Palestinian game developer closes crowdfunding nearly $50,000 above goal

Palestinian game developer Rasheed Abueideh has wrapped up his crowdfunding for a pseudo-3D stealth adventure inspired by a historical Palestinian folktale, nearly $50,000 more than the original funding goal.

Abueideh accepted crowdfunding from Dreams on a Pillow to launch Good after “facing a decade of rejection and avoidance from financial partners and publishers who considered supporting a Palestinian to be ‘too risky’ or ‘controversial’.”

“The team attempted to raise editorial funding and cultural grants for the project, but were systematically rejected,” the Crowdfund page explains.

“Only one publisher responded positively to funding requests, one who has experience in games with sensitive themes, but unfortunately, even for them, the risk of a Palestinian story was too great.”

Dreams on a Pillow originally set out to raise around $195,000 but closed with just over $244,000, although Abueideh acknowledged that to make the final project, he will need to come up with around $495,000 to “pay salaries, subcontracting and asset creation.” However, the money raised from the crowdfund can “take the game from pre-production to production status.”

Abueideh thanked the 3,336 supporters who funded his project on BlueSky and said it will “make history in the gaming industry.”