Double Fine success: Intrigues

It's been a long time since a made a post. I have ton of new material; but my focus is in getting the demo ready for the Intel Level Up contest. It's a very tight schedule. My apologies on that. I have a whole city and a badass boss battle on the works.

I'm just passing by to tell my thoughts out loud regarding Double Fine's success:

1. With so many backers, does this:
   
   
   
   1. Actually mean the company is just getting a lot of pre-sales?
      
   2. If, so, the Company gets +1 Million in funding plus revenue for sales; or they won't sell well because of that high ammount of "pre-sales". Is a great portion of his market funding the project; or just a tiny bit?
      
2. Will they sell like millions or tens of millions of copies, or just a few thousands more?
   
3. Will Valve be happy to give away +42k free Steam codes? Having a popular, successful game in their portfolio certainly keeps clients loyal to the brand; but Steam might face little direct profit from it.
   

Due to these interrogations, the concept of "funding" must be carefully taken; because as is; it's potentially including the concept of "profit" itself. Under normal cirumstances, one usually tends to believe that, given a budget, he is allowed to spend most or all of it (as long as it is well spent, well distributed over time, and fits expectations).

Then profit will [s]magically[/s] come to recover the investment. But in this case, profit may have already came in advance; therefore I think it's wise for Double Fine to analyze the situation, where they're standing: What were they initial expectations, their expected budget (i.e. 400k); how much better can the game be made by adding more money to it and what's the upper limit at which throwing more money just doesn't make a better game. The rest of the money's fate can't be taken lightly; unless new information would indicate this is only the tip of the iceberg.

My quick thoughts on the subject. I thought I'd have to share them, since no one seems to be doing this kind of analysis other than "amazing, record-breaking success". I'm happy too that Grim Fandango's creator gets such success; I was kindly surprised as well; but it's easy to overlook the gotchas when one's filled with excitment.

Before I sign off, let's leave with a teaser:

This is a boss fight. Notice down below the character's head...

Until next time...