Found this link on the RPGWatch site...it's a state level decision but I have to believe it frightens some of the companies using Kickstarter dollars but not delivering on what is promised. http://www.polygon.com/2015/9/11/9310945/kickstarter-court-victory-attorney-general-washington-asylum-playing-cards
It really doesn't surprise. Kickstarter can do a very good job when all parties act in good faith.
However, it is open to abuse, and I'm frankly not surprised at the ruling. I expect there will be more than a few companies who have taken money and run, or have put it into other projects, and after this I expect we'll see a lot more cases (although I suppose the reality is that the Small Claims will deal with most of it, now they have a reasonable precedent to justify the claim).
Some Kickstarter projects are little more than fraudulent cash grabs, though fortunately a lot aren't either. "Caveat emptor!"
That's good for the backers.
Quote from: Rayfer on September 12, 2015, 11:35:58 AM
Found this link on the RPGWatch site...it's a state level decision but I have to believe it frightens some of the companies using Kickstarter dollars but not delivering on what is promised. http://www.polygon.com/2015/9/11/9310945/kickstarter-court-victory-attorney-general-washington-asylum-playing-cards
1] Thanks for posting this!
2] I've been expecting this for a while. Fraud is fraud. US State & Federal Fraud laws are pretty easy to interpret.
3] My only surprise is that the EU did not file the first lawsuit. The EU has been much more aggressive on internet cases, especially when a US company dominates the market. I thought that Kickstarter was made-to-order for the EU.
how long before we finally see an Up Front lawsuit?
Or a d20 Entertainment lawsuit?
It is a slippery slope though on both sides. Where does it end. I can easily see from some of the people we know in our hobby that if they contribute to a game on Kickstarter that they will feel that they are due something in ownership. This can then translate to support/bug squashing/feature requests scope creep. Where does a small developer that has taken money from Kickstarter have the ability to say they will not implement or do something that is out of scope? There are a lot of unwritten rules and expectations on developers and by allowing hobbyists to be included in funding the games these unwritten rules and divergent expectations are going to make things IMO very messy.
Con
Its no different than other software companies...document it. Real software companies write design documents that outline features and functions. It can actually be very vague so as to allow latitude. But having one before asking for money is great way to mitigate risk.
The problem with a lot of Kickstarter projects that comes out of the gaming industry is that there tends to be a lack of professional software and project management discipline.
This case involved relatively few backers and a nominal sum of money. Imagine if some AG, or private party goes after Chris Roberts for failing to deliver on Star Citizen. There, you're talking about thousands of backers and tens of millions of dollars.
Did some digging to see if anything more recent happened (lawsuit was filed in May 2014). I found that the artist that was supposed to create the deck has started his own Kickstarter campaign! He also said he never got paid by the original scoundrels..err..company.
http://www.kardify.com/2015/05/kickstarter-back-to-asylum-playing-cards_26.html
And according to comments at the Kickstarter site, backers have begun receiving cards!