Star Citizen event shows off new content, but a release date and Squadron 42 remain absent

[midian182]

What just happened? Anyone who has 'play the finished version of Star Citizen and Squadron 42' on their bucket list may want to start looking at something more attainable. Developer Cloud Imperium Games just held its CitizenCon 2951 event, and while there were plenty of new ships and lighting effects to gawk at, mention of a potential release date for either game was conspicuously absent.

CitizenCon opened with a statement from CEO Chris Roberts, who noted that there are currently 2 to 3 times more daily players than when CitizenCon 2019 took place; the pandemic meant there was no event last year.

The presentation covered much of what's already available in the game. It also looked at Pyro, the next system set to be added to the space sim. We got to see the cloud effects on some of these alien worlds, which do look very nice, admittedly. There were also new ships, outposts, and gameplay systems on show, along with an in-depth section on the new Gen12 renderer and Vulkan implementation.

There's no arguing that Star Citizen in its current form looks pretty amazing and continues to resemble the most ambitious title of all time. But it's been 11 years since the game went into pre-production, and we're closing in on a decade since its record-breaking crowdfunding campaign began.

Star Citizen's current roadmap extends to the game's 3.18 update, which has a tentative Q2 2022 arrival window. There's still nothing at all about a potential release date for the final, finished version of the multiplayer space sim, and the pandemic undoubtedly caused more delays and headaches to production. Roberts spoke of the issues that came from switching so many employees to a work-from-home model.

As for the game's single-player element and its Hollywood cast, there's been no mention of Squadron 42 since Roberts last December said it would be "done when it's done." The game's original release date? November 2014.

Star Citizen has now raised over $390 million, much of it coming from the sale of in-game space ships. Some of these aren't available in the game yet, prompting an advertising watchdog to hand Cloud Imperium Games a warning to be clearer about what it's selling.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/91676-star-citizen-event-shows-off-new-content-but.html

 

[R00sT3R]

"Roberts spoke of the issues that came from switching so many employees to a work-from-home model."

Yeah...right.

More like he's grateful for having been given another free excuse for this never ending cash cow of a scam.

 

[dangh]

11 years in 'development'. No dates for release. Feature creep. Bad network code.
As original backer I don't care anymore. Remember my discussions from 2016 where everyone was talking 'squadron will come in 1-2 years!'. no, not really.
I think we shouldn't give them any more press. I guess they don't want to release anything, because people can pay for dreams, but when this will become a poor reality then money stream would end.

 

[Puiu]

2030 and it will still be a tech demo.

 

[rrwards]

One of the greatest grifts ever sold

 

[Okami]

I thought the Server mesh panel was pretty cool too.

 

[CaptSnuggles]

As a backer from 2016, I just want to state that the annual convention never has details of Squadron 42 (the standalone campaign), but focused instead on the Persistent Universe (sandbox).

There's a wealth of content and gameplay for people, but it's a real shame so many are focused on the 'scam' tag - it couldn't be further from it, but I'm not about to try and battle misinformed views. The 2014 release was for a vastly smaller, vastly different game. With the unprecedented funding, CIG asked backers whether they wanted the original scope, or a bigger game, to which they asked for the latter.

If anyone does want to gain any insight, please feel free to reach out to me on the RSI forums. (Capt_Snuggles)

 

[JoeBlobers]

"Roberts spoke of the issues that came from switching so many employees to a work-from-home model."

Yeah...right.

More like he's grateful for having been given another free excuse for this never ending cash cow of a scam.

All companies have been impacted but CIG? Sure

Worst scam ever with +700 devs, 6 studios, roadmap showing 3 new gameplay in upcoming quarters not years and the final core tech, Server Meshing, to be implemented by end of newt year allowing to spread remaining contents, including new systems.

All for 45/35$ and already hundred hours of entertainment in Alpha.

 

[JoeBlobers]

11 years in 'development'. No dates for release. Feature creep. Bad network code.
As original backer I don't care anymore. Remember my discussions from 2016 where everyone was talking 'squadron will come in 1-2 years!'. no, not really.
I think we shouldn't give them any more press. I guess they don't want to release anything, because people can pay for dreams, but when this will become a poor reality then money stream would end.

