Recently, I got into an argument with my friend Simon about a certain videogame called “Mighty No. 9”. Most people would assume that we were arguing about whether or not the game was good or something like that, but that’s not quite the case, actually. No, “Mighty No. 9” is objectively bad – I agree with it, Simon agrees with it, the critics agree with it, it’s not a good game, the only people who think it is one are delusional or have never picked up a 2D platformer in their lives. No, what we were arguing about was whether or not the game even deserved to get made in the first place. Allow me to explain.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with its development, “Mighty No. 9” was made by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, who, frustrated by Capcom’s (the company that holds the rights to Mega Man) unwillingness to create more games in the franchise, decided to quit and just make his own through popular crowdfunding service Kickstarter. The resulting crowdfunding campaign overshot its target significantly, managing to bring almost $4 million dollars in from Mega Man fans wanting to see their beloved franchise revived, in one form or another. During the next three year, the release of the game was delayed numerous times, and when it finally released a few months ago, “Mighty No. 9” looked and played like a student game. Tears were shed, allegations of scams were made, and Keiji Inafune’s other Kickstarter projects failed completely (though his initial success has inspired numerous creators to turn to Kickstarter to fund their dream projects, such as Koji Igarashi and Yu Suzuki, creators of Castlevania and Shenmue respectively).

I back Kickstarter projects occasionally. I never back the big projects that get overfunded by 500% – those are pretty safe, and I feel like they don’t really need my support. No, I generally like to back smaller projects (typically games, but sometimes comics and series) that I am seriously interested in, but might not make their goal without my help. Simon, on the other hand, firmly believes that crowdfunding is an absolute scam and is never worth it, no matter what. I mean, just take a look at the Simon Rose Patreon account – he isn’t backing a single creator on that service! And honestly, he does raise some pretty great points – if the project fails, the people who backed it are left hanging dry. Over the years we’ve seen more projects than I can count crash and burn, and even more stuck in limbo indefinitely, either because they were scams or because the developers simply didn’t estimate their budgets correctly. Similarly, even if it does end up succeeding, it may not live up to expectations, like “Mighty No. 9”. Or, in one particular case that sparked a bit of outrage, “Broken Age” – a game backed by thousands of people on Kickstarter – was released for free on PlayStation 4 and Vita not too long after its full release.

But on the other hand, there were plenty of successes on Kickstarter, too. Dozens of games have been released which wouldn’t have been possible through traditional channels. “Undertale” is a fantastic example – a game which actually won GameFAQ’s most recent poll for the best game of all time (a poll which is highly subjective, but still shows just how much love people have for “Undertale”) and was fully funded through Kickstarter. Shovel Knight, Pillars of Eternity, Hand of Fate, The Banner Saga, Wasteland 2, Darkest Dungeon and Elite: Dangerous are all games that have been funded through Kickstarter and have received massive critical acclaim. So Kickstarter is a bit of a mixed bag, and a huge risk… But then again, isn’t any investment?