So why go to all the hassle of setting up your project on Kickstarter? Most of them take less of a cut than Kickstarter, and most do not have the same US-only requirement either. Though Kickstarter is the best known, there are numerous other crowdfunding sites available to any developer. Instead, if a non-US team wants to get on to Kickstarter, they will have to do it themselves. After discussions with Kickstarter, we learned it is not possible for a team to set up a project on behalf of another team (as it would run into problems with Amazon Payments), so we cannot offer our US bank account to interested teams. I strongly believe that independent games should be funded on merit rather than geography, and we want to help other non-US teams access Kickstarter in any way we can. Had we had more coverage, I can only assume we'd have raised even more. Xenonauts was late to the Kickstarter party and struggled to get much press coverage, but we raised as much money in 33 days of Kickstarter than we did in the entire previous 18 months of preorder alpha-funding. While the largest successes have raised astonishing amounts of money, it is also perfect for small independent teams looking to raise funds. The power of Kickstarter should not be understated. As the leader of a small studio based in London, I found it enormously frustrating that we were seemingly barred from taking part for no other reason than being situated on the wrong side of the Atlantic. This guide is borne out of geographical frustrations - we have witnessed a revolution in the way games have been funded over the past few months, but sadly one localised largely to the US. I think the principles are still sound - the tricky part is getting a bank account.ฤก0 - Step #6 - Authorising Amazon Payments I will leave the guide up despite this, as elements of it may still be useful to non-US people trying to get onto Kickstarter. I frequently receive emails from people who would like us to launch a Kickstarter on their behalf, but unfortunately we have far too much going on with our own game development work to be able to take on additional responsibilities. Finally, I personally am not able to help you set up a Kickstarter either in the US or the UK (even for a royalty of your takings).I've also been asked for the contact details of my US helper many times - sadly he's a busy man and I don't want to take up any more of his time than I already have, so I'm afraid I can't give these out either.
Sadly I'm not able to provide the details of any US tax accountants etc you will have to look into that yourself (I didn't use one because I'm a qualified accountant myself, but I wouldn't be confident providing professional advice to others on the matter).Your helper will need to discuss the account with the bank in advance to make sure our method is still viable. I have been informed that HSBC have tightened their requirements on setting up bank accounts recently, and they are less willing to have only overseas people as signatories on the account.If you are based in the EU, I strongly suggest you try to set up a UK company rather than a US one as you'll likely find it easier due to the EU common market. If you are based in the UK, you don't need this guide. Kickstarter was launched in the UK shortly after I wrote this piece.However, there have been some changes to the process that mean it may no longer be fully viable: This guide was written in mid-2012 and I know that at least half a dozen companies have used it to set themselves up on Kickstarter in this time. IT IS SIMPLY MY COLLECTED THOUGHTS AND THEY ARE FOLLOWED AT YOUR OWN RISK. THIS IS IN NO WAY LEGAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE, AND NEITHER I NOR GOLDHAWK INTERACTIVE CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF FOLLOWING IT. If it does not work, please do not be angry at Kickstarter (or me) because of it. However, please understand that I cannot guarantee this method will work for you even if you follow it to the letter. I have considered this and my view is that the potential gain to the global indie community is greater than the risks. Understandably, they don't want angry people emailing them about it. The Kickstarter team expressed reservations about me posting this guide online, as they are concerned people may follow the instructions and find they do not work for them (perhaps authorisation proceedures etc may have changed since it was written). This is the method used to launch the Xenonauts (X-Com re-imagining) Kickstarter project, despite Goldhawk Interactive being based in London, United Kingdom. This guide has been written to provide an explanation for how non-US based companies can comply with Kickstarter's US-only requirements.