Clockwork Revolution impressed me during its Summer Game Fest trailer. It’s deeply, alarmingly British, and I love the BioShock-esque aesthetic. But if it weren’t for Kickstarter, it wouldn’t even be here.
InXile Entertainment launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring back the Wasteland series back and develop a sequel. The campaign went well, providing millions of dollars to the studio and allowing it to continue making games.
“That Kickstarter campaign was a Hail Mary pass to allow us to go back to making the kind of role-playing games we wanted to and eventually being part of Microsoft,” studio head and founder Brian Fargo tweets. “That culminated into Clockwork Revolution.”
In a video shared to YouTube that dives into inXile’s 20-year history, we learn just how close the studio was to shutting down before it made that “Hail Mary.” In the video, Fargo says, “we threw it all in with our Kickstarter and that changed everything.”
“We figured out we were able to pitch the games we want to make instead of pitching the game you know you can sell, which is a much more fun place to be,” says Matt Findley, Nola chief and co-founder of inXile.
“Brian had a conversation with me at one point,” recalls inXile president Chris Keenan. “[He] said, ‘Hey listen. We’re going to give this Kickstarter a try with Wasteland 2. I’m going to personally fund you out of my pocket for the next couple months […] if it’s successful you can direct that game, if it’s not we shake hands and it’s been a great run.'” So it really came down to the wire with the success of the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter.
“We wouldn’t be here without our fans,” Fargo says, and that couldn’t be more true.
Since you’re here, check out our list of the best RPGs you can play today.
