Gabe Newell Promotes Fan Investment In Games News

Ever fancied funding a game project? Valve's Managing Director of Game Development, Gabe Newell thinks you should and he doesn't even expect you to pay millions of pounds to do so.

The concept is simple: invest a small amount of money in an independent game (say a few pounds) and receive a copy of that game when it's finished and possibly even a return on your original investment.

"One of the areas that I am super interested in right now is how we can do financing from the community," explained Newell. "So right now, what typically happens is you have this budget - it needs to be huge, it has to be $10m - $30m, and it has to be all available at the beginning of the project. There's a huge amount of risk associated with those dollars and decisions have to be incredibly conservative.

"What I think would be much better would be if the community could finance the games. In other words, 'Hey, I really like this idea you have. I'll be an early investor in that and, as a result, at a later point I may make a return on that product, but I'll also get a copy of that game.'

"So move financing from something that occurs between a publisher and a developer... Instead have it be something where funding is coming out of community for games and game concepts they really like."

There are a couple of caveats to this model though. Firstly, it only works if thousands or possibly millions of people are willing to invest and, secondly, the game has to be successfully produced and marketed once the investments are made.

Other creative industries are utilising this investment model as we speak. British filmmakers Adrian Bliss, Toby Stubbs, and Ben Robbins are currently experimenting with the idea on buyacredit.com. The idea is that in return for donations as small as £1, investors will get a credit on the reel of their upcoming movie.

Would you invest? Let us know in the comments...

Source: ABC's Good Game, via Kotaku.