Kingdoms and Castles, the first funded game from the Fig crowdfunding platform to launch as a finished product, arrived PC on July 18, 2017. Within a couple of days, it had already earned back initial investments.

“Kingdoms and Castles, developed by Lion Shield Studios, generated over $1,000,000 in sales after just two weeks of the title’s launch,” notes a press release from Fig. “The video game sold enough copies within 48 hours of release to recover initial investments, and it will continue to generate revenue-sharing for these Fig Game Share investors for up to the next 3 years.”

Fig works differently from competing platforms such as Kickstarter, by allowing regular gamers to spend money on game ideas they want to see come to fruition, and by enabling investors to spend much more money to secure a potential return once those games reach the market. Kingdoms and Castles already became a moderate success when its investors broke even, but that’s just the beginning of its story.

“Fig takes the best instincts of the community and combines them with a publishing model that gives control back to the developers and the fans that believe in their projects – today we proved that community publishing is a successful way to launch a video game,” said Justin Bailey, Fig’s CEO and founder. “By sharing the commercial success of a specific project with supporters, community publishing shifts the focus from that of just successfully funding games to instead focus on the successful development and commercial viability of the titles.”

The early Kingdoms and Castles success will potentially be followed by more good news when other Fig-funded games that are currently in development reach the marketplace. They include Wastelands 3 from inXile, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire from Obsidian Entertainment, and Psychonauts 2 from Double Fine.

Game development can be a costly endeavor, fraught with risk. Numerous campaigns on Kickstarter have snatched failure from the jaws of success. Would you ever consider purchasing Fig Game Shares?