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[Haly]

For real, who keeps funding this game?

People who never heard of sunk cost fallacy or loss aversion.

The fanbase is very cult-like so I'm not sure.

I mean so was the NMS fanbase before they were betrayed.

Seriously though space sims are not that hard to do. Elite is a wonderful game, and it didn't need to pay Hamill $3 million for voice acting/mo-cap or anything!

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

One of the best scams! Just kidding

Spoiler

or am I?!?

 

[ScientificPizza]

Deadpool cost that much?

I want some of that Star Citizen money tbh paypal me

 

[spekkeh]

Good god Star Wars the Old Republic had a 200 million budget? The fuck??

Where did all that money go? It has nothing to show for it.

I would imagine the license of continued use of Star Wars properties came through their noses.

 

[tuxfool]

Seriously though space sims are not that hard to do. Elite is a wonderful game, and it didn't need to pay Hamill $3 million for voice acting/mo-cap or anything!

I'd suggest you avoid putting numbers on things you can't justify.

I would imagine the license of continued use of Star Wars properties came through their noses.

The cost to develop probably doesn't include the license. Those would probably be royalties taken out of the revenue generated by the game. MMOs are expensive to develop.

 

[KKRT00]

Seriously though space sims are not that hard to do. Elite is a wonderful game, and it didn't need to pay Hamill $3 million for voice acting/mo-cap or anything!

Omg, this is wrong on so many levels.

 

[Kin5290]

The gameplay videos that I see on Youtube make the game look incredibly buggy and unplayable.

Here's hoping that they can scrape together a halfway decent game out of this pile of overinflated expectations.

 

[fester]

I hadn't logged into my SC account page for 3 years, so I got that figured out again and checked how much I had spent - only $30, whew. I've pretty much written this off completely so if I get anything resembling a game someday, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Dictator93]

I doubt SC reached 141M from pledges. More like from selling a ton of $5000 space ships. Calling all that money budget is like saying GTA has a $2 billion budget.

Don't forget that these contributions are what is allowing us to build a game with the unparalleled ambition of Star Citizen - no other crowd funded game comes even remotely close - by the time we're done you'll be playing a game that will have well over $100M sunk just into its development costs, including a single player component Squadron 42, that will have more play time and quality than most retail AAA first person action games.

- Chris Roberts nearly 2 years ago
SC is not a typically funded game though, they state time and time again that all the money taken in through their website is going toward development in some way or another. Your posting counter-factual claims in spite of that does not make what you say true.

 

[dakun]

i still don't get where this hype and awareness for this game comes from that would make it get $141 million..
i mean the most beloved crowdfunded games barely make $5 million on kickstarter. And that's with way more hype and coverage on gaming sites. Many high caliber released games don't sell enough to make over $100 million.

The amount of people buying into this would be staggering.. more than 2 million people if you go by a 60$ price tag. Now i know there are packages for this game that cost thousands, so i'm guessing there must have been investments by quite wealthy people towards this game, that jacked up the number.

 

[Taruranto]

People who never heard of sunk cost fallacy or loss aversion.


I mean so was the NMS fanbase before they were betrayed.

Seriously though space sims are not that hard to do. Elite is a wonderful game, and it didn't need to pay Hamill $3 million for voice acting/mo-cap or anything!

NMS was usual pre-release hype, tho'. People just keep falling for (obvious) lies and unrealistic expectations. Beyond that, it's not like they were personally invested into the game.

SC fanbase has been buying 500€/$ imaginary ships and the game even has a subscription model, it's similar but they clearly passed the point where you can expect them to be critical.

 

[poodaddy]

Deadpool cost that much?

I want some of that Star Citizen money tbh paypal me

This what I'm saying. How can you look at some of the games on that list and be optimistic about this games direction. Shit man I ain't holding my breath. Feature creep's gonna kill this game, shame as the potential is immense. I hope I'm wrong though, I really do.

