FlatOut dev cancels Kickstarter for destruction-themed car game

FlatOut developer BugBear Entertainment has canceled the Kickstarter drive for its upcoming destruction-themed car game after the campaign failed to gather enough monetary support.

"Although our Kickstarter campaign has attracted tremendous enthusiasm, during the last couple of weeks it's become obvious that we are not going to meet our goal," the developer said about the game, which it is calling Next Car Game.

At the time of cancellation today, the Kickstarter campaign raised $81,772, well short of the campaign's $350,000 target. Bugbear originally launched the Kickstarter campaign on November 1.

Bugbear said it is "hell-bent" on continuing to develop the game, and thus has decided to focus instead on preorders through its website, which start at $25. In addition, the game has already been greenlit through Steam Greenlight.

As a "thank you" to fans, Bugbear today released a playable technology demo for all supporters. The demo is the same demo Bugbear uses to test various features for cars like damage and environment destruction. 24 cars in all are included with the demo.

Next Car Game is currently in development for PC for release in 2014, though supporters will get to play early via Steam Early Access. Support for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 was planned if funding through the original Kickstarter hit $1.5 million. It is not clear if these platforms are still being considered.

Bugbear created the FlatOut series and most recently shipped Ridge Racer: Unbounded for Namco Bandai Games in 2012.