Draugr wrote on Sep 14, 2012, 17:29:
It's almost like they find publishers to be as annoying as we perceive them to be.
Basically. I think publishers in a lot of cases are a necessary evil, but they have been strategically short-sighted. Kickstarter campaigns seem to be bringing back the idea of a mid-budget gaming title as a desirable entertainment property, something that had been completely disregarded in recent years (even as Microsoft and Sony try to encourage development in this area for their online stores - a large number of their titles are either indies or first-party publishing).
Even if it doesn't change how publishers work in a fundamental sense, there's something to be said for showing them that not every financially successful title has to be a high-risk, high-reward AAA blockbuster, and that if you can cater to a specific audience, a mid-market product can be every bit as successful in relative terms. (If you think of publishers as an analog to VC firms, some may still stick with bankrolling AAA titles, but others may start looking at development ideas like those featured on Kickstarter as a way to diversify their business and provide them protection from a major release going bust.)