50% less money is being made on Kickstarter as more devs move to Early Access

Game projects on Kickstarter are expected to make about 50% less money this year, compared to 2013.

Crowdfunding as a way of funding games, especially through the most prominent outlet currently, Kickstarter, has had its peak. Less games are getting funded through the service, and those that do, will be making almost half of what they did in 2013.

This is according to ICO Partners, a consultancy firm, based on data from the first half of 2014.

$57,934,417 is the amount of money made by game projects on the service in 2013. The firm is estimating that this number will shrink to $27,023,480 in 2014, a 50% decrease. So far during this year, gaming projects have collectively made $27,023,480, with just three high-profile games making more than $500,000, a goal which was very easy to reach, and surpass, in 2013.

The number of gaming projects that successfully reached their goal is also expected to be lower this year, with 350 expected successes, compared to last year's 446.

Where's the rest of that money going? One possible answer could be that Steam Early Access is a much more valid way of funding now than it was last year, according analyst Thomas Bidaux.

"The vast majority of the Kickstarter video game projects are PC-based and when you consider the amount of work required to get a project funded on Kickstarter, compare it to the relative ease to go to Early Access in comparison, and add to that the fact that on Early Access the funding doesn't stop after one month, I suspect a lot of Early Access successes skipped the crowd funding phase to go directly to alpha funding," he said.

"I cannot fault them - Early Access is a great opportunity for developers as well. Not entirely incompatible with a crowd funding campaign, it can still prevail because the amount required is not as important."

Do you think more projects will make Early Access its de facto Kickstarter in the future, or is the number of crowdfunded projects as a whole is going to be lower?

Thanks, Eurogamer.