While I understand that there has been a long history of Kickstarter projects underdelivering or not delivering at all... I would think the context of a global pandemic causing record resource shortages would allow cutting these guys some slack, yeah?
I mean, if Nvidia and AMD can't get a graphics card into my hands over the course of a year then I can't imagine a super tiny group of engineers would have much luck bootstrapping the supply chain for their brand new product.
The fact that Nvidia and AMD are having trouble highlights that supply chain financing is a risky business where even professionals lose their money. Requiring customers to take part in it as a condition for (eventually) buying the product feels icky to me.
Producing anything to sell commercially requires work up front. That work has to get paid for. While that work is happening, the people involved need to eat and to keep their families fed. Is the universe a big ol' meanie for "requiring" people to keep eating? I guess.
Regardless, up-front money is required. Previously something like this could only happen if you managed to find somebody with millions of dollars sitting around and then managed to convince them to give you enough to get your product built. And then you had the problem of finding your buyers, which cost more money for marketing.
I have my issues with Kickstarter. But inviting the individuals who want your product to participate in financing it seems like a giant step forward to me. If you have a better idea, I'm all ears. If not, maybe just block Kickstarter in your browser? Then you'll be free of any perceived burdensome requirements.
You don't have to back the project to be able to buy one though: you can preorder from the second production wave on their site currently. It isn't as if they are only selling to backers and won't produce anymore after that
