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Penny Arcade Kickstarter

LiK

Member
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575109064/penny-arcade-sells-out

This project will only be funded if at least $250,000 is pledged by Wednesday Aug 15, 4:15pm EDT.

UPDATE: FUNDED

http://penny-arcade.com/2012/07/09/penny-arcade-sells-out

Penny Arcade Sells Out

About eleven years ago Penny Arcade was on the brink of collapse. We had recently recovered the rights to our own work after accidentally selling them to a shady internet aggregator. The good news was that we could keep making Penny Arcade but the bad news was we had quit our jobs and we were broke. We talked about giving up and begging for our jobs back but I convinced Tycho to try something first. The Wayback Machine has a couple priceless snapshots of the day we decided to ask you for donations. Going back and reading those posts today is really amazing. For almost two years we ran this website entirely on your generosity. You paid for our rent, food, video games and in return we made PA three times a week as well as a bunch of extra content. A lot has changed in eleven years. PA has fourteen employees now, we put on two massive conventions every year, we run a worldwide charity, we produce our own video games and web show. It’s a major operation now and running it off of donations again seems impossible. Or is it?

Today we’ve launched a Kickstarter to fund Penny Arcade for one year advertising free. It is at its core a return to the concept we had eleven years ago. Back then we considered it begging but today it’s called crowd funding. I don’t want you to get the idea that Penny Arcade is any kind of trouble. Honestly if this Kickstarter doesn’t work nothing here will change. The reality is that we can continue working for advertisers but if we can, we’d rather work for you. Please take some time to check out the kickstarter page and read through all the details. There’s a lot to this idea including new projects from Tycho and I as well as some really cool rewards for backers. We’ve posted a FAQ on the Kickstarter page but please feel free to send me any questions you have about the project. This is a very big deal for us, it could mean a massive shift in the way our company works. Maybe this idea is just too crazy or maybe it isn’t. Either way I’m very curious to see how this goes.

-Gabe out

Rewards:

$1 +
Gabe will shout out your name as he chases a duck, there will be no ads (based on what stretch goal tier is reached), and you'll be listed on our "Supported By" page!

$15 +
All previous rewards, Gabe will think about you during sex, and a certificate of appreciation will be mailed to you. (Add $3 for non-U.S. addresses)

$25 +
All previous rewards, a never-before released digital version of Penny Arcade Book 1, Attack of the Bacon Robots, and Tycho will name your pet.

$75 +
All previous rewards and remastered digital versions of Tycho's Penny Arcade Singles (including My Belruel and Are You Really A Woman?).

$100 +
All previous rewards, a never-before released digital version of Penny Arcade Book 2, Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings, and Tycho will name your band.

$125 +
All previous rewards and an autographed (by Gabe and Tycho) 12" x 18" "Dickstarter" print on heavyweight cardstock. (Add $7 for Non-U.S. Addresses)

$150 +
All previous rewards and an exclusive t-shirt commemorating the Kickstarter (Add $12 for non-U.S. addresses).

$300 +
@cwgabriel will follow you on twitter for one year. Your day is now a constant source of his entertainment.

$300 +
@tychobrahe will follow you on twitter for one year. You can bombard him with 140 character requests all year long.

$500 +
Within reason, Gabe and Tycho will retweet one of your tweets.

$750 +
For next year's PA:The Series filming, you can be one of 50 people in a live studio audience component in Seattle, WA. (you need to handle travel costs)

$1,000 +
Get added to Tycho's XBOX Live friends list for a year. You'll be one of the 100 that MS allocates to each account, playing and setting up games throughout the year.

$1,000 +
Get added to Gabe's XBOX Live friends list for a year. You'll be one of the 100 that MS allocates to each account, playing and setting up games throughout the year.

$1,000 +
Shirt of the month club! You'll be delivered one exclusive-to-this-offer design or color variant per month, to your door. (Add $240 for non-U.S. addresses)

$2,000 +
Get a 5-year pass for all existing and newly created PAXes (including PAX Dev if you are in-fact, a developer).

$5,000 +
Lunch with PA Business. Have a lunch with Robert Khoo, Mike Fehlauer, Brian Sunter, and Jeff Kalles in Seattle. (You need to get yourself to the venue, sorry.)

