Newsbrief: 8-Bit Funding, a video game crowd-funding website that launched at the start of 2011, and been forced to close down as it simply could not compete with Kickstarter.
The website was dedicated to providing game developers with a place to collect pledges for their upcoming in-development titles, and allowed studios from anywhere in the world to start a campaign.
However, a message on the official website now states that it has been abandoned, due mainly to the fact that the initiative was not able to build up a userbase big enough to challenge Kickstarter.
Gamasutra previously compared the various crowdfunding solutions available to developers, describing 8-Bit Funding as "the underdog of the bunch."
This seems like an odd reason to give for shutting down. Imagine I started a restaurant, and after two years said: "Guys I just can't compete with McDonalds."
I don't think it is that simple. They aren't just picking a random competitor from a hat. They are describing just why they could not gain users. They tried to become a go to place for game developers to set up crowdfunding but could not gain the number of customers because those customers preferred the more well known competition.
In the restaurant business, you wouldn't name a single competitor because there is just too much competition. But you would say that your restaurant could not differentiate itself from the competition and could not gain sustainable levels of patrons to stay in business.
However, it hte crowdfunding market, there is a lot less competition and it is much easier to highlight a particular competitor that made success more difficult. They could have said Indiegogo as well, but even that name is less well known in crowdfunding.
If competing with Kickstarter was the goal, you don't call your site '8-Bit Funding' -- that is a niche name. You only pick a name like that if you are trying to dominate a niche, not compete with the major player. So I guess they failed to dominate their niche, but I don't think they ever had a chance in hell of "competing with Kickstarter".
Is it worth noting that the operators of 8-bit have decided to go a different route to game promotion? They have set up a new site that is not really a crowdfunding site but more a promotional and sales tool for games in development.
In the restaurant business, you wouldn't name a single competitor because there is just too much competition. But you would say that your restaurant could not differentiate itself from the competition and could not gain sustainable levels of patrons to stay in business.
However, it hte crowdfunding market, there is a lot less competition and it is much easier to highlight a particular competitor that made success more difficult. They could have said Indiegogo as well, but even that name is less well known in crowdfunding.
https://indiegamestand.com/
Also nice idea to just make a general page for "pay what you want" titles. Might be a good start to get all these indie bundles at one location.