They raise about $2 million per month. They're spending more than $3 million per month, allegedly, meaning they're supposedly dipping into their reserve by more than $1 million each month. Hence the speculation that they could run out of money by March.
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Derek Smart just had his manhood taken by RSI's lawyers (Star Citizen)
- Thread starter Jackpot
- Start date
They raise about $2 million per month. They're spending more than $3 million per month, allegedly, meaning they're supposedly dipping into their reserve by more than $1 million each month. Hence the speculation that they could run out of money by March.
Zambayoshi
Member
Amalur would come close, but this would be worse because of people basically pre-ordering the bejesus out of this game and its myriad of DLC ships and stuff. To see it go up in a puff of smoke would be, in my view, a lot more tragic than seeing a state funding body get burned.
It will be interesting to see if they rev up the marketing push to try and get more money in per month. If they do, it might mean that this rumour is true. The only other alternative for them would be to cut costs drastically. How they can do that remains to be seen. Maybe outsourcing large chunks of dev duties to China or Eastern Europe?
I'd just like to point out that you are agreeing with Derek Smart.
Sort your life out mate.
darkwing-buck
Member
Can someone give me a quick rundown of who Dereck Smart is? Is he a game developer?
welp https://www.linkedin.com/profile/vi...me&authToken=ulUx&trk=prof-sb-browse_map-name
I dunno if he was fired on the spot, but he's not there anymore
[edit] Looks like that Alyssa Delhotal isn't there as of this month, too: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/vi...me&authToken=xpqV&trk=prof-sb-browse_map-name
reptilescorpio
Member
Wow wow wow. Nuclear level ether right here.
Sir Abacus
Member
Microsoft can't bail out CR this time like with Digital Anvil. As someone who waited far too long for Freelancer, I still don't know how people can go anywhere near a Chris Roberts game until the entire thing is completely finished. Guy is notorious for burning cash, slipped schedules and feature creep and that's with a publisher riding his ass constantly.
No. For that to be true he would have to have a working game to show for it.
Dictator93
Member
You know what that means GAF. Time to overreact when we should not even be speculating in the first place.
Oh wait, let's not.
He's also notorious for genre-defining space sims.
Sir Abacus
Member
Hence why I still bought Freelancer, neutered as it was. But I'll never preorder one of his games for as long as I live.
Sir Abacus
Member
Remember how absolutely fucking broken BC3K was? Biggest disappointment of my life.
You keep pointing to the one game he made where his vision got massively compromised precisely because he wasn't allowed a free budget to justify your opinion that the guy can't be trusted with a budget.
Chris Roberts isn't some hack. He's one of the kinds of people I really do wish would be given an enormous budget with no constraints.
Well, isn't that pretty much Star Citizen?
thats the point
But aren't signs pointing to him kinda blowing it?
What, the almost entirely unsubstantiated rumors from Dr. Derek Smart?
It's obviously possible that Star Citizen will fail but drawing conclusions after three years of development is silly. Large scale MMOs take a long time to make. 5+ years, usually.
I'm pretty sure rumors of trouble inside RSI have been going on for a while regardless of this Derek Smart twit. Just strikes me as a little funny he wants the guy to have no restrictions but it seems to be exactly that causing trouble. Restrictions are needed when creating something.
Xplatformer
Member
OK. Something is going on.
Alyssa and James getting let go the same day.
Hmmm...
Alyssa and James getting let go the same day.
Hmmm...
Yeah, lots of unsubstantiated rumors.
If you've been following crowdfunded games for a while like I have, you've probably noticed that the very notion of crowdfunding rubs some people the wrong way ("THEY"RE GETTING FREE MONEY, WAKE UP SHEEPLE"). Star Citizen's ridiculous cashflow is a beacon for these guys.
Everyone has an agenda. Until some legitimate investigative journalist actually proves the claims, it's best to ignore the rumors.
MMOs legitimately take a long time to make. Every game ever made has trouble/drama during development. The nature of Star Citizen's funding means that the public will catch glimpses of issues that would never see the light of day with a traditional development style.
Star Citizen is restricted by budget.
