Tabletop games far outpace video games in pledge money, says Kickstarter

Games funding on Kickstarter has attracted over $500 million in pledges, according to a recent post from Kickstarter's David Gallagher over on the company blog. 

But the most surprising data is that tabletop games far and away outpace video games for backing on Kickstarter, with tabletop game projects raising $265 million, and video game projects raising $186 million. A nebulous "other" category relating to games has netted $49 million worth of pledges.

Gallagher's post runs down some data on the most-funded projects, and some information on the users who've funded them. That $500 million in pledges comes from about 2.2 million backers, and has been funneled into 8,000 projects.

According to Gallagher, of the 758 backers who first helped Kickstart the tabletop game Cards Against Humanity in 2010, 440 have stuck around back a total of 4,474 projects, averaging 10 projects per backer. It's an example of how early successes on the platform helped create a network of backers who would be continually interested in supporting new games. 

Meanwhile, of the 219,389 backers who supported Matthew Inman's tabletop game Exploding Kittens, half of them were completely new to Kickstarter, and went on to back games like Yooka-Laylee, Bloodstained, and Chronicles of Elyria, seemingly showcasing that the appeal of popular or larger creators helping bringing new backers to Kickstarter wasn't just a myth. 

The climb to $500 million in games funding on Kickstarter hasn't come without its various challenges, as we've seen on multiple occassions, but it's comforting that many mid-sized video game developers can find a comfortable niche within that $186 worth of crowdfunded money.