On Monday, crowdfunding platform for video games Fig announced it has made a two title publishing deal with Atari, one of the world’s most recognized publishers and developers of interactive entertainment. While sharing details about the new partnership Fred Chesnais, CEO of Atari, stated:
“Fig is providing a model where gamers not only help to get the titles they are most passionate about funded, but also have the opportunity to share in the financial returns with developers and publishers. We’re excited that Fig has opened up the vast potential of crowdfunding to IP holder and publisher alike by changing the narrative and allowing us to partner with our fans.”
Justin Bailey, CEO of Fig, also commented:
“Atari is synonymous with video games. From the early 70s through today, they built the video game industry from the ground up through indelible franchises and groundbreaking consoles. The gamer community continues to play an ever-expanding role in helping publish games they are passionate about. At Fig, we refer to what we do as community publishing rather than crowdfunding, since a ‘crowd’ is passive, and we’re about much more than just funding. With Fig, the community is active in selecting the public campaigns we run, participating in the funding, getting the word out, playing early builds, and now even profiting like the investors who supported Kingdoms and Castles. The community has become the center of the publishing process, and this partnership provides the rare opportunity to engage with an industry legend in Atari to help publish two IPs, and share in the potential financial success of those games.”
Founded in 1972, Atari is described as a multi-platform, global interactive entertainment production company. It owns and manages a portfolio of more than 200 games and franchises, including world renowned brands like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong, and licenses such as RollerCoaster Tycoon. Most recently, Atari launched the highly successful game RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch, the first RollerCoaster Tycoon game with 3D graphics on mobile devices.
Launched in 2015, Fig is a community publisher that bring fans together to help Fig publish all kinds of games. The company stated that unlike other crowdfunding platforms it does make money from the funding of the games, but instead participates in the financial performance alongside developers and Fig Game Share investors. Fig claims it has hosted three of the top four video game crowdfunding campaigns across all crowdfunding sites.
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