This strikes me as sour grapes, too. I don't think Smart can handle that someone else is doing what he long dreamed of doing. I don't know that I believe RSI can entirely pull it off either, but they will likely get closer than Derek ever did. The accusations in that RSI letter, if true...wow. Smart really is coming apart with jealousy, if true.
no? The modules thus released are good, the footage coming out of the game is awesome. It's open development, everybody can see how it's coming together, it looks and sounds awesome, and what has been released plays awesome too.
Zambayoshi
Member
That may be the case but let's not forget that Aliens: Colonial Marines also looked pretty awesome at one point.
The development of these two games aren't really comparable.
I don't see this comparison at all.
I didn't even back the game and I can see that Star Citizen is a lot more open with how it's progressing. Aliens: CM had only one purpose built, completely unrepresentative level to it's name where Star Citizen has been very transparent about its development since it's funding started taking off. I'm 100% sure that they're having some difficulties with development but I'm also at leasst 90% sure that none of those issues are anything beyond the ordinary ones that arise in game development all the time.
I'm also 100% sure that Derek Smart is talking out of his ass about anything related to this. My copy of Battlecruiser 3000AD (if I still had it) would attest to both his ability to make Molyneux-esque promises while delivering final versions of games that are nowhere near the quality of even Molyneux.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I don't really know Derek Smart beyond the 1998 article I posted above. But I will say that it seems at least possible that in the end both Battlecruiser 3000AD and Star Citizen turn out to be games that ultimately disappoint.
That would be a hell of a blow to crowdfunding, and so I don't really feel like Smart is having the *stated* intended effect of being "defender of the genre" with this negative PR campaign. It would have to literally be too late to save the project for it to do anything but harm and distract, and the only spoils available would be "I told you so" cred boost, which is pretty shitty cred boost as cred boost goes.
Still, he laughed at my image on Twitter, while on Reddit I'm ridin' the downvote train straight to hell. So, points for sense of humor?
That would be a hell of a blow to crowdfunding, and so I don't really feel like Smart is having the *stated* intended effect of being "defender of the genre" with this negative PR campaign. It would have to literally be too late to save the project for it to do anything but harm and distract, and the only spoils available would be "I told you so" cred boost, which is pretty shitty cred boost as cred boost goes.
Still, he laughed at my image on Twitter, while on Reddit I'm ridin' the downvote train straight to hell. So, points for sense of humor?
shit, that video is old
...you mean the carefully selected bits of information that were shown to the public looked good while the vast majority of the development remained in secret.
Star citizen is the exact opposite. it's been demoed live. You can download the modules and try them out. The entire development of the game is out in the open.
The situations aren't even remotely comparable and it's laughable that someone would point to Colonial Marines as a cautionary tale about star citizen.
No.
If there was any evidence, it would have certainly been included in that post.
His posts have been a bit funnier for me to read ever since I read the suggestion that "Legal" was actually his dog.
Alyssa had a response from The Escapist on twitter asking for comments. Maybe we'll get an interesting article out of this.
Dictator93
Member
So is the sky falling yet people?
If something like polygon or kotaku wrote a piece about an "insider" @ CIG I would at least consider it somewhat credible: but the ravings of Derek Smart gleaned from readily available internet information after he was publically bum slapped by CIG?
No, I will not believe them and find it troubling that people do. The guy has a vendetta, a bad history, and it makes sense that he would readily fabricate context to actual events.
If something like polygon or kotaku wrote a piece about an "insider" @ CIG I would at least consider it somewhat credible: but the ravings of Derek Smart gleaned from readily available internet information after he was publically bum slapped by CIG?
No, I will not believe them and find it troubling that people do. The guy has a vendetta, a bad history, and it makes sense that he would readily fabricate context to actual events.
Candescence
Member
Comparing Star Citizen to Colonial Marines? Really? That's... A very big stretch.
That RSI legal letter was glorious, though. Derek Smart can get stuffed.
That RSI legal letter was glorious, though. Derek Smart can get stuffed.
