Updated: Click here for the most recent version of this list…
You may remember that we recently did this list on December 31st of last year. In just short of six months we have added 14 more campaigns to the list of Kickstarter raises that have crossed a million dollars. Of note here is the influx of gaming-related campaigns, with video games and tabletop games making up a significant portion of the newcomers on the list. Oh, yeah, and that whole Veronica Mars thing…
1. Pebble E-Paper Watch
Total Raised: $10,226,845
Category: Product Design
My Take: Stands firm as the de-facto darling of crowdfunding.
2. OUYA Android-powered Gaming Console
Total Raised: $8,596,474
Category: Video Games
My Take: Since the raise, Ouya has raised more money and shipped consoles to lukewarm reviews. Ouya does have a first rate management team. For anyone that values openness in their tech, this one makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Take your walled garden and stuff it.
3. The Veronica Mars Movie Project
Total Raised: $5,702,152
Category: Film
My Take: You couldn’t have been on the Internet in the past six months or so and not seen, heard, watched or read something about this enormous project. Good enough for third on the all-time list, Veronica Mars set the stage for future big-ticket movies on Kickstarter.
4. Torment: Tides of Numenera
Total Raised: $4,188,927
Category: Video Games
My Take: Visually stunning, great soundtrack, dovetails nicely with Monte Cook’s tabletop game Numenera. Great project, but more importantly a very smart project. Good case study for future game devs launching a crowdfunding campaign.
5. Project Eternity
Total Raised: $3,986,929
Category: Video Games
My Take: If you want to know how to keep your contributors in the loop after your raise, the Project Eternity team could write the guide. Check out their updates page.
6. Reaper Miniatures Bones
Total Raised: $3,429,235
Category: Games
My Take: The high tech stuff gets all the press, but it is kind of refreshing to see an analog game this high on the list. Makes me wonder what Kickstarter would have done for pogs.
7. Double Fine Adventure
Total Raised: $3,336,371
Category: Video Games
My Take: A DRM-free copy of this game for a $15 pledge and they still raised over $3 million. Enough said.
8. FORM 1 3D Printer
Total Raised: $2,945,885
Category: Technology
My Take: 3D printing is hot right now, so it is no surprise that this campaign had success. The design of the printer itself is very clean and sexy. Their pitch video was excellent, too. An MIT pedigree probably didn’t hurt.
9. Wasteland 2
Total Raised: $2,933,252
Category: Video Games
My Take: I’m not a gamer, but apparently Wasteland creator Brian Fargo put out v1 of this game in the late 80’s. Now crowdfunding has helped resurrect the title over two decades later.
10. Homestuck Adventure Game
Total Raised: $2,485,506
Category: Video Games
My Take: A video game based on a mockery of video games. Our species is so fantastic sometimes.
11. Oculus Rift
Total Raised: $2,437,429
Category: Technology
My Take: A virtual reality headset for video games? What isn’t cool about that? Games just keep getting more realistic, and this seems to be the obvious next step in that process. Oh, and Grandma loves it.
12. Elite: Dangerous
Total Raised: $2,411,193
Category: Video Games
My Take: Video game for PC and Mac and the highest-grossing Kickstarter campaign of all time funded in British pounds. Funded at £1.5 million, just over the goal of £1.25 million. It’s a video game set in space. What can be bad?
13. 3Doodler: The World’s First 3D Printing Pen
Total Raised: $2,344,134
Category: Product Design
My Take: This was a fun one that also received a lot of press. A pen that you can 3D print with, the genius here was that the product designers put the product in the hands of Etsy artists before the campaign and asked them to make things with it. They received pictures of everything from jewelry to sculptures and even a man sitting in a chair!
14. Zombicide: Season 2
Total Raised: $2,255,018
Category: Games
My Take: A board game based on the zombie apocalypse. Of note here: 30,000 comments from a scant 8,000 backers. Talk about engagement!
15. Camelot Unchained
Total Raised: $2,232,933
Category: Video Games
My Take: Another MMO RPG makes the list. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a crowdfunding campaign with a greater volume of sheer information than Camelot Unchained. There are even speadsheet-like charts to make sense of the stretch goals. The campaign itself feels like a game!
16. Planetary Annihilation
Total Raised : $2,229,344
Category: Video Games
My Take: Now, I said I wasn’t much of a gamer… but I do love my real-time sims. I was a big Starcraft geek back in the day. This might be one I have to pick up one day if and when it wouldn’t likely cost me my business. It is impressive from a visual standpoint, too.
