Square Enix have officially unveiled Square Enix Collective, a new crowd funding program in partnership with Indiegogo, which allows teams of developers to campaign for money to develop a game with.

Collective will allow users to post ideas, which is then voted on by the community over a 28-day period. Once the idea has been approved, it’s then opened up for crowd funding at Sqaure Enix’s discretion. This is where Indiegogo comes in – it’ll behave just like any other crowd-funding program. Assuming your game makes it this far, you’ll be helped by Square Enix with marketing purposes.

If you’re feeling skeptical about this idea, and are wondering why anyone would prefer this over Kickstarter, then Square Enix has something special up its sleeve.

Its IPs.

You read that right. Details are scant as of yet, but the official announcement page mentions “the chance to work with some of the older Eidos IP from our back catalogue”. 

Older Eidos IP. That would surely include the likes of Legacy of Kain, or Fear Effect, but we have yet to see which IPs they mean. This is a brave new world for crowdfunding, and could usher in a new era of publisher-approved, official, big-budget fangames. Square Enix has said that it will unveil more information on submission parameters and IP selection at GDC Next, which is running from November 5-7 in Los Angeles. 

What do you think? Is Square Enix making the right moves, or is this likely to be met with indifference? Let us know in the comments below.