What Is an Initial Game Offering (IGO)?

UTC by Beatrice Mastropietro · 9 min read
What Is an Initial Game Offering (IGO)?
Photo: Unsplash

IGO stands for Initial Game offering, a new business model that combines the video game industry with crowdfunding. By combining these two industries, IGOs can reach out to their audience and gain more revenue by selling virtual items. This guide will go into detail about what an IGO is.

An initial game offering (IGO) is a type of crowdfunding that allows gamers to pre-purchase titles before they are finished. This process usually helps developers get additional funds for their projects while giving gamers early access. The most popular games in the IGO category are on Kickstarter, where thousands of projects have been funded by millions of backers worldwide. Unfortunately, some developers fail to meet their obligations while others make promises they can’t keep.

Game offerings may be more appropriate for some types of video games than others, particularly games that are already close to completion or offered as part of a limited edition collection. They can also be useful for developers who want to guarantee they don’t miss out on any aspect of marketing or development.

This approach is not always best for a project that needs more time to develop before it’s ready to be shared with the public. In these cases, an IGO can give players a false impression of what the final product will look like and how much work is left before release. But even if developers offer unlimited refunds or lots of updates, this process still facing skepticism.

ICO’s are relatively new, only having begun around 2013 when the rise of cryptocurrencies became popular within society. A traditional investor would do very little research into who they were investing in because it was fairly complex for someone with limited funds to invest in multiple companies like this. Therefore, large sums of money tended to go towards larger successful companies rather than smaller ones that may have a chance of success in the future. With ICOs, individuals can invest as much or little money as they desire towards projects that interest them and make a return on those initial investments if the company becomes successful.

The premise behind an Initial Game Offering (IGO) is that you are buying into a project before knowing exactly what that product will be. For example, you may buy tokens from a company that develops games that have yet to release their first game; an investor could potentially make huge gains from this investment if the released game turns out to be extremely popular. The risk behind investing in these companies is that they may never actually generate returns for investors. However, with good marketing and information about how your funds will be used, there is no reason why a company can’t convince a certain number of people to buy into their projects.

The main benefits of an IGO are that it is open to all rather than traditional investing, which tends to be reserved for high net-worth individuals or companies with huge sums of money at their disposal. Furthermore, you have more access to research and information about new ICOs which means you can make more calculated decisions when investing your own money into these companies.

What Is an Initial Game Offering?

An Initial Game Offering (IGO) is a fundraising event, usually carried out via crowd sale, for game industry projects and startups. It enables participants to obtain project tokens and other benefits such as receiving discounts on the game’s release or having access to special features from those who pre-register before it goes live.

IGOs can be seen as an alternative way to generate funds for gaming projects and startups. The term “pre-sale” has been used as a synonym to IGO in the past, but it is not absolutely matching since “pre-sale” may also refer to other private sales or crowdfunding activities.

IGOs are sometimes called token sales. They usually involve investors buying tokens that provide access to a service or platform and can also be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges if demand requires it. As a result, they can certain benefits such as discounts, free services, early access to content, free passes, and more apart from the right to use those tokens once the project goes live. Each one is usually unique and associated with the project in question in terms of the actual digital tokens. This is because they might need to refer back to them to provide a service or use a particular platform.

IGOs tend to happen when the project in question needs funding in order for it to go live and be fully operational. For example, if someone has an idea for a blockchain-based social network, but the necessary software is not easy or cheap to develop, an IGO could raise that required capital. Typically, these platforms can sell their tokens on cryptocurrency exchanges once they go live if demand warrants such an action. Even investors buy tokens purely based on speculation that they may become popular and increase in value later without actually using them within the platform itself.

Participation In an IGO

Participation in an IGO can often help a country’s economy improve market access, increase foreign direct investments (FDI), enhance attractiveness for tourism, or allow access to new technologies. However, participation in an IGO may also have adverse effects. Many IGOs are there to ease international trade, and investors may escape taxes. Also, countries with weak institutions are more likely to be manipulated by stronger partners of their IGOs.

An IGO is the first offering that allows people outside of the issuing organization to buy pre-release shares in that organization through a regulated process using blockchain technology. Participation in an IGO typically raises public awareness about cryptocurrencies and can increase the demand because IGO usually offers bonuses for buying tokens early on. Initial Game Offerings generally have a whitepaper that explains the business plan, the technology, and how tokens will be distributed after the IGO is complete.

Participation in an Initial Game Offering (IGO) could be hazardous for investors because anyone can create cryptocurrencies without asking for permission from regulators or complying with legal obligations such as those related to prospectuses. This means it is impossible to know whether Initial Coins Offerings (ICOs) are honest and truthful before putting money into them. Even prominent ICOs such as Ethereum’s (ETH) have been involved in frauds, and consumers should only use cold storage wallets which hackers cannot steal. Participation in an Initial Game Offering should take place only after thorough research into Initial Coin Offerings to avoid the risk of financial loss.

The Initial Game Offering market has expanded because IGOs are typically open-source, decentralized, globally accessible, and anonymous. Initial Game Offerings could become very popular with investors if their popularity grows as it did during 2016–2017. Participation in IGOs is risky because they often lack regulation by government authorities, which means IGOs might be compromised without consumer protection against frauds or scams.

