SEC clears Fig for unaccredited investments in Psychonauts 2
"This qualification paves the way for Fig to create and register new Fig Game Shares for its other games"
The SEC has given Fig approval to sell shares in Psychonauts 2 to unaccredited investors - a turning point that it claims will "pave the way" for other games on its crowdfunding platform to do the same.
Psychonauts 2 raised $3.8 million from 24,100 people in a campaign that closed in January this year. Thanks to the JOBS Act Regulation A+, which made equity-based crowdfunding legal, it was able to take a portion of that money from unaccredited investors, but the funds have been held in escrow pending the SEC's approval. Those people will now be able to complete the purchase of their Fig Game Shares.
"With this qualification, Fig will be the first and only company to allow all fans the opportunity to support and earn a return based on a single game's sales through Fig Game Shares," the company said in a statement. "This qualification paves the way for Fig to create and register new Fig Game Shares for its other games."
Fig CEO Justin Bailey added that fans being able to fund and receive a financial return on games is, "transformative to the publishing of interactive entertainment and beyond." It has also been core of the platform's ambitions since the very beginning. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in November 2015, Bailey said that Fig's focus, "has always been unaccredited investment."
"It's always been about fans being able to invest in those projects. The reality of this thing, and what we've always wanted to do, is we just wanted to make it so fans could invest in the videogame projects they support."