Kickstarter not required: Prison Architect crowdfunds $1M

UK-based studio Introversion showed late last year that not everyone needs to utilize a service like Kickstarter to crowdfund a video game project. Now, just over four months after launching its Prison Architect crowdfunder, the studio has raised $1 million in pledges. The game had previously made over $270,000 in two weeks, with nearly 8,000 sales total. It now currently sits at just over 30,000 pledges, with an average pledge of around $33.60. Of course, Prison Architect isn't the only crowdfunding project to find success outside of Kickstarter. Last year, Infinite Game Publishing's MechWarrior Online pulled in over $5 million via an alternative funding model, while Chris Roberts' Star Citizen raised millions via its own crowdfunding system -- although Roberts later added a supplemental Kickstarter campaign following heavy traffic issues.