Goblinworks' Pathfinder Online MMORPG reached its goal of $1,000,000 on January 14, 2013 with $1,091,194:
WE ARE FUNDED! Awed, humbled, utterly blown away by your love and support. Words fail us. Having reached our funding goal is such an amazing achievement. We'll be the 10th most funded videogame project in Kickstarter history. We are showing the videogame industry that there's a place for a fantasy sandbox MMO, FUNDED BY ITS PLAYERS. This is history-making stuff here, people. And you are a part of it.
More importantly, the Pathfinder Online MMORPG is a sign that the model originally proposed by the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons development team could work -- it is possible for pen-and-paper role-players to fund and play a MMORPG. Pathfinder Online is drawn from the same fan base that supports the Pathfinder role-playing game, a variant Open Game License version of Dungeons & Dragons that builds on the 3.5 edition. Ryan Dancey, then VP & Brand Manager at Wizards of the Coast, explained how it was possible:
The Wizards team produced figures showing that there were millions of people playing D&D and that if they could move a moderate fraction of those people to DDI, they would achieve their revenue goals. Then DDI could be expanded over time and if/when Hasbro recovered the video gaming rights, it could be used as a platform to launch a true D&D MMO, which could take them over $100 million/year.
Dancey, now CEO of Goblinworks, has proven that vision a reality.
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