Microsoft has found a way to enable its community to support the Xbox One’s exclusive fighting game.
Killer Instinct now has a $100,000 fund for future tournaments thanks to the community. On April 29, Microsoft and developer Iron Galaxy released Cinder, the latest character added to the Killer Instinct roster. On that same day, Microsoft announced that all revenue from digital purchases in Killer Instinct (up to $100,000) would go into a fund for upcoming events for the fighting game. The publisher gave the community until May 14 to reach that goal, but it only took the fans 72 hours. This is one of the ways that Microsoft is keeping the community engaged in the free-to-play game, which is approaching two years old.
Microsoft is now revealing that it will use the community money to contribute $50,000 to the prize pot for the Killer Instinct tournament at EVO, which is the biggest fighting-game event in the world. The company will spread the rest of the money across other online and in-person tournaments. These include Combo-Breaker, which is May 22 in Iron Galaxy’s home town of Chicago.
This represents the latest way the publishers are using the community to keep engagement in a game high. Publisher Valve did something similar when it raised funding for its Dota 2 tournament by selling items. This concept is also a slight offshoot of the idea of crowdfunding, which is popular on sites like Kickstarter for raising money for new games.
The company is also celebrating the successful community funding by releasing a special character: Shadow Jago. This is a dark version of the hero character who was only available to people who purchased a 12-month Xbox Live membership card that featured the “Day One” branding around the time of the Xbox One’s release. He features the same moves as the original Jago.
To get Shadow Jago, you’ll need to purchase his special Community Bundle for $20. This comes with the character and 75,000 in KI Gold, which is the fighter’s in-game currency.