With the increasing cost in games development some companies are looking for solutions. Valve has this idea about turning the fans into the investor so they can pay the product and receive their copy directly from the developer.

http://kotaku.com/5318368/valve-let-fans-fund-games-development

Well sound good in theory... but how many gamers are going to pay for a game that'll be delivery 1 or 2 years later.

Interesting stuff!

Its a good idea, definately worth trying anyway.

For Legend of Dragoon 2 or Legend of Legaia 3, i will give them what they want

I like the idea. Sounds more appealing than the "pre-order" stuff :P

This is stupid:

You buy a game based on its final form, not how it sounds on paper or its potentials. Games like Assassin's Creed and Fry Cry 2, games that sound great on paper, emphasizing freedom and a world filled with smart AI And unique situations, fall flat. We all know how "hyped games" can turn out. And at least for those we get to see some sort of glimpse at what the final product is like.

We don't, or at least shouldn't, just blindly buy a game out of trust. Developers should be expected to convince us to buy each new game, and as responsible consumers we should do our research and find out about the final product as much as possible.

With this investing we can't do any research whatsoever. We have no screenshot, no gameplay footage, no reviews, no demoes, etc. We pay our money right at the drawing board, and like I said before, things can sound good on paper, but screw up in execution.

I know that every purchase is technically a risk. But this is like playing Russian roullete. You have absolutely no idea what the product is like, whereas when we buy games normally we have a lot of sources we can reserach from.

I would pay $60 for a good developer to create a space sim game like Freespace 2 again!

There is other kinds of research you can do. If a certain developer says they're going to make a game, you can find what games they made previously, who's on their staff and what games they made before.Also, they should mention what engine they're going to use, along with the story and art work.

They also mentioned you could potentially earn money on the investment. Which would mean you would get a copy of the game as well as earn money from the investment. Which is different then playing a fun game.

You could just do research on which developers are great at making games, and invest in them regardless of whether you're actually interested in the game or not. You mentioned Assassin's Creed, which sold millions... you could have gotten the game plus earned some money for choosing to invest in the developer beforehand.

Am I the only one who finds this interview worrisome? Why is Valve, VALVE!, talking about alternate funding streams? I hope it's purely academic for Newell.

Pre-pre-ordering?

It's a novel idea, but like Akvod says, who wants to buy a game before having any idea what the final product looks like?

On the other hand, I agree with Squilliam that I would pay good money for a solid space trader sim.

This idea tears my heart in half!

I would invest in Civ V easily and In God of War3 2 years ago. GoW is sure money.