Square Enix has now expanded its Collective development crowdfunding platform to allow for mobile and digital games, and the company itself is now willing to directly fund some developers -- up to $250k, at least.
This is a notable next step for Square Enix's idiosyncratic initiative, which up until now only allowed developers to pitch Square Enix on original PC game ideas -- which may optionally use select Square Enix IP like Gex or Anachronox -- and required them to crowdfund their own development effort before releasing the games in conjunction with Square Enix.
That route is still open to developers, but now you can also use Collective to seek direct funding from Square Enix -- up to $250,000. The company is now also allowing devlopers to pitch mobile and digital console games.
"By focusing on PC projects initially, we knew we could rely on a stable technology base," project lead Phil Elliott recently told PocketGamer.biz. "But now the Collective platform’s more established, we’re confident that it’s a good time to open it up further and be more inclusive."
Further details on the current state of the platform can be found on the Square Enix Collective website, while Elliott outlined the company's Collective goals in this GDC Next 2013 talk.