Well I'll say this much, if ever there was a game to back on kickstarter this one turned out to be a real gem. Kickstarter is a little risky since you may pledge hundreds, even thousands, for a project that fails. They don't get any more successful than DOS.
Well, D:OS was a little different from many Kickstarter games in that there was already a game there, and it was being done by an established developer, and not just a few guys saying
"Hey, I've got an idea I'd like to make reality with your help". It was going to come out no matter what, the only question was how much they could deliver on.
In that respect, Steam Early Access faces high risks as well as there is zero guarantee that you'll get a game that is any different than the day it first becomes available in that program (especially now that Valve has made it clear they won't be stepping in to protect backers anymore).
To hear Swen explain it in the release video, Kickstarter provided the word of mouth necessary to get the game to do well on Steam Early Access, and SEA provided the funding needed to get all those extra ideas into the game, with both providing the feedback needed to get D:OS to where it is today. Although, in my case, seeing the game show up on the front-page scroll banner of Steam was the only "word of mouth" I had, heh.
