So recently its been bugging me since I use Kickstarter and various other crowdfunding and starting to notice a new trend forming. If you look at an older game that started development in 2012 Takedown that then changed names they started with the community to make their game with their ideas but then a publisher appeared and the game went downhill and is one of the worst games on steam.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/355932838/crowdsourced-hardcore-tactical-shooter/updates
When you bring in a publisher they have a say as to what happens in regards to the game like 505 told them to change the name and rebrand themselves. Kickstarter was a place to get away from AAA devs breathing down our necks and actual create original content but thats now changing for the worse. We now have more and more games involved in Kickstarter going through publishers saying how dont worry trust us its fine we are soely using them for the money they dont have a say when really they do. Two games that I backed personally due to their creative intent Pathologic 2 and We Happy Few
Both of these developers brought in Publishers to help "flesh" out the games and bring in additional funding for the console versions. Now what worries me especially We Happy Few is that it comes out in 2018 yet they decided now to make it 60$ even though its not a full game and has little to no features other than survival. Additionally with that they know are going to have DLC with a season pass who knows what other AAA stuff that will be included along with it especially knowing Gearbox and the notorious Alien colonial marines
They have in the past made great idea turn into heaping piles of garbage and allowed people to buy them and still defend those games. This now brings this all into two things should there still be a kickstarter and should AAA companies meddle with projects without bringing in the backers? My opinion is the sole fact that kickstarter was there for indie teams to build their games off of what the gamers want vs what trends are saying for AAA companies. And in no way should publishers be involved and if they are make a new site for spotlight games to be picked up or cancel the project on KS and go full publisher mode because clashing between them and the backers cause the game to do horribly. I hope you guys like my post as I am frustrated at the gaming industry and not sure where its going to go from here.
Sources:
https://www.pcgamesn.com/takedown-kickstarter-finds-publisher-renamed-takedown-red-sabre?amp
https://megagames.com/news/we-happy-few-announces-publisher-increase-scope-and-price
https://www.pcinvasion.com/pathologic-remake-now-pathologic-2-tinybuild-involved