False. 9 years at end of Nov. 2021 as the kickstarter ends in Nov. 2012.
Previous year was used to prepare Kickstarter not develop a fully flesh game lol... At end of kickstarter, they had zero studios, zero pipelines, a generic game engine and 12 guys, not all even being devs.
Then they slowly grow from there.

CB2077 took 8 years from a fully fleshed company with multiple others games released but still require at lest two years of patch and free DLC's to be what it was supposed to be at release... Still a fraction of SQ42/SC scope.

New backers are joining daily precisely because they do add more quarterly, 3 new gameplay to be added by Q1 next year and so much others contents it needs several page to explain them all in their JIRA internal task tool exposed to the public under their RSI web site development menu.

 

[dangh]

False. 9 years at end of Nov. 2021 as the kickstarter ends in Nov. 2012.
Previous year was used to prepare Kickstarter not develop a fully flesh game lol... At end of kickstarter, they had zero studios, zero pipelines, a generic game engine and 12 guys, not all even being devs.
Then they slowly grow from there.

CB2077 took 8 years from a fully fleshed company with multiple others games released but still require at lest two years of patch and free DLC's to be what it was supposed to be at release... Still a fraction of SQ42/SC scope.

New backers are joining daily precisely because they do add more quarterly, 3 new gameplay to be added by Q1 next year and so much others contents it needs several page to explain them all in their JIRA internal task tool exposed to the public under their RSI web site development menu.

Sure, sure. 11 years including prproduction. Feature creep. Never kept a deadline. Current version works like crap. Most cash goes from crazy believers like yourself, not new backers, but sure, there are still people which were cheated to back this scam up. Had this talk 5years ago and im sure ill have next one in 2026. Happy dreaming.

 

[wiyosaya]

False. 9 years at end of Nov. 2021 as the kickstarter ends in Nov. 2012.
Previous year was used to prepare Kickstarter not develop a fully flesh game lol... At end of kickstarter, they had zero studios, zero pipelines, a generic game engine and 12 guys, not all even being devs.
Then they slowly grow from there.

CB2077 took 8 years from a fully fleshed company with multiple others games released but still require at lest two years of patch and free DLC's to be what it was supposed to be at release... Still a fraction of SQ42/SC scope.

New backers are joining daily precisely because they do add more quarterly, 3 new gameplay to be added by Q1 next year and so much others contents it needs several page to explain them all in their JIRA internal task tool exposed to the public under their RSI web site development menu.

I am sure that not everyone who posts to TS is a developer and can even begin to imagine the development efforts behind any game let alone a game/software project on this scale.

The only thing that most people see right now is that it has been in development for a long time, and that it has raised a substantial sum of money. I see it as normal that there are questions when everyone sees that $390M figure most everyone automatically thinks "scam."

I am a backer, too, however, I remain skeptical of the outcome even though I have an idea of what is already in the game and playable.

I think that if the game is ever released, even the most ardent skeptics will buy the game.

BTW - I am sure that we can expect a visit from captain cranky as he will not miss the opportunity to accuse you of being a bot.

 

[psycros]

I am sure that not everyone who posts to TS is a developer and can even begin to imagine the development efforts behind any game let alone a game/software project on this scale.

The only thing that most people see right now is that it has been in development for a long time, and that it has raised a substantial sum of money. I see it as normal that there are questions when everyone sees that $390M figure most everyone automatically thinks "scam."

I am a backer, too, however, I remain skeptical of the outcome even though I have an idea of what is already in the game and playable.

I think that if the game is ever released, even the most ardent skeptics will buy the game.

BTW - I am sure that we can expect a visit from captain cranky as he will not miss the opportunity to accuse you of being a bot.

Either a plant or just a delusional liar. The real kicker is the lie about additional games their working on. The post is such obvious astroturf that its laughable.

 

[wiyosaya]

Either a plant or just a delusional liar. The real kicker is the lie about additional games their working on. The post is such obvious astroturf that its laughable.

I think you need to re-read the post as there was nothing said about CIG working on other games.

