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Or should I say crowdsourcing. Well, it’s probably more accurate to call it a combination of the two. Let me explain…
As Hasbro tries to engage more with fans, the company is turning to the public to find the next great party game. The effort is being led by a group in the company called “Hasbro Gaming Lab”.
Hasbro Gaming Lab is a team of passionate and game enthusiasts and designers, whose mission is to discover and develop great new games, connect with the growing gaming community, and bring fresh experiences to gamers everywhere.
Specifically, Hasbro is inviting the public to submit ideas for face-to-face party games. The folks at Hasbro Gaming Lab will select their five favorite, based on the following criteria:
40%: Gameplay (are there well considered rules, balanced mechanics, limited (if any) digital involvement)
20%: Story/theme (abide by a narrative to give dimension to the concept)
20%: Potential for Fun-ness (It should have the potential to bring people together, instigate laughter, or create good times)
20%: Viability (50 foot game boards sound awesome… but it’s unlikely they can be made into a game)
Then to choose the best from among those five, Hasbro is enlisting the help of Indiegogo. All five will be asked to launch their games as projects on the crowdfunding website. When the campaigns are finished, Hasbro judges will choose a single winner, again based on the above criteria—not necessarily the highest funding. The winning project gets a bonus $10,000 direct from Hasbro, as well as free consultation and mentoring sessions at Hasbro’s offices in Providence, Rhode Island (travel expenses paid for a team of three).
Here’s the real amazing thing. Participants, even the winners, retain all rights to their game! Hasbro only requires a right-of-first-refusal. That is, should the winner find a third-party publisher interested in acquiring the game, Hasbro will have the right to meet or exceed the offer.
The deadline for submitting initial ideas on the Hasbro Gaming Lab website is September 30th. Good luck!
[via Entrepreneur]
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Out of curiosity, anyone have any thoughts on how this compares to Mattel’s recent foray in to crowdsourcing?
http://www.purplepawn.com/2015/05/your-opportunity-to-pitch-mattel-sort-of/
This is a 100% horrible idea. Asking people to start a business (and be under no delusions, creating an Indiegogo campaign for a game is starting a business) is absolutely ludicrous as you are obligated to become a publisher of your game with all that entails regardless of the fact that Hasbro is only helping you, possibly with 10,000.
This is not a contest for designers, it is a contest for publishers that are about to go on Indiegogo.
I think it is horrible that they are encouraging a ton of people that do not know better to do something they may financially regret. Many who enter may not get the full ramifications of what they are doing by “entering a contest”.
You make a good point. It would not look good for Hasbro if one of their favored game projects failed to deliver on promises made during a crowdfunding campaign.