It seems Kickstarter is not what it used to be, at least not in the video game space. In the first half of 2016, $8.2 million were pledged towards video game campaigns compared to more than $20 million in the first half of 2015. A massive change, but it seems it is almost entirely down to the lack of larger, successful Kickstarter campaigns (like Yooka-Laylee, Bloodstained and Shenmue 3 in 2015). The number of successful projects are roughly the same. We're currently seeing the System Shock remake having success, so if that's any indication, maybe the second half of 2016 will be better in terms of total dollar amount pledged. Kickstarter is also facing more competition, Psychonauts 2 for instance, crowdfunded in January to the tune of $3.8 million was launched on competing platform Fig.
On the other hand, table top games are continuing to grow on Kickstarter, and as that is a far less risky proposition it makes sense that Kickstarter is used as a means to build a substantial pre-order base before moving into production.
Is it the end of Kickstarter for video games then? Not likely. But as the video games industry is figuring out that Kickstarter isn't the swiss army solution to all funding needs, it would seem that there is a decrease in larger projects on the platform, or perhaps Q1 and Q2 of 2016 were just very slow for one reason or another.
These stats were provided by the analysts at ICO Partners.