IGO vs ICO

An IGO is a type of crowdfunding campaign for video games. IGOs are similar to IAPs in that they allow players to purchase digital items and services, but IGOs only offer items or perks exclusive to the IGO itself. IGO campaigns can include pre-bundled titles with new content, out-of-print games, and/or early access to new titles. These campaigns are usually hosted on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter or Fig, but may also be held by game studios directly via their own websites.

ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering and is a new method of raising funds by creating and selling digital tokens using blockchain technology. ICOs are currently unregulated in most jurisdictions worldwide, although there have been global movements towards regulating them in certain countries such as the US.

It follows naturally that IGOs would be threatened by this new technology based on decentralization, but IGOs themselves could greatly benefit from becoming involved with ICOs. IGOs could use ICO and create tokens and sell them to raise capital. IGOs could jump on the bandwagon and issue their tokens, which would become an integrated part of their ecosystem. They could also be used for other IGO-specific purposes like membership fees.

IGO Benefits and Risks

There are multiple advantages to Initial Game Offering (IGO) fundraising that has become popular with many mobile game developers. Initial Game Offering presents an opportunity for game developers to raise funds without relying on publishers or venture capitalists. Its benefits are the following:

  • no need to give up the company’s equity. Publishers usually insist that they should own a portion of your company in exchange for their investment, which means you could be giving up part ownership of your business, and that can’t happen with an IGO;
  • fast funding. If you’ve got a good pitch and enough social media following, an IGO can provide all the money you need in a short time frame, and without the strings attached that venture capitalists might have.
  • controlling your game. An IGO allows you to maintain ownership of 100 percent of the company’s equity, which means you get to make all development decisions.
  • funding future games. IGO lets you seek financing for multiple projects at once because it is much easier to raise money in increments when you are still building up an audience. An IGO funding can also pave the way for better use of the Initial Public Offering prospectus, where companies list themselves on public stock exchanges under the Initial Public Offering process through Initial Coin Offering prospectus.

Meanwhile, one of the key disadvantages of an IGO is that it is an all-or-nothing scheme. Once you begin the process, you must return all invested money to each investor before trying again if the first round does not go through. This means that you could go through the entire round and not successfully get any money at all. The other disadvantage is that it can be hard to finish a successful Initial Game Offering simply because of how many people you must inform and the amount of time this process takes.

An IGO can be risky. Entering into an IGO is not a risk-free venture because you never know if it will succeed. Initial game issuers must invest money, time, and effort before successfully raising all of the funds needed to launch their IGO.

Besides, IGOs cost more than an initial public offering (IPO). The initial game offering has become popular partly because IPOs are banned in some countries such as China.

Bottom Line

The initial game offering is a fantastic approach to enjoy the game and generate money. The developers are running out of money and are generating the initial game offering to raise further funding for future versions, updates, and so on. IGOs are traded or sold onшnitial game offering exchanges ерфе allow trade in the tokens or coins released during the IGO.

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FAQ

What is an Initial Game Offering (IGO)?

An IGO is a fundraising event, usually carried out via crowd sale, for game industry projects and startups. It enables participants to obtain project tokens and other benefits such as receiving discounts on the game’s release or having access to special features from those who pre-register before it goes live.

How to participate in IGO?

Participation in an IGO can often help a country’s economy improve market access, increase foreign direct investments (FDI), enhance attractiveness for tourism, or allow access to new technologies. However, participation in an IGO may also have adverse effects. Many IGOs are there to ease international trade, and investors may escape taxes. Also, countries with weak institutions are more likely to be manipulated by stronger partners of their IGOs.

How is an IGO different from an ICO?

IGOs are far less expensive than ICOs and IGOs provide more value through the IGO token models.

What are the most popular IGO launchpads?

The most popular IGO launchpads are IGO-F, IGO-L, and IGO-W.

What are the benefits of IGO?

With an IGO, there is no need to give up the company’s equity. Further, it is fast funding. If you’ve got a good pitch and enough social media following, an IGO can provide all the money you need in a short time frame, and without the strings attached that venture capitalists might have. Besides, an IGO allows you to control your game. An IGO allows you to maintain ownership of 100 percent of the company’s equity, which means you get to make all development decisions. Finally, an IGO lets you seek financing for multiple projects at once because it is much easier to raise money in increments when you are still building up an audience. An IGO funding can also pave the way for better use of the Initial Public Offering prospectus, where companies list themselves on public stock exchanges under the Initial Public Offering process through Initial Coin Offering prospectus.

Are there any risks associated with IGO?

One of the key disadvantages of an IGO is that it is an all-or-nothing scheme. Once you begin the process, you must return all invested money to each investor before trying again if the first round does not go through. This means that you could go through the entire round and not successfully get any money at all. The other disadvantage is that it can be hard to finish a successful Initial Game Offering simply because of how many people you must inform and the amount of time this process takes. An IGO can be risky. Entering into an IGO is not a risk-free venture because you never know if it will succeed. Initial game issuers must invest money, time, and effort before successfully raising all of the funds needed to launch their IGO. 

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