Kickstarter coming to Canada

Crowd-funding portal Kickstarter will allow Canada-based projects later this summer, the company announced today. Currently, the platform is available only to those in the United States and Europe.

Creators interested in learning more can sign up for Kickstarter's mailing list to let the company know what kind of project they are interested in launching.

Brutal Legend studio Double Fine Productions was one of the first major developers to bypass a traditional publisher relationship and seek funding directly from fans when it launched a campaign for a point-and-click adventure game through Kickstarter in early 2012.

Numerous developers big and small have since spawned projects on Kickstarter in the wake of Double Fine, including Star Citizen, Project Eternity, Godus, a Leisure Suit Larry remake, and others. In addition, technology like the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and the Ouya console were successfully funded through Kickstarter.

Games topped Kickstarter successes in 2012, with $83 million in total donations to 2,796 projects from 561,000 backers. The success rate for games, however, was low--at around 30 percent.

Kickstarter, of course, supports projects other than games. Some high-profile success stories include a spiritual successor to Garden State from Zach Braff and a Veronica Mars movie.