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Square Enix Collective Opens Projects Investments

LONDON, April 2, 2015: Today we’re announcing an update to the Collective indie support platform – following feedback from the development community, we’re now open to make direct investment into some projects.

Square Enix Collective Opens Projects Investments

The arrangement will enable developers interested in funding to pitch directly to the Collective team as an alternative to support via crowdfunding (which we will continue to offer in parallel).

Additionally, one of the primary aims for Collective at launch was to build relationships with indie teams working on a variety of deep PC gaming experiences – and now we want to expand that to mobile and digital console projects too.

“Since launching a year ago we’ve met some great teams with projects that they didn’t want to take to crowdfunding, and where an investment of up to $250,000 would have really helped them get to launch in the best shape,” said the platform’s creator and project lead Phil Elliott. “So we’ll be exploring options with teams over the course of the year as we continue to look for new ways to support new talent coming into the industry.”

Since launch, we’ve published around 40 pitches on the Collective feedback platform for the community to feedback on; while we’ve also helped teams to raise over $300,000 via Kickstarter plus benefit from some great internal development experience.

“One of the nice side effects for Collective has been connecting people from our own Western studios who love the idea of supporting indie teams around the world – and that sharing of experience is definitely something we want to continue to enable.”

The Collective team will be on the road at a range of developer events in the coming months, so if you want to meet up and discuss possible investments, or anything else to do with the platform, then get in touch: collective@square-enix.com.

Confirmed events so far include Reboot Develop (Croatia, April), Nordic Game (Sweden, May),Develop (UK, July).

Meanwhile, following on from the recent announcement that pitches on selected Eidos IP can now be submitted, we can announce the deadline for those submission is May 31, 2015. After that time, we’ll evaluate all submissions and announce next steps.

Square Enix Collective is a platform that aims to help independent developers find an audience for their projects, by enabling them to tap into our community and media resources. Projects which gamers support through the initial Feedback phase may be offered continued support through crowdfunding too; but developers are free to choose whether to accept, and always retain IP and complete creative control over their projects.

Related: Square Enix Collective is Helping Raise Awareness of Indie Developers

Source: Press Release

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