 

[spekkeh]

- Chris Roberts nearly 2 years ago
SC is not a typically funded game though, they state time and time again that all the money taken in through their website is going toward development in some way or another. Your posting counter-factual claims in spite of that does not make what you say true.

Neither does your quote. I'm assuming the sale of ships and goods will continue so technically everything past the 100M mark could be profit. In addition, GTA V is continuing development on GTA Online as well.

 

[IcyRhythms]

Why do people continue to give this company money when they've given so little? This game will not live up to or exceed expectations. It will be NMS levels of disappointment with better graphics.

 

[Outrun]

I am glad I got my money back.

I simply do not have faith that CIG can realize this game.

I feel that the money is subsidizing CIG's education in project management and game development.

Work is being done, only to be redone at increased cost. That sounds like piss poor project management to me.

 

[Netherscourge]

If they have GTA5's budget, they better sure as hell make a GTA5-quality space game.

 

[MattKeil]

I mean so was the NMS fanbase before they were betrayed.

Most of the hate for NMS did not come from the fanbase. Similarly, most of the hate for Star Citizen does not come from the backers, especially not the whales.

I mean if you're one of the guys who has thrown six figures at this thing I feel like you're going to convince yourself it's great one way or another.

 

[Dictator93]

Neither does your quote. I'm assuming the sale of ships and goods will continue so technically everything past the 100M mark could be profit.

You posting conjecturally does not make it true. In fact, your implication is saying they are doing something illegal by them lying about how pledges work, which is quite the claim. What I am posting has be reitterated so many times from CIG through various channels on various levels (the development head, the community team, anyone from the studio basically). It is a disclaimer that is stated to be read before every sale made on their website. They even jokingly state it at their conference and video updates. Also, running just one their studios does not come cheap.

 

[Apoleptica]

The game certainly looks technically impressive, but honestly it just doesn't seem interesting. And on top of that some of the ships in game cost thousands of real life dollars to purchase, personally that is very unappealing. I don't see the final product living up to the immense expectations. Keeping it in perpetual production to maintain the inflow of crowd funding is probably their best course of action for profit.

 

[Eolz]

Some links that might be interesting for some:
Live funding stats (+ the goals)
Latest studio report
Latest schedule/production report (showing internal timelines for the next patch)

 

[Generalpsyduck]

Where exactly is all this money coming from? Crowdfunding can't account for all of this?

Space ships that cost more than cars.

 

[More_Badass]

I am a bit baffled. Game has been in dev for years and years with no end in sight, and somehow there is a significant amount of people going "hey, that looks promising I'll pitch in money"?

Weird.

Well yeah, the years isn't the metric. It's the progress and communication on development. It's playable and the devs put out detailed progress updates constantly

 

[Mindlog]

Who keeps setting these immense expectations I keep hearing about?

Players that don't have access to the live modules?
People that watch Youtube videos and review the game?
Pip?

 

[Salmonax]

For real, who keeps funding this game?

Depending on how long development will go on, a carefully-managed strategy of donating and getting partial refunds would actually be an outstanding way to launder money.

 

[m4st4]

Deadpool cost that much?

I want some of that Star Citizen money tbh paypal me

Hell naw, 58 mil. for Deadpool.

 

[Outrun]

Well yeah, the years isn't the metric. It's the progress and communication on development. It's playable and the devs put out detailed progress updates constantly

Actually, CIG is known for going radio silent before a big show Becuase they could not deliver on milestones that they themselves set.

 

[Apoleptica]

Who keeps setting these immense expectations I keep hearing about?

Players that don't have access to the live modules?
People that watch Youtube videos and review the game?
Pip?

The game is highly ambitious and has a megaton of money behind it, the immense expectations come naturally based on those two facts alone.

 

[nullref]

Hopefully they've locked their scope and actual development budget at this point -- the feature/schedule creep temptation would be huge. Is there any reason they need to spend all that money on actual development, or is some of it just early pre-order profit at this point?

