Star Citizen crowdfunding passes $200 million milestone

[midian182]

Bottom line: We’ve known for the last few months that it was about to happen: Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign has passed the $200 million mark, giving it one of the largest video game budgets in history. At the time of writing, 2,125,010 people have pledged $200,141,777 to the game, which, despite being in development for six years, still doesn’t have a solid launch date.

Back when it released its star-packed trailer for the single-player mode last month, Star Citizen was just $5 million shy of the $200 million mark. As suspected, it didn’t take long for it to reach the milestone, putting it in a fairly exclusive club: the only three other games to have a development budget of over $200 are Star Wars: The Old Republic, Grand Theft Auto V, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The Crowdfunding figures reveal that each person has, on average, donated $94 to the game, though there have been reports of people pledging up to $30,000. Most of the cash goes toward purchasing the game’s virtual spaceships, several of which go for well over $100. Buyers can also secure the Squadron 42 single-player element for $56.25, as well as a range of extras including merchandise and skins.

If you’re curious to know why so many people have given so much to the game, you can try Star Citizen in its alpha state, along with “every single ship in the game,” for free between November 23 to December 1. Head over to Roberts Space Industries website to sign up and download it when the free trial period begins.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/77489-star-citizen-crowdfunding-passes-200-million-milestone.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Scam citizen is still MIA more then 3 years after its supposed "launch" date. Despite this, cloud imperium will gladly sell you multiple thousands of dollars worth of micro transactions, fake ships, and virtual land worthless outside of the game. All of this to add to a budget that has somehow been burnt up on a team much smaller then the team that made, say, GTA V (cloud imperium has ~80 employees now, rockstar said over 1000 people were involved with making GTA V https://www.gamespot.com/articles/rockstar-more-than-1000-people-made-gtav/1100-6415330/).

But hey, you MIGHT get a beta next year, with the features of the OG kickstarter. 6 years later, over 3 years after the game was supposed to be finished. Assuming it comes out. Yay?

Roberts is a great example of why, when creative types mange to become "unchained" from the rigors of the corporate world and are able to strike on their own without limits, said artists often flounder and fail. Some of the greatest works of art, be it books, movies, or games, exist as they are because the team was forced to curb their wild ideas and make something that actually worked int he real world, was feasible to make. Necessity is the mother of invention, when you are limited by time and budget, you create art that might have some restrictions but is overall an enjoyable experience, when you have unlimited money and time, necessity falls apart, and you wind up with a bloated mess like scam citizen.

 

[m4a4]

Scam citizen

People like you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

Honestly, I stopped reading right there. It just sounds like you have no clue what you're talking about, never having played the game or seen what progress has been made.

It's literally not a scam. A poor investment? Maybe. But considering how much they can show off, it looks like they're making some good progress.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

People like you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

Honestly, I stopped reading right there. It just sounds like you have no clue what you're talking about, never having played the game or seen what progress has been made.

It's literally not a scam. A poor investment? Maybe. But considering how much they can show off, it looks like they're making some good progress.

Perhaps you should have kept reading then, to avoid making yourself look like a fanboi, because only a fanboi would say "it doesnt matter if you dont like it look at the PROGRESS".

Much of the "progress" shown is on features the product that was funded was not supposed to have. If you pay someone to build you a house, and said house is supposed to be finished in 2 months, then you show up 6 months later to find only the framework is done, but hey the builders made a sweet zen rock garden in the front yard, you would probably be pissed. If you order a sandwich at a restaurant, and the restaurant gives you 1/4th of a different meal two hours later while showing off the sweet new placemats they made, you would be pissed. If your local government passed a new tax levy to replace a bridge, then two years later the bridge still isnt built but the tax dollars buitl nice new offices for the government representatives, you would be pissed.

Star citizen is now over 3 years late. It has surpassed it's original funding goal by several orders of magnitude. The dev team is now FAR larger then it was originally. Yet the game is still in alpha, the features promised in the kickstarter still havent been delivered.

You know what we call a project that goes over budget by many orders of magnitude and spends said money on frivolous things other then the product itself?

A scam.

