Brian Fargo using Kickstarter for Wasteland sequel

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 16 February, 2012

Needs at least $1 million.

Veteran game designer Brian Fargo is using Kickstarter to raise cash for a Wasteland sequel.

1988 post-apocalyptic role-playing game Wasteland is considered by many to be one of the greatest western RPGs ever, and is the precursor to the Fallout series.

IP holder Fargo, now in charge of Hunted developer inXile, founded Interplay Productions, the studio behind Wasteland, A Bard's Tale and Fallout 1 and 2.

1

Wasteland.

Now he wants your help to revive the game.

Wasteland 2 - or whatever it ends up being called - will be a top-down, isometric, party based RPG.

In a series of posts on Fargo's Twitter page, he emphasised his intention to create an old school experience fans of the first game will be happy with.

"I want fans to know that a new Wasteland would be complete old school vibe and made with input from gamers. Made the gamers way."

2

Not a prog-rock album cover.

He added: "People forget that Wasteland was the precursor to Fallout. We made Fallout because we didn't have the Wasteland rights."

Fargo told IGN the Wasteland sequel will be a PC game first, then perhaps iOS (probably iPad) and other platforms.

The crucial question now is, how much does Fargo need to make Wasteland a reality?

The answer: $1 million. The Kickstarter call goes live next month.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jablonski #1 3 months ago

    Yawn.
    I spend a lot of time on US indie-filmmaking sites and Kickstarter is all anyone talks about anymore.
    It's got rather boring.

    I'm equally depressed that it has come to the attention of both the UK and the games industry.

  • Yuroko #2 3 months ago

    Use Kickstarter to raise legal funds and take Bethesda back to court and get rights to Fallout 1 & 2, then I'll give you a £10 donation to put HD versions of them on the app store for ipad.

  • Whitster #3 3 months ago

    @Yuroko I'm amazed Bethesda havn't dont that already in all fairness.

  • StolenGlory #4 3 months ago

    Where do I sign up?

  • ZizouFC #5 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:37:46 16-02-2012

  • number3son #6 3 months ago

    Well, this will be a much bigger struggle than Double Fine's, not only because of the increased asking price, but inXile doesn't have quite as sterling a track record either. I'll probably donate, but I hope he's not being unrealistic as to what the project will need, or of the abilities of his team.
    Edited by number3son at 16/02/12 @ 09:53

  • mkreku #7 3 months ago

    Team up with Obsidian Entertainment, Fargo! Either way, you have my money (look at my avatar..)

  • Daeltaja #8 3 months ago

    And so it begins.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #9 3 months ago

    As expected, the industry is all over this now.

    He owns a studio already, and I'm pretty sure he's made enough money in his career and more importantly, has enough personal equity to borrow the money from the bank or a VC and fund this himself if he's that desperate to make this game.

    Of course, he doesn't have to pay interest on the money that gamers give him, nor does he have to give them a cut in the profits either.

    It's frankly becoming a bit of a joke that these established studios are going this route. If a small team can make ISOMETRIC RPG Project Zomboid without asking for a MILLION DOLLARS up front, then I'm pretty sure they could too!

    It just requires doing it outside of your expensive to run games studio....you know like the indies that Kickstarter was meant for in the first place!



    Yes, I'm mad.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #10 3 months ago

    Give me a million dollars to make Atic Atac 2.

  • lucky_jim #11 3 months ago

    I think some commenters are kinda missing the point of this. It's not a cash-grab (ok, it kinda is, but that isn't the point in the exercise). It's a chance for publishers to work free from the dead hand of risk-averse publishers.

    Even if Fargo got publisher backing for a Wasteland sequel, you KNOW they'd try and make him turn it into an FPS or something, and the end result would be either the project would fail or the end result would be an abomination that pisses on the cherished memories of ageing gamers (a la Syndicate).

    So people talking about profit shares and all that are, as I said, missing the point. This isn't supposed to be a like-for-like replacement of publishers, with the same expectations and rewards. What would be the purpose in that?