 

[GOOCHY]

It seems like a pretty ingenious way to raise money with almost zero legal repercussions if they never deliver. They have a handful of whales that are donating gigantic amounts of money for 11 man ships that don't exist, etc.

What is the purpose of an 11 man ship anyway? What in the world would 11 people do on a ship that would be in any way entertaining?

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Actually, CIG is known for going radio silent before a big show Becuase they could not deliver on milestones that they themselves set.

They have also stopped giving dates because apparently, the community isn't happy when you miss them. So the solution isn't to improve development schedule, management, and communication, the best solution is to stop giving dates.

 

[DirgeExtinction]

Honest question, but if these Kickstarter campaigns use some(or all) of the crowdsourced money for their budget, how do they recover that money? I know a lot of them offer the full game in some of the different tiers, which is why I'm asking.

 

[TheOfficeMut]

It seems like a pretty ingenious way to raise money with almost zero legal repercussions if they never deliver. They have a handful of whales that are donating gigantic amounts of money for 11 man ships that don't exist, etc.

What is the purpose of an 11 man ship anyway? What in the world would 11 people do on a ship that would be in any way entertaining?

Suck each other's asses while piloting.

 

[Dictator93]

They have also stopped giving dates because apparently, the community isn't happy when you miss them. So the solution isn't to improve development schedule, management, and communication, the best solution is to stop giving dates.

Except for them making their development scheduele for patching even more transparent?

It seems like a pretty ingenious way to raise money with almost zero legal repercussions if they never deliver. They have a handful of whales that are donating gigantic amounts of money for 11 man ships that don't exist, etc.

What is the purpose of an 11 man ship anyway? What in the world would 11 people do on a ship that would be in any way entertaining?

NPCs can fill the roll of non-integral crew in the game if a player thinks some task is mundane or unfun.

 

[KKRT00]

They have also stopped giving dates because apparently, the community isn't happy when you miss them. So the solution isn't to improve development schedule, management, and communication, the best solution is to stop giving dates.

Its easy to say something like when you are not dealing with development of features you cant predict how long it will take to develop.
Its a nature of R&D and complex systems that depends one of each other that things will delay.

 

[Daedardus]

They have also stopped giving dates because apparently, the community isn't happy when you miss them. So the solution isn't to improve development schedule, management, and communication, the best solution is to stop giving dates.

Except they give out internal development roadmaps to the public now?

 

[dancrane212]

Still a have a small hope for Squadron 42 but I'm not holding my breath anymore.

 

[Haly]

Honest question, but if these Kickstarter campaigns use some(or all) of the crowdsourced money for their budget, how do they recover that money? I know a lot of them offer the full game in some of the different tiers, which is why I'm asking.

What do you mean 'recover'? The crowdfunding serves as both investment and profit in a lot of the cases. It's like being paid to do work you haven't done yet. Or do you mean the backers? The backers usually receive the game + additional goodies depending on their contribution.

 

[Mindlog]

The game is highly ambitious and has a megaton of money behind it, the immense expectations come naturally based on those two facts alone.

I guess I should have done better distinguishing between expectations and anticipation.

Many hope Star Citizen will be the worst game ever. Expectations.
Few actually care about Star Citizen. Anticipation. It did make top 100 just behind Knack 2.

 

[bounchfx]

this game is a monumental middle finger to its original backers and kind of a hilarious project to watch continue. If they come close to even having 1/10th of what they originally promise I will be stunned, and keep in mind this is with over 10x what they CLAIMED to need dollar wise to pull it off. but I know the horse has been beaten for years at this point..

that's also kind of what makes this so fucking funny.

still hope it's good, because a bad game at this point would be really sad

Who keeps setting these immense expectations I keep hearing about?

Players that don't have access to the live modules?
People that watch Youtube videos and review the game?
Pip?

wait, what? who set the immense expectations? The original kickstarter fundraising video, Lol. They did.

