Kickstarter unveils “tools creators have been asking for” for 2025 as it looks to fight off rising Gamefound challenge

Crowdfunding giant Kickstarter is bringing in new pledge management and pay-in-installments options this year amid increasing competition from rival platforms such as Gamefound.

Kickstarter remains top dog in tabletop game crowdfunding, with about $220m of project funding last year – although that figure has fallen for three years in a row, and is well down on the record $270m the platform recorded in 2021.

Gamefound, meanwhile, has been on the rise since transitioning from seven years as a Kickstarter pledge manager to become a fully-fledged crowdfunding operation in 2022.

Last year project funding on the site soared 49% to more than $85m, and total dollars raised from backers reached about $156m including its late pledge and pledge manager operations.

As Gamefound has been increasingly eating into Kickstarter’s tabletop crowdfunding numbers, the veteran platform has slowly begun manoeuvring itself to fight off the challenge.

Kickstarter launched its own late pledge capability last May in an attempt to win back some of those post-crowdfunding campaign dollars for itself, and plans to double down on that in 2025 with a new pledge management toolkit.

It has also just unveiled Pledge Over Time, its own version of Gamefound’s Stretch Pay, which has allowed backers on that platform to pay their commitments in installments since it was launched at the end of 2022.

That development has proved hugely popular, with many backers seeing their available funds tighten following several years of high inflation, cost of living rises and falling wage growth.

Kickstarter acknowledged in its announcement today that these are post-campaign tools its “creators have been asking for” – and described Pledge Over Time as a “game-changer for creators”.

Pledge Over Time will allow backers to split their pledge into four equal payments when it is fully launched in the spring, but has been rolled out early for several projects, including the latest Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan campaign from Mighty Boards and StarDriven: Gateway from Rock Manor Games.

Mike Gnade, founder and lead designer at Rock Manor Games, has fulfilled more than 15 Kickstarter campaigns over a decade of using the platform, as well as backing more than 130 projects himself.

He told BoardGameWire, “As we started setting up our project, we got hints that Kickstarter was working on some new features and asked if we could be considered to test them out. Eventually we were shuffled around to the team working on Pledge over Time (PLOT) and their timeline on the feature (and our timeline for our project) aligned pretty well, so it became a natural fit.

“In the past few years, backers have started requesting this type of feature. I especially like how simple Kickstarter made PLOT. They really took into consideration backers’ desire to spread out their payments and creators’ needs.

“Keeping the payment schedule to every two weeks really alleviated any concerns I had over PLOT adding needless delays to the fulfillment process. Barring any major hiccups, PLOT should be pretty seamless on our end as well since we already wait two weeks to get Kickstarter funds and then will just get some additional deposits over the next six weeks after that.

“As a creator, I’m very sensitive to pricing and always want to offer the best deal and most features that I can to backers. StarDriven is a big game and I knew that we would have some higher pledge levels over $100.

“I hope PLOT eliminates the barrier for some people so that they can pledge for the higher tiers that they want. It would also be great if PLOT’s payment flexibility reduced the reliance on cheaper pledge manager pledge levels.

“As far as impact goes, it will be interesting to see if PLOT drives more pledges or not. For me it was less about driving more pledges and more about giving my backers the most flexibility in how they can pledge.

“I see it as a nice bonus rather than something I expect to drastically increase pledging. Of course as a small indie creator, more pledges doesn’t hurt either.”

David Chircop, CEO and game designer at Mighty Boards, said his company had previously worked with Kickstarter to test their beta products, especially with the performance marketing team.

He told BoardGameWire, “Accessibility is an integral part of Fateforge: Chronicles of Kaan’s core design principles. We worked very hard to make the rules, the time commitment and the price point as accessible as possible for the type of experience the game provides.

“This beta feature fits within those principles and will hopefully broaden the access so that more people who would like to support the game are able to do so.”

Kickstarter added that it was also introducing updates which it hopes will give backers more clarity and confidence when supporting projects.

They include adding notices to project pages if Kickstarter’s Trust & Safety team determines that a campaign faced significant fulfillment failures and the creator hasn’t followed its rules – as well as sending backers notifications about any action it has taken – including restricting the creator from launching future projects.

It added that project pages will also include more details about a creator’s track record, collaborators, and past projects, and that it will be “revamping” its tools for vetting and monitoring projects, to detect and address potential risks earlier in the project’s lifecycle.

New pledge management tools set to come online later this year include offering post-campaign add-ons, enhanced backer surveys, the ability to configure and charge shipping costs post-campaign, and collecting applicable taxes directly through the pledge manager.

Kickstarter said, “A native, built-in pledge manager has been one of our most-requested features. We’re excited to start rolling it out to help simplify post-campaign logistics and fulfillment, and make it easier than ever for creators to deliver on their promises to backers.

“Creators in our beta program are already seeing the impact of these tools: One participant received responses from 98% of their backers in just three weeks, quickly collecting crucial post-campaign details like shipping information and add-on selections.

“We’re thrilled to bring this level of support and success to all creators later this year.”

Kickstarter also promised that it was “prioritizing search, discovery and recommendation tools” to help backers find suitable projects, with new search filters and sorting options due on web and mobile this spring.