 

[Randomnerd]

World of Warcraft has about 26 million active subscribers. At 10$ a month, that's roughly 260,000,000$ a month. In two months blizzard makes more than eleven years of kickstarter funding. None of that includes the cash shop of blizzard.

Who has the bigger scam?

 

[wiyosaya]

World of Warcraft has about 26 million active subscribers. At 10$ a month, that's roughly 260,000,000$ a month. In two months blizzard makes more than eleven years of kickstarter funding. None of that includes the cash shop of blizzard.

Who has the bigger scam?

Interesting point. So in 1+1/2 months, WoW takes in as much as SC did in how much time?
I'm sure there will be the buh, buh, buh WoW is an actual game, though arguments.

 

[JoeBlobers]

Sure, sure. 11 years including prproduction. Feature creep. Never kept a deadline. Current version works like crap. Most cash goes from crazy believers like yourself, not new backers, but sure, there are still people which were cheated to back this scam up. Had this talk 5years ago and im sure ill have next one in 2026. Happy dreaming.

False again. What type of 'pre-production' are you doing with 12 guys not all being devs, with no pipelines and game engine used to make few videos for a kickstarter?
Anyone can check kickstarter videos versus Pyro videos few days ago, or simply by login into Stanton to see what means 'pre-production'...

About backers: 30K at end of kickstarter, 1 million+ by now, and 'just' +200.0000 in 2020.

This is one thing to spread false information, this is another to acknowledge you are factually wrong.

 

[JoeBlobers]

Interesting point. So in 1+1/2 months, WoW takes in as much as SC did in how much time?
I'm sure there will be the buh, buh, buh WoW is an actual game, though arguments.

Correct, WOW is a fully released game. Except vanilla WOW is a tiny fraction of complexity versus SQ42+SC.
Second point of importance: I am not interested by WOW but space games mixing all genre and Wing Commanders like games... which are Star Citizen and Squadron 42. One being playable in alpha, with hundreds hours of entertainment for 45/35$.

 

[ypsylon]

What's the difference between (all) cryptocurrencies and Star Citizen?

Both are scam, but at least you can buy something with crypto. SC is blackhole pit to dump $ for nothing in return.

 

[Puiu]

All companies have been impacted but CIG? Sure

Worst scam ever with +700 devs, 6 studios, roadmap showing 3 new gameplay in upcoming quarters not years and the final core tech, Server Meshing, to be implemented by end of newt year allowing to spread remaining contents, including new systems.

All for 45/35$ and already hundred hours of entertainment in Alpha.

I've seen the story before: "But they did so much, excuse them for being decades late, please! Buy those ships that don't exist so that they can prolong the development for another decade!"

Scammers will be scammers I guess.

 

[captaincranky]

All companies have been impacted but CIG? Sure

Worst scam ever with +700 devs, 6 studios, roadmap showing 3 new gameplay in upcoming quarters not years and the final core tech, Server Meshing, to be implemented by end of newt year allowing to spread remaining contents, including new systems.

All for 45/35$ and already hundred hours of entertainment in Alpha.

This is only a suggestion, but perhaps Mr. Roberts should set his goals and aspirations a bit lower. Perhaps a game on the order of, "Candy Crush".
Read this and weep:

Is Candy Crush still making money?

Five years after its release on mobile, the Candy Crush Saga series has received over 2.73 billion downloads. ... It remains one of the top gross-revenue earnings app for mobile in the four years leading up to 2017. By the end of July 2018, the total revenue earned by this game stood at $3.91 billion.

Now, here's what I think is a fair question. Exactly much money is Mr. Roberts likely to need before a finished product is available? CIG appears. it seems, to be simply raising the donation bar of, "contributions, "memberships", "donations",, and "imaginary ships" sold, endlessly

What do you think is a "fair upper limit", to produce a salable, completed product? a half billion dollars?, a billion dollars? More maybe?

 

[wiyosaya]

This is only a suggestion, but perhaps Mr. Roberts should set his goals and aspirations a bit lower. Perhaps a game on the order of, "Candy Crush".
Read this and weep:

Is Candy Crush still making money?