I call star citizen a scam because that is what it is, a project that sucks money from supporters while never delivering on the promised product. Many years and literal hundreds of millions of dollars later, all for an alpha that might be impressive by 2006 standards? Missing features all around, poor performance, incredible lack of content. Or perhaps you can explain how rockstar was able to make GTA V on $265 million with over 1000 employees working on the project over 6 years, yet chris roberts, with $200 million and 80 employees, cant deliver on his space action game that was supposed to cost only HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!

Yeah, thats right, Scam citizen had a crowdfunding goal of $500,000,and was supposed to be finished in 2015. It has now received 400x more money then that, yet it still isnt finished 6 years later. Where did all that money go, with such a small dev team? Smells awfully scammy.....

 

[m4a4]

Perhaps you should have kept reading then, to avoid making yourself look like a fanboi...

...A scam.

That's nice. If the best you have is calling me a "fanboi" for pointing out it's literally not a scam, then you need to work on your arrogant/ignorant "opinion" (because it just looks childish with the dishonest use of the term).

It's a crowdfunded project that didn't have their creators up and leave in the middle of it (well, not yet. But nothing points to that). Everything that they're doing shows that they're trying to create their vision for "the best open-world space sim". No other game has such openness with the production cycle. So, unless you can show people that they're redirecting funds to their extravagant personal lives and/or are being dishonest with delivering on that vision, it means not a scam.
BUT I am also not saying or suggesting that you should buy into it.

I'm just pointing out a childish opinion and the wrong word to use. But you keep hating on a game that you've probably never played, and only comment on to feel better about your opinion on it.

 

[mbrowne5061]

People like you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

Honestly, I stopped reading right there. It just sounds like you have no clue what you're talking about, never having played the game or seen what progress has been made.

It's literally not a scam. A poor investment? Maybe. But considering how much they can show off, it looks like they're making some good progress.

Perhaps you should have kept reading then, to avoid making yourself look like a fanboi, because only a fanboi would say "it doesnt matter if you dont like it look at the PROGRESS".

Much of the "progress" shown is on features the product that was funded was not supposed to have. If you pay someone to build you a house, and said house is supposed to be finished in 2 months, then you show up 6 months later to find only the framework is done, but hey the builders made a sweet zen rock garden in the front yard, you would probably be pissed. If you order a sandwich at a restaurant, and the restaurant gives you 1/4th of a different meal two hours later while showing off the sweet new placemats they made, you would be pissed. If your local government passed a new tax levy to replace a bridge, then two years later the bridge still isnt built but the tax dollars buitl nice new offices for the government representatives, you would be pissed.

Star citizen is now over 3 years late. It has surpassed it's original funding goal by several orders of magnitude. The dev team is now FAR larger then it was originally. Yet the game is still in alpha, the features promised in the kickstarter still havent been delivered.

You know what we call a project that goes over budget by many orders of magnitude and spends said money on frivolous things other then the product itself?

A scam.

I call star citizen a scam because that is what it is, a project that sucks money from supporters while never delivering on the promised product. Many years and literal hundreds of millions of dollars later, all for an alpha that might be impressive by 2006 standards? Missing features all around, poor performance, incredible lack of content. Or perhaps you can explain how rockstar was able to make GTA V on $265 million with over 1000 employees working on the project over 6 years, yet chris roberts, with $200 million and 80 employees, cant deliver on his space action game that was supposed to cost only HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!

Yeah, thats right, Scam citizen had a crowdfunding goal of $500,000,and was supposed to be finished in 2015. It has now received 400x more money then that, yet it still isnt finished 6 years later. Where did all that money go, with such a small dev team? Smells awfully scammy.....

TL;DR

 

[GreenNova343]

Scam citizen

People like you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

Honestly, I stopped reading right there.

Sorry, had to stop reading right there, since I had to assume the rest of your argument wasn't actually to based on anything remotely resembling logic.

 

[mailpup]

Gentle members, please make your arguments without the personal comments or they will disappear into the void regardless of any other content. Thank you.

 

[Endarial]

People like you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

Honestly, I stopped reading right there. It just sounds like you have no clue what you're talking about, never having played the game or seen what progress has been made.

It's literally not a scam. A poor investment? Maybe. But considering how much they can show off, it looks like they're making some good progress.

Perhaps you should have kept reading then, to avoid making yourself look like a fanboi, because only a fanboi would say "it doesnt matter if you dont like it look at the PROGRESS".

