Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

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Please justify all speculations with reasons why you think such an event could happen.
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Night_Stryker
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Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Night_Stryker »

Hello all,

I'm a long time creeper, first time poster, and diehard Suikoden fan. Anyway, I've bored you all long enough with my life story.

The facts as I see them:

- It has been an unbelievable eight years since we've had a Suikoden game from the main series.

- I read that Konami has apparently disbanded the Suikoden team, and they don't seem to care about their RPG fans. I mean, how many Metal Gear Solid spin-offs have they released!? They also just announced a Metal Gear Solid clothing line SMH... Ugh, if they even spent one fifth advertising Suikoden that they spend advertising MGS then Squaresoft's Final Fantasy series would have enough competition to actually be good again! Sorry, back on topic <:)

I was wondering if anyone on here had any idea if we could actually launch a Kickstarter on Konami's behalf to essentially get their attention, and take some of the financial risk/burden off of them to ease their minds. My thinking is that if we could gather enough financial support they would see they can still turn a profit from Suikoden, (provided they freaking advertise). In my mind it's kind of like how no gaming companies invested in space sims for years until Star Citizen came along and proved that there was still a market for them. Now there's several in development.

Anywho, I've never backed a Kickstarter or any sort of crowd-funding before, so I thought I'd ask here because you guys are probably foaming at the mouth as bad as I am for a new Suikoden. I'm also wondering if we could fund/ask for localization for Genso Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki via Kickstarter. I've heard it's disappointing, but I miss Suikoden so freaking much. I play through the series at least once a year, and I need a new one dang it!

Well, thanks for taking the time to read this, (if in fact anyone did).
Antimatzist
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Antimatzist »

Long answer: http://suikosource.com/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 36&t=12812

Short answer: No. We can't just do that without anything in the back, we don't have the rights and you can only kickstart something when you have a goal - which we don't have except for attention.

Also, about your localization question - we'd need to ask someone like XSEED or another publisher if they'd do that to lower the risk of their investment.
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Night_Stryker
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Night_Stryker »

Ah, I see I'm behind the power curve once again. Well, thank you for the fast reply.
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Neclord X
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Neclord X »

I belive not even Konami could kickstart it, since kickstarter is not for Corporations
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Antimatzist »

Neclord X wrote:I belive not even Konami could kickstart it, since kickstarter is not for Corporations
That's why all these indie developers with their own STUDIOS AND COMPANIES can make their stuff there.

No, Konami COULD do it, but let's face it - if one of Japan's biggest and best known video game companies would do that, it would be ridicolous.
LunasMeow
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by LunasMeow »

Not only would it be ridiculous, they would look bad in front of their peers. They would never accept outside money from fans to "lower the risk". Loosing "face" is a big deal in Japan, even today. They'd either do it on their own, or only with some kind of merge with another "professional" company.
SupaDav03
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by SupaDav03 »

So Shenmue just got funded through Kickstarter. Sony said if $2 million dollars was raised they would partner up and make sure the game would be made. This was a huge announcement made at E3. Why shouldn't Konani follow suit? I bet us Suikoden fans could beat the $2 million raised in 9 hours if it meant the development of a true Suikoden 6. I have been tweeting and writing Konami since I heard this news. I'd love for all my Suikoden brothers & sisters to do the same.
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Antimatzist »

SupaDav03 wrote:So Shenmue just got funded through Kickstarter. Sony said if $2 million dollars was raised they would partner up and make sure the game would be made. This was a huge announcement made at E3. Why shouldn't Konani follow suit? I bet us Suikoden fans could beat the $2 million raised in 9 hours if it meant the development of a true Suikoden 6. I have been tweeting and writing Konami since I heard this news. I'd love for all my Suikoden brothers & sisters to do the same.
Because it still would look ridicolous if Konami went to Kickstarter. They have the money, they just don't want to make games anymore.
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by SupaDav03 »

Sony is bigger than Konami and it wasn't a "ridiculous" look for them. If they don't want to do it because they don't want to make the game, that's one thing, but to not do it because they think it looks ridiculous is another. Sony has paved the way. They lead this console generation and certainly didn't need to do this but they showed its ok. "If fans are willing to support it, we'll make sure the game happens" direct quote from E3 and I applaud the for it.
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Antimatzist »

SupaDav03 wrote:Sony is bigger than Konami and it wasn't a "ridiculous" look for them. If they don't want to do it because they don't want to make the game, that's one thing, but to not do it because they think it looks ridiculous is another. Sony has paved the way. They lead this console generation and certainly didn't need to do this but they showed its ok. "If fans are willing to support it, we'll make sure the game happens" direct quote from E3 and I applaud the for it.
But it's not uncritical. Sony has the money to do it without crowdfunding. I'm not as critical towards this, but a lot of people are and I don't think it will be a standard that ig companies will use kickstarter for that purpose.

