Precursor Games will take to Kickstarter for a second time starting July 25 in a renewed attempt to crowdfund its psychological-horror game, Shadow of the Eternals.
The developer announced that it is making changes to the structure of the crowdfunding campaign, and it will again try to reach its funding goal. Precursor did not specify how this new Kickstarter effort would differ from the previous, failed attempt.
“We really want to thank our community and followers for the unwavering support and patience over the past few weeks,” reads a post on the Precursor Games’ blog. “It’s been a huge inspiration and motivator for us. Your feedback has been instrumental in many ways throughout the process of creating the new campaign, and we can’t wait for you to see what we have in store for you all.”
In May, Precursor Games launched its own crowdfunding campaign for Shadow of the Eternals that it hosted on its website. After raising only around $155,000 of its $1.5 million goal, the company took the game to Kickstarter, where it set a $1.35 million goal.
The campaign flopped.
From May 13 to June 6, Precursor only raised $128,039 on Kickstarter. The developer canceled the campaign and vowed to return once it figured out a better way to ask for money.
Gamers seem hesitant to contribute cash toward Shadow of the Eternals. Many are wary of the developer’s leadership, which comprises many executives from now-defunct studio Silicon Knights. That developer is infamous for losing a legal battle to Epic Games over the use of its Unreal Engine development tool and for Dennis Dyack, its outspoken former chief executive.
Now the chief creative officer at Precursor, Dyack is well known for arguing on message boards and for a report that claims he hoodwinked publisher Activision during the development of X-Men: Destiny. A Kotaku story claims Dyack was funneling Activision money intended for X-Men toward the production of a sequel to Eternal Darkness.
During the Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter, Dyack finally responded to those claims in a YouTube video. Precursor has since removed that clip from YouTube.
Some gamers were willing to overlook or give Precursor’s leadership a second chance but were unwilling to fund Shadow of the Eternals due to its release structure. Precursor presented the game as an episodic title. Funding the game at most levels only guaranteed access to the first six of 12 total episodes.
Finally, following the Kickstarter’s premature end, Canadian law enforcement arrested Precursor artist and cofounder Ken McCulloch on child-pornography charges. Precursor CEO Paul Caporicci quickly distanced the company from McCulloch in a post on the studio’s forums:
“Having just learned of these disturbing charges today, and based on the serious nature of them, Ken McCulloch is no longer affiliated in any way with Precursor Games.”