Square Enix Collective Opens

World War Machine concept art

Through the Square Enix Collective platform, all developers will be able to submit game ideas, which can then be promoted toward crowdfunding. Pitches are scheduled for publishing every Monday and then the community can decide which projects obtain approval.

“The pilot phase went really well, we learned so much during the test month and the teams we worked with; Tuque Games, Kitfox Games and Ruffian Games, have given great and useful feedback,” said Phil Elliott, project lead for Collective. via official press release.

The first game to make it through that pilot phase is World War Machine by the aforementioned Tuque Games. The game was favored by the community with a solid showing of 90 percent “Yes” votes. By the end of April, a crowdfunding campaign for the game will surface via Collective’s partnership with Indiegogo.

The project by Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games, called Game of Glens, garnered 60 percent “No” votes, and did not make it through the approval process. While Kitfox Games’ Moon Hunters also had a positive rating with 83 percent “Yes” votes, it too will not reach the crowdfunding phase.

If you’re interested in participating in this program, below are the basic requirements that need to be met for submissions. The game must:

• Be developed for PC
• Be digital-only
• Have a budget that’s realistic for crowdfunding
• Not have already been through crowdfunding previously
• Be submitted by a person that can lead development (ie is an industry professional)

Introduced back in October, this Collective platform is a pretty pioneering move for video game development. Rather than just betting pretty blindly on a game that pops up on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, developers would really need to prove themselves to the community first during this screening process.

At the very least, the public will know that the games that successfully make it through to the crowdfunding phase are worth looking into.