Kickstarter Updates Terms Of Use, Details What Happens When Projects Fail

A lot of interesting products have received funding on Kickstarter over the years. The Oculus Rift started out as a successful Kickstarter campaign along with the Virtux Omni VR Treadmill while AirVR is one of the latest projects to seek funding. However, there are times when projects aren’t able to be completed and Kickstarter has updated its Terms of Use to detail further clarify what happens when projects fail.

One of the latest projects to get cancelled was Neal Stephenson’s sword-fighting simulator Clang. Backers had received no updates in about a year and, upon news of the cancellation, some became angry and wanted a refund. While many backers understand the risks of funding a project Kickstarter has made it made it very clear what project creators are obligated to do if their project fails. According to the Terms of Use it states, “When a project is successfully funded, the creator must complete the project and fulfill each reward. Once a creator has done so, they’ve satisfied their obligation to their backers.”

The Terms of Use goes on to state that failure to complete a project and fulfill the rewards offered means that the project creator has not lived up to the basic requirements of the agreement. For creators in this predicament, Kickstarter outlined a series of steps they must take in order to remedy the cancellation of a project in a suitable manner.

Failure to fulfill these problems, the Terms of Use warns, could lead to legal action by backers.

"This update reflects the best practices we’ve seen from our community to get the best possible outcomes from challenging situations,” said Kickstarter ceo Yancy Strickler, “Incorporating them into these terms is a small but important part of building a healthy, trusted environment where people work together to bring creative projects to life.”

Do you fund Kickstarter projects and how do you react when one of the projects you backed is cancelled or fails?