Basically, they'll bring over the big games, but the small, the niche, the "too Japanese" - they want your dollars up front for that.
And I'm actually OK with this.
At first I was, "Whhhhhhhaaaaattt?!" But then really reading the article instead of just skimming the headlines made it all click for me.
Generally, I don't want the big games. I'm tired of all that. I don't want the "gold" releases that are really the quality of early beta releases. I don't want DLC; please no DRM (but you know the big publishers); I don't want to be nickeled-and-dimed; no in-app purchases, no microtransaction, no "small number of in game turns per day"... and generally, larger small games and medium-sized games are where you avoid all that. Most of it is tied up in the biggest releases and the "free"-to-play ones.
I want the more small, the more slice-of-life, the every day that's magical and neat on a personal scale kind of games and those types of "gaming experiences." I want to try new genres, and things that are more about the gameplay than flashy cut-scenes and lots of voiced dialog.
People always say, "Vote with your dollars." What better way than this? And if they use a crowdfunding platform that is all-or-nothing, then nobody loses out on their cash if the localization's cost isn't met by financing the goal during the crowd-funding.
But they better localize something if any of those goals are met, because even if they underestimate the cost of the localization or they just overshoot the budget, they will get Hell from their fans and from the gaming media if they don't bring over what they said they would.
It's a double-edged sword. It's a fascinating change in the way things are done. And we are living in interesting times. I wonder how all this will pan out.
Source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/z/1100-6431344/