Kickstarter Update: 100% of Early Access revenue going back into development

[Hippos Are The Boss of Crocos]

The latest Wasteland 2 Kickstarter update contains a lot on our current progress and plans, covering topics like the local area map, loot drops, jamming changes and frequency increase of alarm disarm and demolitions.

But aside from that, it speaks a bit to how Early Access has gone for us, and how we handle the revenue. Here is that section of the update:

Wasteland 2 is 2x bigger than Kickstarter budget allowed!

Wasteland 2 is a hell of a project. One that is larger and more nuanced than we had imagined even when completed our Kickstarter campaign and knew what our budget was. We've had the good fortune of having a nicely selling back catalog, which allowed us to put a good chunk of our own money into making this the best experience possible. That along with some help from Early Access on Steam provided additional revenue along with a great influx of feedback.

We made this promise a while back and it still holds true. Every penny coming in from sales is still going back into making Wasteland 2. By this stage, it means we have doubled Wasteland 2's initial budget.

There was discussion when we put the game up on Early Access whether it was a good idea or not. I can promise that the game we are close to releasing would not have been the same without it. While Wasteland 2 would have been released months ago without Early Access, it would not have the polish, detail, and scope that we are bringing to you in very near future. The past few years have been one large learning and refining process for all of us, and in hindsight, we can measurably say this had a huge positive impact on the game. Nothing beats the feedback from tons of you playing the game and the resources and time to act on that feedback.

At this stage in production we are thinking about practical tasks such as getting a gold master version so we can start printing discs. We're currently aiming to have that done in late July, but that doesn't mean we wrap up the project. Some people will stay on (as others move fully to Torment) and continue working on the game until its release to provide a day one patch, and we fully plan on significant post-release support.

The most obvious of that will be the mod-kit and of course post-release patches. We do not have any expansions currently planned but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future. We will keep an eye on feedback just like we have during the beta period and be open to taking another look at features that are highly requested. Basically, while we are nearing the release date and thus nearing "the end" in that sense, we are looking forward to working on this game for quite some time yet!

[randir14]

Nice list of improvements, it seems to encompass nearly all the recent complaints I've been seeing from people.

I especially like the stat bonus reward for exploring and finding the shrines because previously exploring around the world map didn't feel very worthwhile.

[Warsun]

Modern technology without losing the old world immersion and feel. Absolutely awesome, great work on this project!

[Palad1n]

I didn't find any info on when we could expect the next Beta update? Maybe I overlooked it, or do you plan to hold off on any further until final release? From a development standpoint, I would be disapointed and confused as to why the rest of the content wasn't at least first released to help find any potential serious bugs / issues before calling it a final release.

Looking forward to a fully polished finished game.

[Shapeshifter]

huzzah for the local map.

[ArchAngel]

I hope some of that extra money goes into improving early game maps with more content and that you also improve combat after release. And adding another layer of character customization will help to make it more interesting.