Takedown dev: Kickstarter won't ever produce a "Madden killer"

Takedown developer Christian Allen doesn't see the Kickstarter revolution as a threat to major publishers, and doubts the publishers do, either.

Allen, who shipped his tactical shooter to several publishers before giving up and successfully crowdfunding it, thinks Kickstarter has its place alongside the established business model.

"Licenses and IPs are huge, and as we've seen with Double Fine Adventure, Wasteland 2, and Takedown, these are more 'retro' titles that want to bring back an experience that people have missed, so they aren't even directly competing with the big mainstream games," he told Eurogamer.

"Even if Kickstarter turns into the Sundance of game development, there are still people out there that want to buy mainstream titles. I don't think we will suddenly see a 'Madden killer' suddenly Kickstarted."

Allen understands that "niche" games are never going to bring in the kind of returns big publishers are looking for, but he firmly believes sidelined genres can still be successful.

"I don't doubt that [publishers] are working with a correct assumption, but the key is the numbers we are talking about, the scale of that audience," he said.

"We are not looking to sell five million-plus in order to be profitable, we are talking about a smaller scale. And I do think that is a viable market.

"Will [Takedown] sell 27 million units and rush to the top of the charts? No I don't think it will. But based on the response we have gotten, I do think this is a viable market for a game with a proper budget and scope."

If all goes well, Takedown is expected on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in mid 2013.