    People pledging money shouldn't think of themselves as investors in a traditional sense. This is essentially a pay-up-front order for the finished game. How many times has the internet collectively bemoaned the fact that publishers have killed a much-loved series? Usually the excuse is that the wider public has moved on, that the market has decreed a particular genre isn't viable, or something similar.

    Rather than whinging about this development and bleating about profit shares, people should see this for what it is and welcome it: a chance to prove to the publishers that there is a market for a new Schafer/ Gilbert adventure, that there is a market for a Wasteland sequel, and that there is a market for [insert your own favourite dead game series here]. If there isn't, the project won't get off the ground and there's no harm done.

    I don't think this is the huge revolution some people are calling it, but it definitely marks a change in the relationship between developers, publishers and the public. It gives another option for developers who have fans saying "make a new Grim Fandango" in one ear and publishers saying "make a generic brown FPS" in the other, whereas in the past they'd have had no choice but to fall in line with the publishers' wishes.

    Wow, that ended up much longer than I though. Tl;dr version: this is fookin' ace!
    Edited by lucky_jim at 16/02/12 @ 10:25

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #12 3 months ago

    @lucky_jim If your post was partly in response to mine, then I'd just like to make the following points.

    I'm all for projects outside of the publishers grasp and would never bemoan otherwise. My issue is with the fact that these are established studios run by people who could (in most cases) borrow the money or get outside investors to get the game made. By going this route they have found an easy way around paying interest on investment or paying profits.

    In reality though it's the speed at which other ESTABLISHED studios have jumped on this after seeing DoubleFine's $1.7 dollars that is leaving the bad taste in my mouth. They'll be paying proper wages & rent out of the money that people are contributing because it's going through their studio and it's employees. That's NOT the same as a team of 4 people asking for $10,000 to directly pay for the things they need to get their game up and running, which is what I personally think KickStarter is really for.

    If Fargo really wanted to do this (and stop me from moaning ;) ), spend some evenings working on getting an Alpha up and running, then charge people for the Alpha to continue to fund development on a basis directly dictated by the quality of the product you're writing ala Minecraft and Project Zomboid. Everyone wins, he gets a steady cashflow, the gamer gets something immediately to play with, and the publisher gets nothing :)

  • Ranger101 #13 3 months ago

    @SpaceMidget

    I want to agree with you, but... you know this image:


    Kickstarter makes that image a reality, and you can't really argue against that.

    Projects will fail or succeed only on the strength on how badly people will actually GIVE money. So it's not really a free for all, indie or Pro - this really is a consumer driven show. People aren't investing with Kickstarter, they're buying in advance.
    Edited by Ranger101 at 16/02/12 @ 11:02

  • Lukree #14 3 months ago

    I'll soon start a project via Kickstart to make Transport Tycoon Deluxe HD.

  • GiarcYekrub #15 3 months ago

    I've been saying there needs to be a more direct way of giving back to content creators. I bought Brutal Legend and loved it, I paid full price from HMV, how much of that actually went back to Double Fine I don't know but not alot I'd guess.

    My $16 I donated to DFA was as much for previous delivered works as the potential new project.

    Aside from the giving back aspect, I'm much more inclined to give to proven developers with a creative team and processes in place than an indie start up.

    If this will allow more niche titles then I'm all for it, heck if Capcom were to put one up for a traditional REmake style Resi I'd pay much more than $16 despite them being well er Capcom.

    IMO For Indie start ups there needs to be oversight, a Video Games council similar to the old Film Council would be good idea IMO.

  • mkreku #16 3 months ago

    I've been waiting for a sequel to Wasteland since 1988, but I am supposed to be mad because mega-rich Fargo is trying to get this project started even when no publisher is interested? Uh.. ok..

  • lucky_jim #17 3 months ago

    @SpaceMidget75

    It was partly about your comment, but only partly: more aimed at similar comments on related threads, which yours reminded me of.

    And I understand what you're saying about this being a good deal for developers: it clearly is exactly that, for the ones who manage to pull it off. I just don't buy the follow-on that this means fans are somehow being taken for a ride.

    The expectations of traditional investors, be it publishers or loans from banks/ financiers, are in most cases a great big hammer smashing down on developer creativity. All the things that make a smart investment in the traditional sense (low risk, high reward, as quick a turnaround as possible) are anathema to creativity.