17. Star Citizen
Total Raised: $2,134,374
Category: Video Games
My Take: Visually stunning game. Star Citizen made a lot of waves this year in the media, and it seems to have paid off with their monster raise.
18. Kingdom Death: Monster
Total Raised: $2,049,721
Category: Games
My Take: This board game sports some of the craziest game pieces I have ever seen. Expected delivery in November of 2013, so backers had no problems waiting for a game of this caliber. The project creators have rewarded them with frequent updates.
19. Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues
Total Raised: $1,919,275
Category: Video Games
My Take: This campaign was the result of a very well-known game designer bringing his passion to the crowd and the crowd responded in a big way. Richard Garriott is one of the godfathers of RPGs, so this one is sure to be a hit. Again, long delivery horizon… October of 2014!
20. Dwarven Forge’s Game Tiles: Revolutionary Miniature Terrain
Total Raised: $1,908,155
Category: Games
My Take: Another tabletop game project on the list. These tiles can be used to play games like Dungeons and Dragons and aid the player in creating a realistic landscape for gameplay. Lesson for me: things I barely understand can still get $1.9 million on Kickstarter.
21. Shadowrun Returns
Total Raised: $1,836,447
Category: Video Games
My Take: A turn-based RPG. Think Lord of the Rings meets Bladerunner. The ability to play on tablets is a cool feature, and one that you’ll probably see more of in the future as iPads continue to take over the world.
22. Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey
Total Raised: $1,538,425
Category: Video Games
My Take: This funded a series installment for a video game series with a game to be released soon on Mac and PC. The game has a crazy storyline and boasts over 20,000 backers.
23. Elevation Dock
Total Raised : $1,464,706
Category: Product Design
My Take: Sporting a nice Apple-esque design, this was the biggest raise ever for an iPhone accessory on Kickstarter. Unfortunately it was rendered moot for future versions of the iPhone thanks to the new lightning connector.
24. LIFX
Total Raised: $1,314,542
Category: Technology
My Take: An LED lightbulb you can control from your phone. You can even change the color on the fly. One case where the future is rapidly becoming the present. LED lightbulbs are a no-brainer.
25. The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive
Total Raised: $1,254,120
Category: Comics
My Take: This campaign had 64 pledge options for contributions of up to $5,000. 64 PLEDGE OPTIONS. All 64 received at least one backer. That. Is. Insane. This campaign broke the crowdfunding rules and won anyway.
26. SmartThings
Total Raised: $1,209,423
Category: Technology
My Take: WiFi-enabled home devices are becoming more prevalent, so no wonder a universal device for just such a thing made the list. There are probably more products like this coming.
27. Amanda Palmer’s Record, Art Book & Tour
Total Raised: $1,192,793
Category: Music
My Take: Another project that got a lot of press. Amanda is well known as member of the Dresden Dolls, so her fans were eager to back her Kickstarter campaign. This project minted Amanda Palmer as a crowdfunding expert and speaker, and she has since spoken at various events on the subject including TED.
28. RigidBot 3D Printer
Total Raised: $1,092,098
Category: Product Design
My Take: Is there a hotter space than 3D printing right now? A $299 consumer-grade 3D printer is certainly the right product at the right price point at the right time, and the crowd agreed to the tune of almost $1.1 million.
29. Pathfinder Online: A Fantasy Sandbox MMO
Total Raised: $1,091,194
Category: Video Games
My Take: This was the follow-up to a previous crowdfunding campaign to fund the tech behind the game. It seems many of those backers probably came back to fund the resulting game. Gameplay is very open-ended and characters develop based on how the player plays the game throughout.
30: The 10-Year Hoodie: Built For Life, Backed For A Decade!
Total Raised: $1,053,830
Category: Clothing
My Take: Flint and Tinder created this product and they’re honestly one of my favorite serial crowdfunding companies. This solves a huge problem with most hoodies in that they’re expensive but not built to last. Oh, they make their clothes in the USA, too. Have to love that.
31. CST-01: The World’s Thinnest Watch
Total Raised: $1,026,292
Category: Product Design
My Take: Definitely a unique design, and the campaign received a ton of press. The deconstructed pictures of the watch itself on the campaign page are kind of mind-blowing. It must have been a real challenge to design, and the team does say they spent a year in prototyping!
Have a crowdfunding offering you'd like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!