$5,000
Play date with Penny Arcade! You and one other person can come to PAHQ (you need to arrange travel) for an evening of pizza and games.

$7,500 +
Intern at Penny Arcade for a day! You'll be put to real work under the supervision of Khoo. (you will need to arrange travel)

$9,999 +
Lunch with Mike and Jerry. Just get yourself to Seattle and we'll handle the rest.

$10,000 +
Even more rewards! Since KS has a $10,000 limit, we have a number of off-menu rewards for those looking for a more... exclusive experience. [1 x $25,000: Gabe will do an original medium sized painting of your favorite videogame character.], [2 x $25,000: You'll be given the grand tour of Penny Arcade HQ and afterwards we'll all go out for dinner and ice cream!], [1 x $100,000: You can appear in a non-commercial PA strip that you conceive with Mike and Jerry.] But you'll need to purchase these off-site at www.penny-arcade.com/kickstarter/

Some of the rewards are pretty hilarious.

-----------

UPDATE:

New rewards (Thanks Robert at Zeboyd Games)

$35 +
All previous rewards and receive a copy of On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness 3 on Steam!

$150 +
Be a beta tester for On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness 4! Will also include a copy of the game on Steam upon release.

$1000 +
Be immortalized in On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness 4, as your likeness is turned into a NPC for the game. Includes a copy of the game on Steam. Please note, the "estimated delivery date" below was picked arbitrarily. We don't know the exact release date.

$2500 +
Jerry Holkins will do a Beta Read of your work (novel or otherwise), providing notes and opinions throughout.

$2500 +
Robert Khoo will do a full analysis of your business plan, how it fits in the marketplace, what you're doing right and what opportunities you might be missing.

$2500 +
Mike Krahulik (Gabe) will do a full portfolio review of your work, providing notes and opinions throughout.
 

Bururian

Member
I really want to pledge the $300 and have them follow me for the year, just so I can tweet incessantly at them about video game.
 
D

Deleted member 20415

Unconfirmed Member
I think it's rather lame of them to do this. I get the spirit of it... and as someone that played the page view-impression game for years, I understand the desire to just be rid of it... but make a subscription instead.
 

GabbyJay

Ben's Lens Ben's Lens Ben's Lens
I'm conflicted on this.

On one hand they're doing this thing for free and if fans wanted to contribute, now they could. On the other hand they're taking advantage of this Kickstarter buzz and their fanbase which is primarily dudes with a grip of disposable income, and are almost guilting people into paying to run their site ad free for a year.
 

ZenaxPure

Member
Those rewards are killing me, holy crap. Thinking about you during sex, saying your name while chasing a duck. Oh god, my sides.
 
If I do nothing, nothing changes.

If I do something, something changes.

I'm_OK_With_This-(n1296497202304).png
 
I was never fond of PA. But very interested how this will turn out.

Actually, more interested on the debate that will happen (if any) on this thread.

Edit: Are people really bothered by web ads that much that they are willing to pay?
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
15$ reward is sketchy. I don't think he'll have enough sex to recall the thousands upon thousands of individuals who will be donating.
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
This Kickstarter thing is getting a bit ridiculous. I was ok with Wasteland 2 and a bunch of other cool games, but this is just silly.
 
Why do they want our money instead of advertising cash?

Is this a trick question? They would rather be beholden to the people they create content for than advertisers.

That said, ad-free isn't that big a deal to me, considering PA's ads never seemed that intrusive. But cool experiment, interested to see if it pans out.
 

ultron87

Member
$125 +
All previous rewards and an autographed (by Gabe and Tycho) 12" x 18" "Dickstarter" print on heavyweight cardstock. (Add $7 for Non-U.S. Addresses)

I just want to know what this looks like.
 

Elginer

Member
I'm conflicted on this.

On one hand they're doing this thing for free and if fans wanted to contribute, now they could. On the other hand they're taking advantage of this Kickstarter buzz and their fanbase which is primarily dudes with a grip of disposable income, and are almost guilting people into paying to run their site ad free for a year.

