Anachronox IP Available for Crowdfunding Use

Square Enix has announced that a number of old Eidos IPs, which include the cult classic Anachronox, is available for use on its Collective platform. Through Collective, Square Enix gauges feedback on potential crowdfunding campaigns from independent teams if the feedback is positive and the team is judged capable of delivering, Square Enix will pledge its support to the project in exchange for a cut of the funds raised and the sales of the finished product.

So far, the platform had been used entirely for original IPs, but the inclusion of old Eidos IPs was mentioned since the very launch of the platform and the Japanese publisher is finally delivering on that promise. There are, of course, some additional conditions for the usage of these IPs, Anachronox included:

In terms of the process, submissions using our IP is pretty much the same as for original IP, with a few exceptions which you should be aware of.

Firstly, we’ll pre-approve anything internally that is published on the Feedback platform. That means that if something goes out for community voting, we need to be happy with it first. If you submit something we don’t approve, we’ll tell you why but to be clear, this is really about making sure ideas are relevant to the franchise. It *doesn’t* mean that we’re looking for straight-up sequels we’d love to see different takes on those universes. What would Gex look like in a side-scrolling adventure, or a turn-based strategy? So feel free to mash up genres, and get creative.

The Feedback process is then basically the same we throw the idea out to our community and let them vote and feedback for 28 days. At the end of that period we’ll weigh up the response, and then decide whether or not to proceed further.

If the response is good, then it’s into crowdfunding, which no doubt begs an important question: Why ask gamers to pay for a game to be made if it’s using our IP? Well, because it will still be the responsibility of the independent developer to build the game and the developer will still be the key beneficiary of its success.

On the business side, we’ll still take 5% of net crowdfunds raised (assuming the initial target is reached); and we will also distribute the game when it’s done for that we take the standard distribution fee of 10% net sales revenue, but we’ll also charge a 10% license fee for the use of the IP. And, obviously, we’ll have more involvement in the direction of development because let’s face it, we want to make sure the game that’s released is the game that’s promised.

It’ll be interesting to see whether anyone will step up and attempt to use the Anachronox IP, whether for a sequel or something else, and whether that attempt will be fruitful.