We interviewed the Founders of VoxPop Games to learn more about who they are:
“Established in December 2018, VoxPop Games is an exciting new independent distribution & game development platform, designed to primarily benefit smaller independent game developers, Let’s Players and new Video Game Streaming personalities.
We feel that Gamers and Independent Developers have a voice, and we hear them loud and clear! “
- What is VoxPop Games value for users?
Average users can still take advantage of our profit share, and make a little money recommending games or even just passively for seeding files. While most gamers likely won’t be able to take advantage of the system the same way that Streamers and YouTubers can, you can still think of it as a way to earn store credit that other platforms lack.
Besides which, VoxPop is also a way to support your favorite developers and content creators. With how the profit share works, both get more out of your patronage than they would if you went to a different platform. You can think of buying from someone’s VoxPop link as being similar to making a donation on Ko-Fi.
- Who are the people behind VoxPop Games ?
VoxPop’s founders are myself (Charles Yu) and Marc. I studied Game Design at NYU, and I put my first games on the web a little over 6 years ago. When I realized how hard it would be to promote my games if I went into design as a career (especially since I really don’t like using social media), I knew I needed a platform like VoxPop, and I went into venture capital briefly to get some insight into how to fundraise as an entrepreneur.
Marc has a much more extensive backstory. He’s been working in the games industry for well over 15 years. He’s been part of teams like Rockstar, Capcom, and even the MLB – he even has previous experience launching the Arc Games platform for Perfect World International. More importantly for VoxPop, prior to joining our team, he actually had his own talent discovery company for indie games, called GrummelWrks. This made him a perfect fit, and we’re lucky to have him!
Of course, no team is just its founders. We have a lot to thank for our Engineer, Elisee; our Social Media Manager, Holly; and our resident streamer, Connor.
- What kind features does VoxPop Games have that makes it special?
In terms of user-facing features, VoxPop’s primary feature is the profit-sharing system. In short, users get a percentage of each game’s price tag whenever they help a game get sold. This can be done directly through recommendations, or indirectly through seeding and recruiting affiliates.
For our streamers, VoxPop does everything it can to help promote. We have managed to drive a number of Streamers to Twitch affiliate status, after they had been previous languishing. VoxPop provides an easy to copy external link to all the games you’re recommending, so your audience can easily see and browse which games they can use to support you. Many viewers who may be unwilling to donate to a Ko-Fi or sign to a Patreon may be willing to support you in exchange for a game.
Developers, in addition to getting a higher percentage on each sale than they would on most competing platforms, can leverage the profit-share to account for a lack of advertising budget. Our user directory and badge system makes it easy to find and identify streamers, who you can contact and use the profit-share to negotiate with. As well, unlike the Steamworks DRM system, which cannot wrap games made with engines that have external dependencies (such as Unity), the VoxPop wrapper can wrap all games and does not require you to integrate features of our platform.
- What are something’s VoxPop Games is looking to do in 2021 that would unavailable on any other platform?
One planned feature in 2021 is our Micro-Investment Engine. Basically, it’s a fancy name for a new type of crowdfunding.
Less than 1/3 of Kickstarter games that meet their fundraising goals get completed. The end result is that gamers are rapidly losing faith in crowdfunding and these days unless you have a pre-existing audience it is near-impossible. Why? Because developers are terrible at scoping – and every single reward tier they meet adds work that expands that scope. Work they may not be qualified for.
You may be a great programmer, but do you know how to design tees, and plushies, and badges? Who are you going to get to manufacture them? Who’s going to take all the time to mail them out to everybody? Who answers all the customer service complaints from people that don’t get them on time, or get the wrong thing? All the time and money you spend doing this is money that is not going toward the actual development of the game you’re attempting to crowdfund. And this isn’t accounting for the diminishing returns of reward tiers. At some point, on your higher tiers, it may very well cost more money to deliver than you are getting back from the few people who get up there.
With VoxPop, developers would instead sell shares in their game to other users. When the game is complete, each time a sale happens, everyone who helped fund the game automatically get a share based on the percentage they own.
Developers get a crowdfunding system that doesn’t require them to expand their scope, as well as dedicated audience members who are personally invested in the game’s success. Users get more accountability in a system with tranched investments and voting, and get to recoup some of the cost of development fails. We can explain more in-depth at another time.
Check out this announcement from VoxPop Games:
Find more about them HERE