CaviarMeths
Member
This is unrelated, but the whole Derek Smart experience is new to me, and this really made my jaw drop.
https://storify.com/QHStone/derek-smart-invents-feud-with-randi-harper
Like well over 100 tweets over a couple days because someone made a quick joke at his expense and then blocked him. It's... alarming. Beyond being a narcissist, he comes off as a full blown psychopath, and that's not something I would say lightly.
https://storify.com/QHStone/derek-smart-invents-feud-with-randi-harper
Like well over 100 tweets over a couple days because someone made a quick joke at his expense and then blocked him. It's... alarming. Beyond being a narcissist, he comes off as a full blown psychopath, and that's not something I would say lightly.
Yeesh. Never let it be said that Smart does everything in half-measures, like he does his games. Guy is legit loco.
Triggerhappytel
Member
Wow, what a cutting response. Basically he's a fucking joke and though I haven't been totally following the whole episode, is he purely bitter because Star Citizen is looking like being the game he's always wanted to create?
CyberPunked
Member
Strong uses of the words "allegedly", " supposedly", and "speculation". It would be good if we looked at the facts once in a while...
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Just pointing out a couple of things:
- The concern is not that the game is under development for three years, it's whether the budget will last until completion of the project, which has to do with how they spend it and allocate it etc.
- Smarty Pants can be kind of a hypocritical trigger-happy self-involved blowhard and still maybe be bringing up legitimate concerns about the project.
- Only the people with access to the spreadsheets know for sure. Time will tell the tale.
- If things are bad money-wise, It really is too big to fail. Someone will fund the finish line stretch and Derek Smart will be left with corporate conspiracy theories about evil publishers. Crowd-funding will have proved itself non-viable as a way of removing publisher influence from AAA development.
- No one will care.
Yeah, I'm amazed at people here actually believing in Derek and using him as a source after all the bullshit he has spewed. Surely people realize the fucker is less reliable than Fox News?
VibratingDonkey
Member
Not going to take Derek Smart's word for anything. Apparently what's been confirmed is that on the 24th, James Pugh and Alyssa Delhotal were suddenly no longer with the company. Anything else?
From what I'd heard of him before this, I thought of him as a joke, now he's an actively unfunny, troubling one.
Wow.
From what I'd heard of him before this, I thought of him as a joke, now he's an actively unfunny, troubling one.
Dictator93
Member
That indeed has happened. CIG has talked about it openly via community and even press channels.
It is almost like he is a vindictive sociopath with delusions of grandeur.
The funny thing is, it has not even been in dev for a full 3 years! Foundry 42 did not even exist until late 2013 and it only ramped up into production level team size later on.
UpDownLeftRight
Banned
I tried, I really did. I just don't have the energy to read that many tweets from a self obsessed megalomaniac as Derek is, especially when they have a 98% chance of being a direct repeat of the thing he posted less than 60 seconds before. Seriously those time stamps are saddening. The part where he posted a picture of his wife? seriously? yeah had to give up about there. I know he's just about the biggest scrotum you can find in the industry but the level of idiocy he displays never ceases to amaze me. I'm genuinely struggling to work out if he's actually gotten worse over the years.
I do hope however, that somewhere between his attempts to ride on Cloud Imperium's coat tails and deciding to harass a victim of harassment for....being harassed (really Derek?) that he gets his ass handed to him as he deserves. I only wish his latest attempt would land him a permanent ban from purchasing or accessing the internet so he finally has no outlet to spew his shit. Dude would literally cook in his own boiling blood.
Zambayoshi
Member
All I mean is that stuff can look good without necessarily translating to a good end product. I don't think enough has been shown of Star Citizen to be able to comfortably say that it will turn out like what we've seen, particularly the PU stuff, which I don't think we've seen much of at all, have we?
There are few facts to work with. We know CIG has raised $89.3 million and averages about $2 million raised per month. Then we have Derek Smart's accusation that CIG has $8 million left in the bank and spends about $3.5 million per month, which means the company would run out of money in the first quarter of 2016. CIG has responded to that accusation with silence.
Purple Cheeto seemed to be confused about the whole situation, thinking that CIG only had $8 million dollars in total to run off of I simply clarified it for him as accurately as I could.
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