#STAR CITIZEN FUNDING PC#

Beta denotes a game that is almost finished, with a few bugs to iron out. The definitions of “alpha” and “beta” in game development are very loose, but generally alpha denotes the build of a game in a fairly rudimentary state, with many features yet to be added or completed. However, this was still a stripped-down version of the initial pitch, featuring just a handful of moons, planets and space stations to explore.

The promised persistent universe wouldn’t emerge until December 2015, with the ‘Alpha 2.0’ update. For that, they’d have to wait until June 2014 for the launch of Arena Commander, a standalone module that allowed dog fighting and racing against other players or computer opponents, but little else. But the ships existed only as elaborate pieces of artwork until the launch of the Hangar Module in August 2013, which allowed backers to view the ships they’d bought in the game, even if they couldn’t fly them. For example, backers could add $225 to their pledges for a luxurious RSI Constellation ship. One feature of the Star Citizen campaign was its promise of access to superior spaceships with higher pledges. a date that seems hopelessly optimistic in hindsight.

It seemed that CIG had more than enough funds to finish Star Citizen in time for its estimated release date of November 2014. The Kickstarter project raised $2.1 million, smashing its $500,000 goal, and backers pledged an additional $4.1 million through CIG’s own website.

#STAR CITIZEN FUNDING PC#

So PC players flocked to back Roberts’ promise of a “ massive persistent universe” featuring 100 star systems that could be explored alongside friends, combined with a cinematic Wing Commander-style single-player campaign. He was behind the hugely successful Wing Commander games of the 1990s-lavish space-combat epics that featured performances from actors like Mark Hamill and Malcom McDowell-and later developed the well received space-combat titles Starlancer and Freelancer. Roberts had considerable goodwill within the PC community. And inside this audience, a significant group of people that have always loved space games, and if given a quality one again will be happy to play it.” We say that there is a large audience of PC gamers that want sophisticated games built for their platform.

Venture capitalists only want to back mobile or social gaming startups. So the stage was set for CIG head Chris Roberts to launch Star Citizen’s Kickstarter campaign in October 2012, with a combative pitch: “The traditional publishers don't believe in PC or Space Sims. LucasArts veteran Tim Schafer raised a then record-breaking $3.3 million in March 2012 for the point-and-click adventure game Double Fine Adventure (later renamed Broken Age), proving that crowdfunding was a viable way to revive “dead” gaming genres by directly targeting their most devoted fans. Developers flocked to Kickstarter in a bid to secure funding for games considered commercially risky by publishers. The story began in 2012 with the launch of Star Citizen’s Kickstarter campaign, at which point the game had been in production for around a year. But how did we get here, and what is powering this seemingly endless funnel of goodwill? It’s the virtual economy at an extreme, an enormous speculative bubble inflated by hope and hype. Meanwhile, CIG continually announces new features, using annual CitizenCon live shows to whip spectators up with promises of the joys to come. Yet supporters continue to pour money into the venture: in May 2020 alone, developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) raised over $15 million in crowdfunding. After around a decade in development, and raising more than $314 million from 2,8 million backers, the video game Star Citizen is still nowhere near finished.

Star citizen funding