One Developer Pitched 5 Games Over 200 Times – And Still Didn’t Get Funding

KeokeN Interactive team photo

Here’s a very obvious statement: video game development is very hard. If you look at the credits of any video game, you’ll see dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people who worked their hardest to make something hopefully incredible. But to hire those people, you need funding, and in recent years, that’s become harder and harder, even for proven developers.

One developer in particular, KeokeN Interactive, has been struggling to secure funding. KeokeN is best known for Deliver Us The Moon and its sequel Deliver Us Mars, sci-fi narrative adventure games that have been very well received by fans. Despite that, KeokeN hasn’t been able to secure funding for their future projects, though not for lack of trying — they’ve pitched those games over 200 times to over 40 publishers.

With few options left, KeokeN has taken a wild swing and revealed all five of its games in development. The developer hopes that by appealing to its community, and showing excitement for its games, someone out there will take notice.

“After pitching these 5 games over 200 times with 40+ publishers, it was time to call upon our greatest strength: our community and network,” Koen and Paul Deetman, founders of KeokeN say. ““It’s our last resort. We will not go down without a fight, and what better way than to fight with everything we’ve created. Our entire team has poured their heart and dedication into these games. The amount and diversity of these games are not the result of a lack of focus or vision. It’s a testament to our adaptability and to how hard we’ve tried to make it work during continually shifting winds and exceptionally hard times in the industry. More than anything else, we love and want to continue making games.”

Here’s how KeokeN describes each of the games its working on:

• We Are Human, a philosophical thriller that emphasizes mind-bending combat and traversal.

• Deliver Us Home, a solitary astronaut experience about finding home.

• Deliver Us The Moon: Huygens, an unsettling survival experience taking place during the Blackout.

• Deliver Us VR, an immersive astronaut experience that brings you back to the moon.

• Expeditions, a coop soulslike top-down shooter feature a rich narrative on Pangaea Proxima.

All of these games sound fantastic, and what we’ve seen in KeokeN’s video about these games, they all look pretty good too. With any luck, KeokeN’s bold strategy pays off, attracts a lot of attention, and gets these games funded.