Much of the "progress" shown is on features the product that was funded was not supposed to have. If you pay someone to build you a house, and said house is supposed to be finished in 2 months, then you show up 6 months later to find only the framework is done, but hey the builders made a sweet zen rock garden in the front yard, you would probably be pissed. If you order a sandwich at a restaurant, and the restaurant gives you 1/4th of a different meal two hours later while showing off the sweet new placemats they made, you would be pissed. If your local government passed a new tax levy to replace a bridge, then two years later the bridge still isnt built but the tax dollars buitl nice new offices for the government representatives, you would be pissed.

Star citizen is now over 3 years late. It has surpassed it's original funding goal by several orders of magnitude. The dev team is now FAR larger then it was originally. Yet the game is still in alpha, the features promised in the kickstarter still havent been delivered.

You know what we call a project that goes over budget by many orders of magnitude and spends said money on frivolous things other then the product itself?

A scam.

I call star citizen a scam because that is what it is, a project that sucks money from supporters while never delivering on the promised product. Many years and literal hundreds of millions of dollars later, all for an alpha that might be impressive by 2006 standards? Missing features all around, poor performance, incredible lack of content. Or perhaps you can explain how rockstar was able to make GTA V on $265 million with over 1000 employees working on the project over 6 years, yet chris roberts, with $200 million and 80 employees, cant deliver on his space action game that was supposed to cost only HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!

Yeah, thats right, Scam citizen had a crowdfunding goal of $500,000,and was supposed to be finished in 2015. It has now received 400x more money then that, yet it still isnt finished 6 years later. Where did all that money go, with such a small dev team? Smells awfully scammy.....

You've stated a few times that CIG has a dev team of only around 80. However they have around 500 staff, split between their LA, Austin, Frankfurt, Wilmslow and one other studio in the UK. Plus they contracted Turbulent to build their website along with other features.

The original plan for the Kickstarter was to see how much interest there was in a space game. Chris had planned to raise about $2,000,000 and then take that to a publisher as proof that people wanted space games. The Kickstarter game was going to be fairly small.

However, after raising much more than they had thought they would get, they decided to keep funding going on their site. The money kept pouring in and they kept offering more "stretch goals". At one point they even asked the backers if they wanted to keep going with the stretch goals or stop them. Backers voted to keep them going.

CIG also stated that since they had raised so much money, they would no longer be looking for a publisher. Instead they would build the game on their own, with only backer support. This meant that the original Kickstarter game, which was supposed to be kind of small, would instead become two games. One game would be the single player portion and the other, the multiplayer portion.

Now, it is true that the game has been in development for a long time. The anniversary sale on the 24th will mark 6 years since the Kickstarter campaign. At the end of the campaign, they had a staff of 6-8 people. By the end of the first year, they had around 50.

It took them time to build up the studio and there were quite a few costly mistakes along the way. The game has made considerable progress over the years but it still has a long ways to go.

I have greatly enjoyed my time in the game, watching it grow and evolve and I've made some great friends along the way. I look forward to what the future holds.

 

[Xallisto]

Wow, can't believe people are still pledging money to something that has missed every deadline it has ever set.

The fact that there is no publisher looking over their shoulder means that this crap could go on forever more.

 

[JoeBlobers]

Scam citizen is still MIA more then 3 years after its supposed "launch" date. Despite this, cloud imperium will gladly sell you multiple thousands of dollars worth of micro transactions, fake ships, and virtual land worthless outside of the game. All of this to add to a budget that has somehow been burnt up on a team much smaller then the team that made, say, GTA V (cloud imperium has ~80 employees now, rockstar said over 1000 people were involved with making GTA V https://www.gamespot.com/articles/rockstar-more-than-1000-people-made-gtav/1100-6415330/).

But hey, you MIGHT get a beta next year, with the features of the OG kickstarter. 6 years later, over 3 years after the game was supposed to be finished. Assuming it comes out. Yay?

Roberts is a great example of why, when creative types mange to become "unchained" from the rigors of the corporate world and are able to strike on their own without limits, said artists often flounder and fail. Some of the greatest works of art, be it books, movies, or games, exist as they are because the team was forced to curb their wild ideas and make something that actually worked int he real world, was feasible to make. Necessity is the mother of invention, when you are limited by time and budget, you create art that might have some restrictions but is overall an enjoyable experience, when you have unlimited money and time, necessity falls apart, and you wind up with a bloated mess like scam citizen.