Five years after its release on mobile, the Candy Crush Saga series has received over 2.73 billion downloads. ... It remains one of the top gross-revenue earnings app for mobile in the four years leading up to 2017. By the end of July 2018, the total revenue earned by this game stood at $3.91 billion.

Sounds like the developers of this game followed the M$ path. Its free to play with in-game purchases available for "leveling up." Speaking out my azz, since I could care less about his game, it sounds like what they did is make something that would addict people to their game, and then put in drops of candy for a price that would feed, but not sate, the addiction - akin, perhaps, to something like MD2020 wine.

Now, here's what I think is a fair question. Exactly much money is Mr. Roberts likely to need before a finished product is available? CIG appears. it seems, to be simply raising the donation bar of, "contributions, "memberships", "donations",, and "imaginary ships" sold, endlessly

Whatever he needs. People, knowing full well by now of the controversy, are still buying into it. The $1M question is why do people continue to invest in it? It clearly, IMO, does not have that Candy Crush addiction feel to it.

I'm not investing any more into it. However, I do see that the scope of the game requires a development effort (team) along the lines of what is currently employed in making the game.

What do you think is a "fair upper limit", to produce a salable, completed product? a half billion dollars?, a billion dollars? More maybe?

$390 M is pretty close to that 1/2 Bn figure. Its clear Roberts will continue to accept investments. So who knows where it will end.

Honestly, with all the voices out there screaming about the game taking so long, I would not be surprised if some government goes after them, and the game gets fubared by the law.

 

[blackdreamhunk]

CIG didn't deliver what was promised by early game devs and marketing period and let me all of the 890 jump marketing still says exploration ship.

Letter from the Chairman: $28 Million! - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.

robertsspaceindustries.com

star citizen store says pledge, not a donation 890 jump is a broken pledge promise

quote" So a ship is a product you purchase?
discussion
Yesterday at 6:50 pm
Cause I seem to recall some sort of a disclaimer in the past when I got ships, that the money I gave them wasn't a 'purchase' but a pledge and the ship was just a reward for that pledge.
Granted, it's a subtle distinction, but isn't that what CIG says if someone asks for a refund on the Redeemer they 'purchased' on the grounds that it's not functional for the purpose it was 'purchased' for?

So today I was looking at their pledge store and noticed that the price on all of their ships had gone up and when you hover your mouse pointer over the price there's a little tab saying BC PST 7%.
I live in British Columbia, Canada where the provincial sales tax is indeed 7% on purchases. You are of course not required to pay provincial tax when you donate money to someone wether they're a political party, registered chairity, a homeless guy outside the liquor store, or even a large software developer.

If CIG is considering these transactions to be purchases for tax purposes, then it also stands to reason that they'd be considered purchases for other aspects of consumer laws as well.
I'm sure this change applies to more than just my little corner of North America so it seems like an interesting can of worms they've opened.

link sources
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/.../3/thread/so-a-ship-is-a-product-you-purchase

donations don't come with taxes
https://support.robertsspaceindustr...s/360051914473-Taxes-and-the-RSI-Pledge-Store

 

[JoeBlobers]

What's the difference between (all) cryptocurrencies and Star Citizen?

Both are scam, but at least you can buy something with crypto. SC is blackhole pit to dump $ for nothing in return.

I bough already hundreds hours of entertainment right during Alpha phase... for 45$.... No Cryto can provide that. Try to fly a multiplayer ship with friends, fight in space, then ground, then cave with a crypto currency

 

[blackdreamhunk]

*let me add all of the 890 jump marketing still says exploration ship.*

Carrack and the BMM took the 890 jump to the cleaners!!!!

CIg mods allow non Origin or non 890 jump to trash the 890 jump evven in orgin ship threads.

The cig wil sell l the 890 jump for $950 US but can't explain why the 890 jump cost so much but will tell you the 890 jump is a useless ship or just a role playing ship.

 

[blackdreamhunk]

I am the bully right? my experience with mmorpg on star citizen but I am forced to own star citizen right?

https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/comment/7700546#Comment_7700546