Kickstarter launches Patreon rival Drip
New crowdfunding platform allows creators to offer subscriptions for ongoing content, will integrate with Kickstarter
Kickstarter has launched a new platform designed to rival Patreon.
Drip is described as a "subscriptions tool" that allows creators and artists to "receive recurring financial support" from its audience, as opposed to the one-time project funding offered by Kickstarter.
This is much the same service Patreon offers, where consumers pay a monthly fee of their choosing to creators in order to access their work. Also like Patreon, Drip suggests creators can offer early access to their output, exclusive and bonus materials, plus behind-the-scenes info and updates.
The unique selling point for Drip is that it will tap into the established Kickstarter community, with the company promising "seamless access" to the 14 million users already pledging towards projects at the leading crowdfunding site.
Kickstarter also reveals that every 'Drip' will start with a 'founding membership' period of between seven and 30 days, during which it can offer 'founding member' subscription tiers.
The firm claims this will "replicate the urgency of Kickstarter's all-or-nothing mechanism", whereby projects are only successful if funded within 30 days. The theory is that developers will be able to use these limited-time 'founding' period to drive a surge of early support, much as they would a Kickstarter campaign.
Drip is open to creators from all disciplines already supported by Kickstarter, which of course includes video games, offering developers a new potential source of finance.
If the access promised is as hassle-free as Drip claims, it's likely a number of independent and smaller studios could turn to the new platform to sustain their work beyond the initial crowdfunding push.
If developers are interested in using Drip, they may have to wait a while - it will be an invite-only platform to begin with, although Kickstarter hopes to open it to more creators in early 2018. Subscribers are able to pledge money towards content from today.
It's perhaps no surprise that Kickstarter wants to compete with Patreon. The rival platform was recently valued at $450m, following a $60m investment round.
It's unclear whether Drip will prove to be of value to the games industry. Kickstarter has already shown significant decline in terms of the amount of support for video game projects. Last month, it was reported that over three times as many games fail than succeed on Kickstarter.