In a message for fans on the company’s official blog (note: may be NSFW), MangaGamer producer and Overdrive president Hiroshi “Bamboo” Takeuchi, says that he would like to make use of crowdfunding in order to fund future visual novel localizations.
“Every year the number of titles we have keeps growing along with the number of users on our site, so if we keep expanding to about twice the user base and sales we see now, I think we’ll start seeing even more developers joining in,” Takeuchi says.
On the subject of MangaGamer’s future, Takeuchi shares: “I think it would be wonderful if we can form a bridge between Japanese developers and fans abroad. I think it would be really interesting if we could create something to let the enthusiastic voices of fans abroad reach developers in Japan. Also, I’d like to try using crowd-funding to actually gather localization funds and use it to convince other Japanese developers.”
While crowdfunding would be a first for MangaGamer, Takeuchi’s other company, Overdrive, has already used it on two occasions so far—to develop a remake of a game called Green Green (pictured above) and for Kira Kira Kickstart Generation, a “live concert anime” meant to celebrate Kira Kira’s fifth anniversary.
