Slightly Mad Studios using WMD, crowd-funding for new racing game

Need for Speed: Shift developer Slightly Mad Studios is breaking out the big guns with a crowdsourced funding scheme titled World of Mass Development, or WMD (see what we did there?), which will take its first run with a new racing game, C.A.R.S. Through WMD, Slightly Mad will release C.A.R.S.' crowdfunded technology to subscribers, who can then help develop the game and reap a return on their investments once it launches. Slightly Mad will take 30 percent of the profits, with the rest divided among the community investors based on the amount of shares they own.

Slightly Mad expects C.A.R.S. to take two years and $5 million to produce. With shares priced from $5-$100,000 for individuals, groups or companies, Slightly Mad expects a $10 share will return $35, $250 to return $875 and $100,000 will return $350,000 -- if the game makes $25 million in profit. Slightly Mad has a goal to sell 3 million copies of C.A.R.S., earn a profit of $52 million and receive a 90 percent on Metacritic.

"Traditional development puts developers at the mercy of publishers," Slightly Mad said. "The development process offered by WMD shifts the focus back to creating great games that your target audience wants to play, whilst still offering the chance to get proper funding for development and testing."