The same with Bloodstained. From the beginning, it had funding from Koch Media, a big publisher - why then the crowdfunding? Is it an absurd way of market research? Yeh, it's the most powerful kickstarter game ever (and Shenmue will most likely surpass it), but it's not like they couldn't have done it without the help of the crowd.

I'd back a Suikoden kickstarter instantly, but I also think it's a bit of a cruel joke. Other companies can do it as well - Bayonetta 2 was released with heavy help from Nintendo, even with a port of the first game included. If the companies would WANT to make the game, they would make it. They know the demand, they don't need to go crowdfunding.
"If fans are willing to support it, we'll make sure the game happens"
Yeah, but only if you give us 5 million $ in two years advance.
SupaDav03
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by SupaDav03 »

Ok...so I fail to see how this is a negative? I'd gladly give them the money in advance if it meant the game coming to fruition.
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Antimatzist »

SupaDav03 wrote:Ok...so I fail to see how this is a negative? I'd gladly give them the money in advance if it meant the game coming to fruition.
It's a mismatch in my opinion. In the end, the company could always say "Oh, the fans didn't give enough money, that's why the game isn't as good as it could be." It's a freeway ticket for companies to put the blame on the fans, not themselves. And if "showing your support" is equal only to "showing your money", I don't think it's a good thing.

Of course I'd love a Suikoden VI, but only under certain conditions (i.e. the right people in control). And if they simply gather 2 Mio $ for a 20 Mio $ gae, I don't think it makes much of a difference.#

This article pretty much sums it u.
https://www.polygon.com/2015/6/17/87982 ... udget-sony
If you don't give, it won't be as good. Just don't ask who else is writing a check.
SirPsycho
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by SirPsycho »

The Shenmue III Kickstarter announcement was a marketing stunt. There is no doubt in my mind that Sony knew for a fact that $2 million would be chump change for a Kickstarted game when they announce the campaign on the main stage of E3 in front of the entire gaming media. Now that Sony has stepped into the ring it will likely show many other companies that Kickstarter is little more than a tool, and a tool can and should be used. The fact that it was Sony, the biggest of the Big Three at the moment, that did the campaign will likely invalidate any arguments of a company that decides to avoid crowdfunding as a means to save face and stay humble. If the biggest kid on the block can have ice cream with sprinkles on it, everybody else is going to want it too. Its human nature. They'll work even faster since money is involved.

Sony, Sega, and Ys Net will likely not mention anything at all about the budget that Sony's offering to the table. The Polygon article jumps to a lot of conclusions, but the fact is that Sony and Ys Net may have an agreement for Sony to fund based on the campaign's final earnings. If it only earned $2 million exactly, then another $5 million from Sony can do a lot of work. If it ends up at $5 million Sony could pony up another $10 million to add to the fund. The budget is also likely not even finalized on Sony's end, since they have post-release marketing to consider, which is probably at least a year away from being produced at the earliest.

What excites me the most about the project, despite all of its problems, is that it is showing an entirely new way to organize crowdfunding that hasn't happened yet for games. Shenmue III has been funded. Outside of insane circumstances, this game is happening, it will release. Others will follow this path. Expect more of these types of arrangements between companies, even if one is only offering the license to a series like Sega in this case.
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Pyriel
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by Pyriel »

This seems like a horrible trend. So far three people have paid $10,000 for a copy of the game, an art book, a couple of toys, copies of the scripts from the first two games (condition unspecified) and the right to have dinner with the creator. If I assume airfare to or from Japan is part of that cost, I still imagine they're paying twice the value of the items. 20 people are paying $3,000 for toys, the game and a cheap suede jacket. So Sony and several other companies in the business of making games are conning fans out of their money with cheap shinies to offset the cost of producing a game they need to make money on anyway.

I know it's in our nature to want to see our favorite things live on, and we'll all want to shout "take my money" in a situation like this, but crowd-funding for commercial enterprises always seems about one step up from outright fraud to me. Companies can't persuade investors, so they decide to persuade fans and consumers to finance them with donations posing as overpriced pre-orders that may not be refunded if the project fails. This one's a little beyond what I usually see, since evidently the financing is there. They just want to get a discount on it while also getting fans to participate in market research they're unwitting paying for in Kickstarter fees.
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BrucePrintscreen
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Re: Is it possible to fund Suikoden VI from Kickstarter???

Post by BrucePrintscreen »

Pyriel said it right: it's a fraud, period. Do not be naive about how business is made, please. E-begging from such a big company would be a scandal and ought to be made illegal.
Question: can S6 be crowdfunded? Answer: No. End of debate. The rest is childish.
We see such projects arising all the time and they are plainly ridiculous.
If Konami wants my money to make a Suikoden game, then I buy a share of their company and they are responsible of what they do with my money. I am not going to give them cash so they can do another shitty game with it. How much is a Konami share?
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