Author bring crowdfunding of Divinity: Original Sin as a reason of Larian success, but truth is that ~$1,000,000 they collected is nowhere enough to make game like that. Though having this kind of investment from 20,000 fans can be enough of proof to secure 2-5x of extra funding to actually build game you promised.<p>Author also forgets what it takes to build fanbase of a size to even have this crowdfunding compaign. Larian was founded in 1996 and they did kickstarter for D:OS in 2013. Majority of game studios rarely live for 10 years even if they manage to release successful title.<p>I wont even start on the fact there been very short timeframe of Kickstarter hype. Today studio without a big name can barely get $100,000 and with current interest rate attracting extra investments is even harder because to make even very small game you need at least $200,000.<p>I talking from experience since I (with co-founders ofc) also trying to build game studio making original hardcore buy-to-play games. We already have not-so-indie team of 15 people, but our burnrate is laughtable compared to any VC startup.<p>Yet making games is extremely difficult business: you need a lot of highly skilled and motivated talent; budgets and deadlines are always insufficient; and even then making deals with publishers is hard and deal negotiation can easily take months while cash gap can easily kill you.<p>Building community big enough for successful crowdfunding will takes years and keeping people who give you money happy is almost impossible. Majority of developers from Kickstarter hype times failed miserably here. It's simply impossible goal to most game developers with tons of loyal fans, let alone some random SaaS startup.