5% of 100k is 5 thousand dollars. What did kickstarter even do to deserve you paying them? They have a website you can use, and they're just putting their name along side yours.
I know right. And where do digital distributors like Steam and Desura get off taking a cut of games sold on their site? It's not like they made the game. Where does Wal-Mart get off taking money for the products they sell? They didn't make that stuff.
TO be honest, I don't think Steam and Desura deserve that much of the cut either. Steam has a bit more leverage due to the general perception that people like to buy from them, though without any solid publications of their financial accounts it's a little hard to gauge it. Desura doesn't deserve that big of a cut. A long with not doing very much to promote themselves or to help the game seller increase their sales or make it easier for them to do so, they are not well know, and even without data, their presence is quite small.
As for Walmart and retailers, they do do something. They have a store front they have to manage and pay rent or buy land. Managing physical store fronts require a great deal of physical work. They also advertise their stuff to local people through flyers and other means.
While true that you have to get help outside of the website, it does help to be on Kickstarter. Many people do simply browse the site, and some people won't trust a project that isn't on Kickstarter. It also makes you more likely to get covered in the gaming media, especially if you're a new developer. Like it or not, the name helps a lot.
How are you so sure that "many" people browse the site? I'm sure some do, but I'm not so sure that number is all that large. When you have money to spend and have a choice between something that might come to fruition and might accomplish everything they promise against something that is fully completed, and with the full range of features already in place, it's a very easy choice.
Like the option already brought up, if you have a beta ready to play, and are selling it. You might as well just make your own kickstarter like website. People aren't going to doubt you when the project is already well under way. On top of this, kickstarter doesn't really guarantee the project completing anymore than someone setting up their own website for donations anyway. Trust in a company or a person's willingness is mostly due to how they present their proposal, there are many projects on kickstarter that are quite dubious as to whether the person can pull it off, or whether they are really going to do it.
You're the one designing your own kickstarter page, you're the one fulfilling the rewards, and you're the one developing the product, and you are the most responsible person in making the deadline.
And you're the one getting 90% of the money, money you wouldn't have had at all otherwise.[/quote]
Compared to getting close to 100% of the money when you make your own investment website. 90% isn't a very good going rate considering that kickstarter does nearly nothing to attract traffic to the site, or bring attention directly to its projects outside of the website.
That 50k or 80k isn't even their own money! If you have invoices to prove that your business is making money, just go to a bank and get a loan. Selling the beta, and having evidence of sales is a good way to do this.
Ah, of course. Debt, every entrepreneur's best friend.
All businesses need a bank for capital, it is ubiquitous. Ironing out how to manage debt is incredibly important when you are trying to start a business. You can go alone purely by what the sales bring in, but your growth would be incredibly ***. Even if you are not planning to grow it beyond one or two additional coders or artists, and just stay with oneself as the sole developer, it will still help to grow the business to the point where you can comfortably rely on the sales.
That's not to say there isn't anything to consider. Physical prizes can chew away more funding than some realize. Once people have backed you, they expect results; you suddenly have a new group of fans making demands on your time. The campaign itself is incredibly stressful. It's a full month of working all day to get more attention (while not crossing the line into spamming), and that doesn't count all of the preparation you have to do. If Alex is getting by and doesn't want to crowdfund, I can understand that choice.
There's also another issue to keep in mind, and that is how many copies you sell to people early on at a discount. Aside from a few good Samaritans who will buy more copies for their friends, the targeted demographic just needs one copy each per person. Restricting exposure early on to limit the amount of people who buy a copy at a discount just enough to keep developing the game, and then go for maximum exposure once you can sell it at full price later on is the optimal route.