    As for this particular game, my understanding is that a lot people, including Fargo, have been trying to get the game made for a very long time, only to be told repeatedly that there isn't a market for it. It's all well and good him pointing out to the publishers that t'internet is clamouring for it, but in the past they've always been able to (rightly) reply "that doesn't translate to money, people say they want something then don't buy it".

    So I don't think he could have gone down the traditional routes. If publishers aren't interested, I can't imagine a bank would be more accommodating, what with their poor understanding of this industry (and that's leaving aside the fact that they seem to think our bailout money is better spent on bonuses than business loans).

    Although, I'll have to be honest here, what I love most about this is the fact it's beating corporate capitalism at its own game by forcing out the self-appointed gatekeepers. This is a very pure form of capitalism, a supply-and-demand situation so transparent the usual vultures have no room to circle. I've surprised myself at how much I'm loving this, bitter old socialist that I am! :)

  • lucky_jim #18 3 months ago

    God I'm really waffling on today. Too much coffee! :redface:

  • node #19 3 months ago

    Really can't see this generating the million it needs.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #20 3 months ago

    @lucky_jim I think we're pretty much singing from the same hymn sheet (management speak FTW). Although it does depend on...

    a) him getting all the money he needs, which if he doesn't, does kinda prove the declining investors/publishers right, that there isn't a big enough market for it.

    b) the game being any good when it's finished otherwise they'll be a lot of disappointed contributers out there.

    c) that it actually gets finished otherwise they'll be a lot of fucked-off contributers out there.

    I think this is why I prefer the Minecraft model in certain respects as it protects the gamer a bit more.

  • Kuma #21 3 months ago

    Wasteland was a great games, fond memories of this and the Bards Tale games around about that time as well.

  • Matfink #22 3 months ago

    Tax evasion for devs!

  • strangerism #23 3 months ago

    this is (kick)starting to be a bad joke. What about kickstarting a greece bailout?

  • Kami #24 3 months ago

    Is it just me or when our money is taken and put into arguably their bank accounts, it ends up one big lump sum that they almost immediately start earning interest on? What is the initial monthly interest on $1.8 million?

    I like DFA, and donated to it (like others said, partly for past glories as well as encouraging a new adventure game), but I, like others, think that it works only if your reputation is near-faultless. In all other regards, I'm not sure it will work.

    It didn't take long for someone else to try their luck though, did it?

  • juliankennedy23 #25 3 months ago

    I am thinking of raising a million myself for a Night Trap remake starring Lindsey Lohan

  • SpaceMonkey77 #26 3 months ago

    In the wake of Double Fine's kickstarter game, I'd say that this is a sign of a more creative turn for the games market. Kickstarter has existed for a few short years, but some really cool projects have come to fruition, that normal means would not have really allowed.

    @Space Midget and Lucky Jim, you both make very valid points, and have made this thread something of worth.

    Sure, the flood gates are open to creative devs to seek help on their dream game product, and if gamers seek to fund it, in big or small ways makes the whole thing grander by design. If a project fails, no money is used, and no loss made. It's all about how much you want to get your hands on the finished product.

    Its a shame Kickstarter site isn't open to the rest of the web (still U.S based), because like XBL and iOS, it has its part to play in giving indie/other devs a leg up.

    No Apple/MS taking a huge cut, while you get peanuts. No development shackles to keep down creativity.

    I'd like to see good talent get supported, but while money can help projects, all that's really needed to create a game is drive, good ideas and passion. Modders and other devs have been doing fine for years for free, though I'm sure many would like to do what they love full time. Imagine that, being able to step back, from a 9-5 mundane job, and focus on your passion.

    Isn't that what we all really dream of? Kudos to those who can.

  • UnSubject #27 3 months ago

    @juliankennedy23 Will Miss Lohan be playing the part of a girl in distress, or a mutant space vampire? Recent photos indicate a good chance of either being possible.

  • Bakerman #28 3 months ago

    I probably spent more hours on the original than on any other game, period. Will definitely fund the kickstarter project!