"Kickstarter is starting to wear itself out," says Gas Powered Games boss

Gas Powered Games boss Chris Taylor has said Kickstarter is starting to lose the power it gained in the wake of Double Fine Adventure's incredible campaign last year.

Speaking at Casual Connect Europe in Hamburg this week, as reported by VentureBeat, Taylor said Gas Powered Games' Wildman Kickstarter was poorly timed - too close to Christmas and in the wake of other big crowdfunding drives. But that wasn't the only problem.

"Kickstarter is starting to wear itself out. It’s a numbers game. Someone has lightning in a bottle," he said.

"This business is really, really tough. It’s turning into a lottery business, unless you work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and study gaming for decades," he added.

“Now, it’s tough. It’s like going to Hollywood and saying I want to make films. You have to compete with James Cameron."

Taylor said things have changed since a time in the 1990's when developers could "could burst in the door of a publisher" and get a contract, and if they blew the budget, it didn't even matter.

"That has locked itself so tight. Consoles are going to just hit the wall. The guys who wrote these big checks — that’s just gone," he said.

"I have almost been driven out of business. I am still in business. I know everyone in the industry. They didn’t help me. It’s about whether you have a blockbuster that can ship 10 million units."

With just four days to go and over $500,000 of its $1.1 million target to raise, Gas Powered Games cancelled a Kickstarter for Wildman. Taylor is now looking at alternate methods of saving the independent developer.

Thanks, GamesIndustry.