Some interesting news on the financial side of the MMO market today, with a joint announcement from crowdfunding platform Indiegogo and online investment bank MicroVentures – the ability for Indiegogo campaigns to now offer equity crowdfunding.

By utilizing new equity crowdfunding regulations that took effect in May, the new service provides entrepreneurs on Indiegogo the opportunity to raise funds from interested investors in exchange for financial stakes in their company, and provides funders on Indiegogo the opportunity to own a financial stake in innovative startups.

Of particular interest to potential investors among the MMO crowd, the developers of Crowfall – Artcraft Entertainment – are part of the service release, offering a stake in their company in order to help fund the title.

A short reading of the investment offering shows that a minimum buy in is set at 100 USD for stocks priced at $1.1173 per share. As the stock is unsecured you are unlikely, in the event of the title not taking off, to be able to recoup your investment and the legal documents involved do warn that “Purchaser should not invest any funds in the Offering unless Purchaser can afford to lose the entire amount of Purchaser’s investment” (Source: Artcraft Investment Agreement).

That said, this is a first in the MMO market – a chance for the average player to literally own a stake in the company creating their chosen title – and with the additional crowd-funding style perks also being offered I can imagine this may well be a popular choice for backers who would otherwise crowdfund for a less tangible reward.

At the time of writing, Artcraft has secured $16,153 through 33 investors with a funding goal of between $150,000 to $1,000,000 (a cap being placed to ensure that the shares themselves are not devalued).

Source: Press Release, Indiegogo