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As the Carmageddon Kickstarter campaign nears its $400k goal, digital download site GOG.com has announced it will provide a free copy of the original game to backers at the $25 level or higher.
The original 1997 drive ’em up will be available on GOG.com "in the near future", and this deal sets an unusual precedent of collaboration between a digital retail outlet and a crowdfunding campaign.
Carmageddon Reincarnation has raised $360k with twelve days remaining, making it very likely the reboot of the iconic and controversial "points for pedestrians" series.
“Since we got the rights to Carmageddon back, we’ve been hearing from the community how much they’d love to be able to play the original games again, on a modern Windows PC," said Neil Barnden, Stainless co-founder and Executive Director on Carmageddon.
"We’ve been hearing this message even louder since launching our Kickstarter campaign to help fund our next title in the series, Carmageddon: Reincarnation. The message from the gaming community is loud and clear: Give us something to play, while we wait for the new Carmageddon! So, that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
Backers will still have to wait to get back behind the wheel while the GOG team format the original game for modern PCs, but an incentive like this is nonetheless an exciting prospect for crowdfunded series reboots.
"Many of us at GOG.com are big fans of the Carmageddon franchise, and the Carmageddon games are perfect examples of the kind of classic games that we love to bring to our gamers: great gameplay, tons of fun, and a unique experience," said GOG’s head of marketing and PR Trevor Longino.
"Being able to help support the developers by providing backers with copies of this classic game was just icing on the cake for us”.
With the extra marketing fuel provided by the deal, Stainless’s CEO Patrick Buckland is confident his studio will meet its goal and bring the new Carmageddon game to eager fans.
“Thanks to our friends at GOG.com, the streets of Bleak City will once again echo to the screams of little old ladies shrieking, “I was in the war!” as they (and their walking frames) go sailing through the air.”
