Project Eternity flop wouldn't 'matter' due to Kickstarter funding, says creative director

Obsidian Entertainment is not under pressure to hit sales targets following the release of RPG Project Eternity thanks to its use of crowdfunding to finance its development, creative director Chris Avellone told Gamasutra.

Obsidian's Kickstarter campaign ended with a record-breaking $3.98 million from backers on the crowdfunding website to develop the upcoming title. According to Avellone, this funding measure — in which backers who pledge $20 or more receive their copy of the game — removed the worry of the title flopping following its release.

"Actually, it doesn't matter if it's a flop, although I don't believe that it will be," he said.

"The nice thing about Kickstarter is that people have already paid for the title. So anything else that happens after that is great, but we know what our budget is, and practically speaking, that's all we're really focused on: 'We're going to make a game for this amount of money.'"

Unlike typical development, additional sales following the game's release are a bonus, says Avellone.

"We already have the backer support," he said. "They've already paid for it. That's our end destination. If it ends up getting released and selling a lot of copies, great. If it sells enough where we can support future installments, we'll absolutely do that. If it doesn't make much of a profit, and we did want to do another installment, we'd probably take it back to Kickstarter."

Project Eternity surpassed its initial $1,100,000 funding goal by millions on Oct. 16. The game overtook Double Fine Adventure as Kickstarter's most funded video game.