This post was inspired by two things I saw recently: The connection between these two items is not obvious, but it is interesting. The lemon problem WeFunder, for the uninitiated, is a crowdfunding platform for (primarily) technology companies. It allows community-oriented startups to sell a...
credistick.com
More than any other factor, raising money from an audience of customers (and potential future customers) has meant that Larian has never had to compromise. They were not at the mercy of institutional investors or publishers to hit hasty development milestones or add supplementary revenue streams. They could build the game as they wished, by a group of RPG enthusiasts; for an audience of RPG enthusiasts. They are self-sufficient, and happily so.
We’d tried multiple times with third parties and we listened to them every single time, and we had to learn that it was important that we took our own fate in our own hands. And since then, things have been going on the upside for us.
Swen Vincke on developing Divinity: Original Sin
This alignment of incentives between product and customer is fundamental. It’s how companies should work at the best of times, but the need for external capital can often complicate the relationship. Larian went right to the source. And that is their ‘unfair advantage’, that they were able to focus entirely on their vision to build a fantastic product.3 Exactly as every company should, in theory."