While the big Kickstarter bubble might be a thing of the past, there are plenty of videogames taking their pitches straight to the fans via the crowdfunding platform. The most successful of these in 2020 was Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a spiritual successor to Suikoden in development under many of that classic RPG games‘ original developers.
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise to see Eiyuden Chronicle come out as the top Kickstarter game of the year – after all, it’s the third-biggest Kickstarter game of all time. But Polygon‘s breakdown of Kickstarter’s biggest games this year provides a solid look at what the state of gaming on the platform looks like.
Eiyuden Chronicle is one of only four titles to make over $1 million USD on the platform. Eiyuden brought in $4.6 million, The Wonderful 101: Remastered earned $2.3 million, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous earned $2.1 million, and The Messenger spin-off Sea of Stars brought in $1.26 million.
The numbers on tabletop Kickstarters are substantially higher, though. Frosthaven brought in nearly $13 million at the top of the charts, and every game in the top ten managed at least $3 million.
Tabletop games brought in a total of $233.8 million, compared with $22.9 million for videogames. Tabletop games have continued growing on the platform over the years, while videogames have remained mostly flat. After a $41.5 million peak in 2015, videogame Kickstarters had not exceeded an annual total of $17.6 million up until this year. (Thanks, Mighty No. 9.)