Video games development can be tough. You spend years of your life working on a project that may very well never see the light of day. If by some miracle it does, it then has to carry its weight against the public reception. Sometimes the game has the potential for greatness, but falls painfully short. Then in come the fans.
For some reason, your game brings people together through their shared love of the game. Rest assured, as long as a game has its fans, those fans will unite to fight tooth and nail to see their game released or fight to make the good game great. Sometimes fandom alone won’t do (RIP Silent Hills), but sometimes, the fandom is more than enough to save the game.
Here are five examples of just how much some dedicated fans can really do.
Knights of the Old Republic 2
Many thought Bioware had achieved their magnum opus with the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game brilliantly wove a fascinating narrative full of the twists and turns the studio was known for, while simultaneously expanding on the already massive Star Wars universe in a meaningful way.
With Obsidian Entertainment helming the wheel for the sequel, people had high hopes. Knights of the Old Republic 2: was met with fairly lukewarm reception. It was good, but failed to deliver on the meaningful quests and fully-fleshed out story that the game’s predecessor was known for – and for good reason. Tons of content had to be cut by Obsidian to release the game on time. All hope was lost for this disappointing release.
Fortunately, the dedicated fans began to tinker away with whatever cut content was present on the disk. The result was impressive. Modders were able to salvage quest lines, items, characters, and even a whole planet to explore. The original KOTOR 2 launched in 2004. The most current version of the cut content mod was released in 2014. Now that is dedication.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Operation Rainfall is easily one of the gaming industry’s finest moments. This fan-made campaign sought to get an American release for Nintendo’s newly announced games: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower.
Originally, these three games were scheduled for release in Japan, Europe, and Australia. Sadly, American Wii owners were left in the dust holding nothing but their Wii-motes. The lack of quality games in 2011 disgusted Wii owners, and they demanded they be treated with the same respect as the rest of the world. So, they formed Operation Rainfall – a physical/online campaign dedicated to getting these three games.
The campaign formally launched in June of 2011. Operation Rainfall had three distinct campaigns: sending emails, physical letters, and even phone calls to Nintendo’s corporate offices; posting to Nintendo’s Facebook and Twitter pages; and pre-ordering the game on Amazon despite the location.
Fortunately, Operation Rainfall proved to be a success as the campaign received more and more press from various gaming outlets. Together, the fans of Operation Rainfall got each and every game released. Xenoblade Chronicles launched in 2012 with The Last Story releasing shortly after. Pandora’s Tower ultimately released in 2013 at the end of the Wii’s lifecycle.
Shenmue III
For the longest time, Shenmue fans had given up hope of ever seeing the conclusion to Ryo Haruki’s quest for revenge. Shenmue II released in 2001 and entangled fans of the series with its story that was reminiscent of Chinese revenge cinema. But, just as Ryo was one step closer to solving the mystery of his father’s murder, fans were forced to take several steps back, for Sega had no plans of ever releasing a sequel.
See, the original Shenmue cost a little over $47 million to produce, making it the most expensive game to release at the time. This tradition carried over to the sequel, and despite achieving cult-hit status, the game was ultimately placed in development hell for the better part of a decade.
Then the unthinkable happened. During Sony’s 2015 E3 press conference, the same conference that saw the Final Fantasy VII Remake and the revival of The Last Guardian, Sony unveiled Shenmue III. Together, Sony and Shenmue director Yu Suzuki launched a Kickstarter campaign to make Shenmue III a reality. The Kickstarter campaign ended in July and raised over $6 million making it the highest-funded videogame on the crowd-funding website, and the sixth highest-funded campaign – period.
Yooka-Laylee
The launch of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the mid-2000s saw the advent of exciting new ventures in the gaming industry, but it also saw the death of the character action-platformer.
And listed on that tragically long list of characters, was Rare’s cheerful bear and bird duo, Banjo and Kazooie. Microsoft’s acquisition of Rare saw the release of one final Banjo-Kazooie game, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. The game was great, but never felt like a true sequel to the platform-loving bear and bird. So, Rare’s woodland duo left on an unsatisfying swan-song.
It’s funny, the gaming industry had reached a saturation point with character action-platformers. The mere sight of a lovable anthropomorphic animal was enough to get any gamer to roll their eyes, but now, they’re a relic of the past.
Luckily, Platonic Games is here to satiate the thirst for another lovable duo of cheerful, anthropomorphic animals. Yooka-Laylee is the spiritual successor to all action-platformers of a bygone era. Playtonic Games features an all-star staff of Rare and N64 alumni.
Thankfully, fans of platformers didn’t have to send in thousands of letters to see the revival of a beloved genre, instead, they could vote with their wallet. Playtonic Games launched a kickstarter campaign for Yooka-Laylee in May 2015. The campaign ultimately raised just over $3 million and looks to bring the action-platformer to a new age.
Psychonauts 2
This is a game that no one saw coming. Not in a million years. But fortunately, we live in a world where Psychonauts 2 is a reality, and thankfully, fans let it come into fruition.
2015 was a big year for games no one would’ve ever dreamed of getting announced. That list includes: Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Last Guardian, Shenmue III, and now, Psychonauts 2.
The announcement came during the 2015 Game Awards. During which, game director Tim Schafer confirmed that, if funded, Psychonauts 2 would become a reality. Long gone are the days of letter and email campaigns, if fans want to make games a reality, they need to vote with their wallet.
The campaign wrapped up five days before its deadline earning Double Fine Productions $3.3 million dollars, enough to cover a third of development cost. The remaining two-thirds of cost would be covered by both Double Fine and a third-party investor. But the goodness doesn’t end their. Fans of Psychonauts are getting two new games set in the mental world of Psychonauts with Psychonauts 2 and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, a PlayStation VR game.
Fans are often taken for granted, but as you saw, they can sometimes mean the difference between an early death, or never having a game reach your intended audience. The trick is making something worthy of fan attention. What do you think about these games? Any others you can think of that were saved by their fans? Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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