Have you ever wanted to invest in a game?
Have you ever Kickstarted a game and felt a sharp disconnect with the community and developers post-release?
It used to be that if you wanted to invest in a gaming startup in the formal sense, you’d already need to have a lot of money to start with. That’s all changed due to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act that was signed into law in 2012, but few solid entities have taken the effort to really build something grand out of it.
Enter EquityArcade, a new kind of venture that hopes to take crowdfunding to a new level by selling you shares within a game startup. The JOBS act allows the average person to invest in early startups, which is a pretty incredible thing. EquityArcade’s sources estimate that the amount of new funding by your average person will range anywhere from 300 billion to trillions of dollars.
The idea is pretty simple – average users will invest in a game. Depending on the game’s success and sales, these smaller groups of individual investors will receive dividends. So it’s not only in the company’s interest to do well, but it’s also in the investor’s best interest to help rally within the community and make sure the game is going to be successful.
I spoke briefly with Aaron Kaplan, CEO and founder of EquityArcade at PAX East who pretty much sold me on the concept. Crowdsource Fatigue is a very real thing, and after the success of Kickstarter a dozen other clones showed up. EquityArcade is really, truly, something different. This is an investment opportunity in a multi-billion dollar industry, served up to the average person. I’ve got really high hopes for EquityArcade, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them in the months to come.
Looking to invest in a game yourself? Aaron mentioned that the baseline will be around $100 to get started. Don’t reach for your wallet just yet, though – EquityArcade is still working with a number of startups and preparing their platform for users to get started. The website looks pretty slick though, and has plenty of information to get you excited. You can even register for early access by visiting: https://investors.equityarcade.com/#register
For more information on EquityArcade, you can visit their main site at https://equityarcade.com/
