Crowdfunding Platform Bans Projects Based on Name Alone, “No more VR,” says CEO

IndieStartup CEO Armando McGillicutty announced yesterday that the popular crowdfunding platform is now banning a number of VR-related projects based on a single factor: their name.

Crowdfunding campaigns have come and gone, but ever since IndieStartup’s founding in 2010, they’ve remained fairly agnostic on how individual projects went about naming and even marketing themselves while soliciting funds from backers. That is, until now.

In a surprise announcement today, CEO Armando McGillicutty made it clear that no new projects containing either the prefix or suffix ‘VR’ would be allowed on the site and that he’s “positively sick of the whole VR naming scheme. People just tack on ‘VR’ or add the words ‘the world’s first X in VR’ to anything nowadays and expect the backers to pull out their wallets. It’s wrong and we don’t stand by it.”

We reached out to McGillicutty to better understand his position on the change in policy.

“We understand that a project’s name is key to their success, a sort of shorthand for their overall intention, but ever since the reemergence of virtual reality, everyone seems to be slapping ‘VR’ on everything and hoping it’ll work out for the best.”

But why the change in heart? Why now?

“Historically we don’t tend to intervene unless there’s an obvious issue, like if the project is calling itself something already under copyright, or something clearly offensive based on our own internal conduct code. Race, creed, all of that sort of stuff,” McGillicutty told us. “For example, we just recently removed a project called Schindler’s Escalator—a shot-by-shot remake of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993), but taking place on the well-known Schindler brand escalators. That one’s a double whammy. So in that same vein, we think it’s time to cinch up the belt a little tighter with the projects that are seeking crowdfunding here at IndieStartup.”

As of March 31st, IndieStartup reserves these rights:

• We can make modifications to the IndieStartup Site and Services without notice or liability.
• We have the right to nullify any pledge to any project, at any time and for any reason.
• We have the right to ban, cancel, interrupt, remove, or suspend any project at any time and for any reason.
• We can basically do anything because we hold the secret to eternal life within our most secret chambers at our Palo Alto headquarters, where an unspeakably grotesque monster resides named “Gru” that our interns must regularly battle for our amusement.

Oculus VR, whose 2012 crowdfunding reignited the VR space, can run, but they can’t hide; while the company transitioned away from OculusVR.com in favor of Oculus.com, the truth will always be hidden at the bottom of their website:

Oculus VR® & © 2015 Oculus VR, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This is still a breaking story. Check back at Road to VR for further April Fool’s Day articles.