Worst scam ever. +500 employees, 5 studios and a roadmap giving a year ahead of most original Kickstarter.
Haters hate and slowly switch from Jpegs, vaporware and now scam... because libel is called opinion in their mouth.
Last patch 3.3 doubled to tripled average FPS, a planet added and another one + 4 moons incoming in few weeks. All from a country which started from scratch: 12 guys, 6 M$ and zero pipelines. Impressive nothing less!

+700.000 Backers who are pledging to have a seasoned team of space game veteran doing the game they want. Haters hate success. It is against their life style

 

[JoeBlobers]

Wow, can't believe people are still pledging money to something that has missed every deadline it has ever set.

The fact that there is no publisher looking over their shoulder means that this crap could go on forever more.

Wow, can't believe people are still pledging money to something that has missed every deadline it has ever set.

The fact that there is no publisher looking over their shoulder means that this crap could go on forever more.

No publisher... but +700.000 backers following weekly progress. We have those who believe EA make Triple-A for 50M$ and 3 years while reality is that they did spend hundreds just to build their own company and hired thousands.
Either all people pledging and having access to Youtube and multiple comments around internet are total ***** and can't see the difference between quarterly patch delivered and ... patented naysayers. We know the answer. +30M£ every single years. naysayers are desperate...

 

[mrjgriffin]

This is the whole reason why people call this game scam citizen, and they are technically right and heres why. keep in mind this isn't a very hard concept to understand....but some people aren't very smart so here we go I guess.

they asked for money to make a game right? fine. nothing wrong with that. however, while asking for this money they promised certain features/content to be in the game etc. ALL of that money is supposed to go towards what you promised, not just a little bit of what u promised and some side **** nobody gave their money for.

you use the money u ask for to finish what you promise us in your "advertisement" for your game. we give u our money for you to give us what you promised, not just some of what u promised and a bunch of things we didn't technically ask for.

however, the things we did nto ask for/extra things you did may be awesome, it's just not what was promised or what was asked for. I mean good job for making extra stuff, seriously. but its not what we were promised nor did we ask for it.

therefore since you're not holding up to your promises while continuing to take money.......that's a scam

like the guy said up there if u pay a dude to build your house and u come back and 1/4 of it is done but theres an added michael jackson winter wonderland theme park around the house.........well hey thats nice, pretty awesome actually. but u didn't build my ****ing house, which is what you advertised to do/what I gave u money for. therefore.......scam

pretty simple concept to understand but some people are even more simple than that so.....what can u do? lol. these are the type of people who probably voted for hillary too.

I just had to throw that in there sorry heheh

 

[m4a4]

This is the whole reason why people call this game scam citizen, and they are technically right and heres why. keep in mind this isn't a very hard concept to understand....but some people aren't very smart so here we go I guess.

I hope you see the irony lol

Here, let me help you people out:

Definition of scam
: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation
: deceive, defraud

English Language Learners Definition of scam
: a dishonest way to make money by deceiving people
: to deceive and take money from (someone)
: to get (something, such as money) by deceiving someone

You guys have yet to give solid reasoning why they're being fraudulent or deceptive. And no, expanding on the scope of the game or being slow is neither (as they are being quite transparent about that stuff).

Without having anything to prove that they are not putting the money towards the project, the best you could try arguing is that they've mismanaged funds or been irresponsible with them. But irresponsible ≠ scam.

And as for your house analogy, it doesn't make sense. Where is the connection to many more people putting money into it?

For a "pretty simple concept to understand", you're certainly getting it wrong...

 

[ShadowDeath]

Scam citizen

People like you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

Honestly, I stopped reading right there. It just sounds like you have no clue what you're talking about, never having played the game or seen what progress has been made.

It's literally not a scam. A poor investment? Maybe. But considering how much they can show off, it looks like they're making some good progress.

Let me explain with some numbers why people are calling this a scam. WoW vanilla cost 63 Million and about 4.5 years to make back in 2004ish. With inflation that's roughly $84 Million in today's currency. It took them 63 Million from start to finish to make a fully open world game and release it..... So here we find out that this game has passed the 200 million mark and it still isn't finished?.... What the actual **** is a small dev team doing with all that money that they constantly need more? At this point I feel like the supporters are getting robbed. It feels like they're just paying for the lavish lifestyle that these devs have been living and that the devs are afraid to finish the game because they know the money will dry up.

