Square Enix has announced that they will soon be launching their own crowdfunding platform: Collective. Although Collective isn’t scheduled to launch until November, some preliminary information is now available. Collective looks to be a crowdfunding process which is overseen and curated by Square Enix in order to secure a game’s success.
The process seems to be that developers submit a pitch to Square Enix, and receive feedback from the gaming community on their idea. If Square Enix decides that the game has enough support and interest, the game will enter a funding phase via Indiegogo. Square Enix will also evaluate each potential game to ensure that the developers have the tools and expertise they need to complete it, so that the community can be assured they’ll be receiving the game they were promised. Even if your idea doesn’t make it past Square Enix’s initial screening, they have promised to provide feedback so developers don’t leave empty-handed. If a game makes it into the development phase, Collective encourages as much openness and transparency with the community as possible, so that they can be involved with– and informed about– the development process.
Overall, this sounds like an interesting approach by a large company to support the crowdfunding scene. By overseeing the process and evaluating game ideas, Collective helps backers feel secure that they’re really getting what they paid for, and ensures that ideas that make it to the funding phase are of high quality, with an abundance of both potential and community support.
Although some questions about Collective remain unanswered, at this point, it seems to be an interesting addition to the host of crowdfunding options available for games.
