It is quite funny how most of the interesting projects in indie gaming originate from Sweden. This time, the new-found company Sagen Interactive gives us a vision of the future of gaming, a beautiful vision indeed.

Sagen wants to create a game-publishing platform, something resembling Steam or Desura. Although unlike these two, this new platform would be based on crowdfunding, with all the games distributed by it would be free of charge, their creation depending on whether the users find the given game interesting or not. Also, future projects of the given developer would be linked, giving the satisfied customers a chance to back them further.  The funding goal for platform's project on indiegogo is quite high, set to 490,000$, but they say it is as low as they could go (and provide a detailed chart to prove that). I would like to see something like this, really, but I have some "but's".

First of all, every single component of the proposed platform is already here. Steam distributes games, and its Greenlight provides an opportunity for indie developers. For more indie-indie ones, there is Desura. Crowdfunding? Well, this aspect is based on the number of people following and with the number of the already-functioning portals (the biggest one naturally being Kickstarter) I cannot quite see another one becoming popular enough. Also, there would surely be a group of users who would parasite on the already-funded projects, benefiting from other people's contribution, but this one may be countered with, let's say, a minimal backing threshold required to get the free games. Last but not least, a read-through the project description left me a bit unsure. I would gladly see some more details, as well as...a name! Such a platform needs an epic name!

Sagen Interactive gave us a vision of a bright future but it may, unfortunately, still be a utopia. I wish the Swedish guys luck and will back them with a few dollars myself, but I think the gaming world is not ready for such a step. Knowing a bit above average about Scandinavia, I know where such thinking comes from. Too bad the Internet is not quite that Scandinavian. But I have been wrong before and the Internet surprised me many times, so let's hope for the best! And of course, please share your thoughts on the project in the comments below.