Hasbro has announced that they are working with Indiegogo to find the next great game. Called Hasbro Gaming Lab, the Grand Prize Winner receives USD$10,000 and a trip to Hasbro headquarters where they will work with the game development team to turn their game into a reality. Not only that, but the creators retain all rights to their game. It appears that Hasbro will primarily be looking for party games. The competition is open only to residents of the USA.
The company will choose the five best submissions and then ask them to each launch on the Indiegogo crowdfunding website. Once the campaigns are finished the Hasbro judges will choose a single winner based on certain criteria, and not necessarily the game with the highest funding. Hasbro’s only requirement is that it gets the right of first refusal, allowing them to meet or exceed any offer made by a third-party publisher.
It sounds like Hasbro has the best of intentions with the competition, though it seems fraught with potential problems. The least of which being the fact that Hasbro are essentially asking the five chosen entrants to begin a game design business of their own. Plus, while the competition focuses on the idea aspect of a game, once the game goes onto Indiegogo the creators are expected to deliver a product. Crowdfunding even at the best of times is a touch-and-go endeavour, and with this competition Hasbro are just as likely to align themselves with a disaster as the next Card Against Humanity.
It will be interesting to see how this competition pans out.
The deadline for submitting ideas is 30 September.
Wesite Reference: Hasbro Gaming Lab