Pretty much this. I mean these guys are going just fucking dandy and for the big donations they come off more than a little like self congratulations. I feel this is def taking advantage of Kickstarter which is for folks really struggling not to go ad free on your amazingly popular site that earns you tons of ducketts.
 

corn_fest

Member
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.
 

LiK

Member
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.

I agree about starting a sub.
 
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.

It would have also netted them less money. This is going to pay out more than ads would have, and the amount of work on their end is negligible compared to the money coming in.
 
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.

Agreed. And this is only for a year too so what's the point.
 

Aaron

Member
Will they promise their comics won't be terrible for this year too? Because the last few months... ehh.
 
This really rubs me the wrong way. For a business entity that is wildly successful, I can't quite get behind this. Sure, the prizes are unique and interesting, but I already fund PA via my travels to PAX and by purchasing the merch. This seems to be more of an exploitation of the Kickstarter bandwagon.

Just call me crotchety, I guess.
 
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.

Well didn't work out that great for Giantbomb...

The moment a sub option is added, something has to go behind the paygate.
 

ultron87

Member
Oh man, one of their stretch goals is bringing back their "making a strip" podcast. Those were always really entertaining.

That said, this whole thing seems weird and unneeded.
 

chiablo

Member
Outside of PAX, is Penny Arcade still relevant? I haven't been there in months, and what few comics I see reposted here on Gaf don't even warrant a chuckle from me. The best entertainment I got from Tycho and Gabe was from the D&D podcasts they did with Wil Wheaton. If they made that a weekly podcast, I'd donate.
 
Outside of PAX, is Penny Arcade still relevant? I haven't been there in months, and what few comics I see reposted here on Gaf don't even warrant a chuckle from me. The best entertainment I got from Tycho and Gabe was from the D&D podcasts they did with Wil Wheaton.

Seeing as how most people see their comics through jpg links, I don't get what the appeal of removing ads is anyway? Do people really like reading their blogs? They're such an eyesore in that layout.
 
Yeah, I don't think this is the type of project that should appear on Kickstarter. I thought that was intended for ideas that wouldn't have been funded otherwise. They seem to be doing OK right now with their advertising model. If they really wanted to get rid of ads why not create a Penny Arcade Gold where you pay to have access to special things that would offset the costs of ads?
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.

I don't understand the controversy as you present it. What's the difference if the subscription is managed through penny-arcade.com or through kickstarter?

Yeah, I don't think this is the type of project that should appear on Kickstarter. I thought that was intended for ideas that wouldn't have been funded otherwise. They seem to be doing OK right now with their advertising model. If they really wanted to get rid of ads why not create a Penny Arcade Gold where you pay to have access to special things that would offset the costs of ads?

Because they want to get rid of ads, not offer a version of the site without ads.
 
It's certainly a fair point that it seems outside the spirit of Kickstarter. I think PA trying crowdfunding, in general, is perfectly acceptable though. But they really could have just run it off their own site.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
This is really really low.

They continued to hire people like they were some giant firm that needed offices and designers and so forth when their main product was a free webcomic. Maybe they should have branched out and started making monthly books, dvd animations and more of their other properties and stuff themselves rather than the odd "Gabe is too busy" excuse for why other artists and creative teams picked up the slack.

I wonder what/if this new age of internet busking will ever end, or if this is the new modus operandi for entertainment.
 

Orayn

Member
I don't think this is any more sinister than Giant Bomb offering a premium service. They're just doing it in one lump sum donation drive instead of through monthly payments.

Oh man, one of their stretch goals is bringing back their "making a strip" podcast. Those were always really entertaining.

Christ, yes. Penny Arcade the Series is good, but I was devastated when they stopped making those.
 

Mairu

Member
Seems silly to do this through Kickstarter, and rather antithetical to the purpose of Kickstarter. A subscription option through their site to remove ads would have been perfectly serviceable and not controversial.

I agree with this

This doesn't belong on Kickstarter
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
This is really really low.

They continued to hire people like they were some giant firm that needed offices and designers and so forth when their main product was a free webcomic. Maybe they should have branched out and started making monthly books of their other properties and stuff themselves.

Their business is profitable. They don't need this money. They make this very clear.
 
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