 

[Nzyme32]

This will be NMS times 141 million.

Except it has already done so much more than NMS has, and is following much of the expectations to date despite the wobbly development. It may be hard to believe, but they have regular updates and communication about whats happening along with the alphas and are following through with each step. The bigger concern was the road map for it, and that has now been made a fair bit clearer in a very open way most devs don't really do.

They have also stopped giving dates because apparently, the community isn't happy when you miss them. So the solution isn't to improve development schedule, management, and communication, the best solution is to stop giving dates.

Perhaps doing some research may be a good starting point than where you are right now

 

[Mindlog]

this game is a monumental middle finger to its original backers and kind of a hilarious project to watch continue. If they come close to even having 1/10th of what they originally promise I will be stunned, and keep in mind this is with over 10x what they CLAIMED to need dollar wise to pull it off. but I know the horse has been beaten for years at this point..

that's also kind of what makes this so fucking funny.

still hope it's good, because a bad game at this point would be really sad



wait, what? who set the immense expectations? The original kickstarter fundraising video, Lol. They did.

You said it friend.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Except for them making their development scheduele for patching even more transparent?

None of those dates point in the future, it is a log of what was completed in the recent past. Why are you even listing this shit? All the important bits like 3.0 features or anything related campaign isn't transparent. The campaign announcements are particularly baffling because it is already delayed multiple times with no new announcements.

 

[Outrun]

Except they give out internal development roadmaps to the public now?

After a couple of years...

It sure sucks if you backed in 2013, and expected to play SQ42 now, as per CIG's original communication.

 

[Animator]

I am a bit baffled. Game has been in dev for years and years with no end in sight, and somehow there is a significant amount of people going "hey, that looks promising I'll pitch in money"?

Weird.

Easiest way to con money out of nerds is to make a "space sim". See no mans sky.

 

[Dictator93]

None of those dates point in the future, it is a log of what was completed in the recent past. Why are you even listing this shit?

...so we will be updating this page weekly to keep you informed about our development. We hope that this page will not only help explain our latest status, but also provide some explanations in the event that updates are delayed....

Last update : Dec 23rd, 2016

Our schedule for the next Star Citizen Alpha releases, up to date.

Greetings Citizens!

Just a minor heads up that the regular schedule of community content will resume next week. This week is a shortened work week as we all return from our holidays and start the process that will be our 2017.

It is almost like it has yet to be updated since the holiday.

 

[Daedardus]

None of those dates point in the future, it is a log of what was completed in the recent past. Why are you even listing this shit? All the important bits like 3.0 features or anything related campaign isn't transparent. The campaign announcements are particularly baffling because it is already delayed multiple times with no new announcements.

It did feature all the relevant milestones needed to push 2.6 out, but because that has been released recently (three weeks ago), they took the time to reflect on the given schedules. Within a few weeks they'll have the complete schedule for 3.0 up, but it had to wait a bit due to the holidays.

 

[Outrun]

None of those dates point in the future, it is a log of what was completed in the recent past. Why are you even listing this shit? All the important bits like 3.0 features or anything related campaign isn't transparent. The campaign announcements are particularly baffling because it is already delayed multiple times with no new announcements.

Nope.

Combine that with CIG's record to redoing work which was once marked as complete, and you could see how these logs can be.

Case in point, the flight model has been done, then redone, and perhaps will be redone once more. This is not fine tuning, but rather wholesale changes.

 

[Drazgul]

Too big to fail now!

 

[tuxfool]

Case in point, the flight model has be done, then redone, and perhaps will be redone once more. This is not fine tuning, but rather wholesale changes.

The model itself is only on the second iteration. shockingly game developers tweak things during development. It is time people stop bullshitting about this issue.

 

[Kaneda Shotaro]

1st half of 2019 if it takes as long to build as GTA 5 did.

5 was in development for 4 years