 

[m4a4]

Let me explain with some numbers why people are calling this a scam. WoW vanilla cost 63 Million and about 4.5 years to make back in 2004ish. With inflation that's roughly $84 Million in today's currency. It took them 63 Million from start to finish to make a fully open world game and release it..... So here we find out that this game has passed the 200 million mark and it still isn't finished?.... What the actual **** is a small dev team doing with all that money that they constantly need more?

1. The games are incomparable. Genres, graphics, tech, scope, mechanics, etc. are vastly different. But somehow because they are "open world MMO"'s they're comparable? Lol, you might as well be quoting numbers from Runescape.
2.

It feels like they're just paying for the lavish lifestyle that these devs have been living and that the devs are afraid to finish the game because they know the money will dry up.

Where is there any indication of this? Just sounds like made up BS.
3. You didn't give any solid reasoning why it can be called a scam. As I said before, maybe they're irresponsible. But irresponsible ≠ scam.

 

[wiyosaya]

Gotta love these articles on Star Citizen - just as polarized and entertaining as current USA Politics.

 

[JoeBlobers]

This is the whole reason why people call this game scam citizen, and they are technically right and heres why. keep in mind this isn't a very hard concept to understand....but some people aren't very smart so here we go I guess.

they asked for money to make a game right? fine. nothing wrong with that. however, while asking for this money they promised certain features/content to be in the game etc. ALL of that money is supposed to go towards what you promised, not just a little bit of what u promised and some side **** nobody gave their money for.

you use the money u ask for to finish what you promise us in your "advertisement" for your game. we give u our money for you to give us what you promised, not just some of what u promised and a bunch of things we didn't technically ask for.

however, the things we did nto ask for/extra things you did may be awesome, it's just not what was promised or what was asked for. I mean good job for making extra stuff, seriously. but its not what we were promised nor did we ask for it.

therefore since you're not holding up to your promises while continuing to take money.......that's a scam

like the guy said up there if u pay a dude to build your house and u come back and 1/4 of it is done but theres an added michael jackson winter wonderland theme park around the house.........well hey thats nice, pretty awesome actually. but u didn't build my ****ing house, which is what you advertised to do/what I gave u money for. therefore.......scam

pretty simple concept to understand but some people are even more simple than that so.....what can u do? lol. these are the type of people who probably voted for hillary too.

I just had to throw that in there sorry heheh

... Except you pledge 45$... and will get 80$ instead with two triple-A with more features and quality.
Past the starter package you DONT have to pledge more, Zero extra cent.
Worst scam ever... even simple mind individual can get as you said

 

[poohbear]

Scam citizen is still MIA more then 3 years after its supposed "launch" date. Despite this, cloud imperium will gladly sell you multiple thousands of dollars worth of micro transactions, fake ships, and virtual land worthless outside of the game. All of this to add to a budget that has somehow been burnt up on a team much smaller then the team that made, say, GTA V (cloud imperium has ~80 employees now, rockstar said over 1000 people were involved with making GTA V https://www.gamespot.com/articles/rockstar-more-than-1000-people-made-gtav/1100-6415330/).

But hey, you MIGHT get a beta next year, with the features of the OG kickstarter. 6 years later, over 3 years after the game was supposed to be finished. Assuming it comes out. Yay?

Roberts is a great example of why, when creative types mange to become "unchained" from the rigors of the corporate world and are able to strike on their own without limits, said artists often flounder and fail. Some of the greatest works of art, be it books, movies, or games, exist as they are because the team was forced to curb their wild ideas and make something that actually worked int he real world, was feasible to make. Necessity is the mother of invention, when you are limited by time and budget, you create art that might have some restrictions but is overall an enjoyable experience, when you have unlimited money and time, necessity falls apart, and you wind up with a bloated mess like scam citizen.

What about the former black isles employees RPG game Pillars of Eternity? It was crowdfunded, very well received by both critics and players, and didn't go over budget or its own deadline.

 

[wiyosaya]

A reminder to anyone wanting to try out the game - for free - The free trial period starts tomorrow - November 23.