🎮 The Fair Play Collective Manifesto
A new model for making games, together.
🎯 Why We Exist
The games industry is broken.
Publishers are laying off thousands. Studios are shuttering mid-project. Creative people are burning out or burning out of the industry entirely.
We believe a better system is possible — one rooted in community support, creative freedom, and transparent, stable funding. One that treats games as art, labor as sacred, and players as partners — not customers to be squeezed.
🛠 What We’re Building
- Multi-year funding to make the games they believe in
- Living wages, with public transparency
- No creative interference, marketing mandates, or early access pressure
- A shared space for accountability, support, and autonomy
This isn’t a publisher. This isn’t a crowdfunder. It’s a mutual aid system for devs — funded by people who believe games are worth making even when they’re not mass-market hits.
📜 What We Stand For
- Creative sovereignty: Devs make what they want. No pitch wars. No popularity contests. No interference.
- Worker-first ethics: No layoffs. No crunch. No hidden pay scales. Studios must submit fair, public compensation plans and timelines.
- Trust, not access: Backers don’t get early builds. They fund because they believe — not because they want to peek behind the curtain.
- Transparency everywhere: Salaries, progress, and project status are shared publicly. No NDAs. No smoke and mirrors.
- Community without control: Supporters get behind-the-scenes access when studios choose to share — but never creative ownership or decision-making power.
⚙️ How It Works (Right Now)
- Monthly Backers Fund the Pool: Supporters pay a flat monthly rate. We publish monthly reports showing how it's used.
- Studios Apply for Funding: They submit a concept, timeline, staffing, salaries, and a no-layoff/crunch pledge. A developer-led board reviews each one.
- Selected Studios Receive Monthly Support: Up to 24 months of funding with progress reporting and accountability.
- Games Are Released When They’re Ready: No early access. No forced deadlines. Devs set the timeline.
- Backers Get Benefits: Free monthly game, discounts, updates, and transparency reports.
🎁 Backer Benefits
- Monthly free game (yours to keep, no DRM)
- 40% off MSRP on all Collective games
- Dev diaries, postmortems, AMAs and live Q&As
- Founding member credit on site and in-game
- More to come in this space
⚖️ Accountability & Zero Tolerance
We’re building this collective because the industry has failed to protect its people — especially from exploitation, abuse, and silence.
That means enforceable expectations and zero tolerance for:
- Misuse of funds
- Sexual harassment or misconduct
- Bullying, threats, or verbal abuse
- Discrimination or hate speech
- Physical violence or intimidation
- Forced/coerced crunch
Violations trigger a confidential investigation. If substantiated:
- Funding is suspended
- Public accountability report is issued
- Studios may be permanently removed
- Offenders are named; studios that protect them lose support
We do not shield abusers. We do not quietly cut ties. We take action.
✊ Join Us
This is an experiment in trust, mutual respect, and building a future for games based on care, transparency, and freedom — not survival.
If you believe in that future — you’re already one of us.