly offers them. Platforms like Fig sometimes allow equity investments rather than simple pledges, giving backers more accountability.
In a nutshell, Crowdfunding has indeed revolutionised the gaming industry by empowering independent developers and creating unique experiences. However, it has also attracted a horrible category of opportunists looking to exploit gamers’ passion for innovation. You can spot legitimate campaigns from fraudulent ones by remaining careful and conducting thorough research. Always keep in mind that if something seems too good to be true, it’s because it is.
