# Star Citizen is the Future of PC Gaming, and it \[was\] Free to Play this week (Edit: No Longer Free) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [October 13, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528 "2015-10-13T06:29:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/501 "2019-12-06T21:03:54Z")
[Downloading the game got a tech author temporarily blacklisted from his office internet](https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/12/star-citizen-got-me-blacklisted-from-our-office-internet/): > [@](#): > > Apparently, my single machine went from using largely nothing to choking out all of the bandwidth for Allure Media within seconds. It’s a company that operates several sites viewed by millions of Australians every month. Having reliable internet is Kind Of Important ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/502 "2020-01-04T19:09:20Z")
[Crytek wants its lawsuit against CIG dismissed](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-01-04-crytek-wants-to-dismiss-its-own-lawsuit-against-the-star-citizen-developer-until-squadron-42-comes-out) without prejudice until later in the year, since their lawsuit revolves around a game actually being released. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/503 "2020-01-06T20:27:42Z")
[CIG’s financials are not in great shape. Despite bringing in record income of $49 million for 2018, the company still generated a $7 million loss. A staggering $9 million alone was spent on marketing…](https://www.ccn.com/star-citizen-developer-bleeds-cash-as-legal-woes-escalate/) Remember, according to the current TOS, they don’t have to tell anyone what they’re doing with all that money. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/504 "2020-01-06T20:40:36Z")
Per [the financial report released a couple of weeks ago](https://cloudimperiumgames.com/blog/corporate/cloud-imperium-financials-for-2018), [CIG hasn’t turned a profit since 2014](https://cloudimperiumgames.com/uploads/60baf874439c41509fa1d6f584d4e8f1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/505 "2020-01-06T20:44:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > [Crytek wants its lawsuit against CIG dismissed](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-01-04-crytek-wants-to-dismiss-its-own-lawsuit-against-the-star-citizen-developer-until-squadron-42-comes-out) without prejudice until later in the year, since their lawsuit revolves around a game actually being released. Beautiful. As long as they never release a game they’re safe. CIG will be fine forever. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/506 "2020-01-07T16:21:22Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Per [the financial report released a couple of weeks ago](https://cloudimperiumgames.com/blog/corporate/cloud-imperium-financials-for-2018), [CIG hasn’t turned a profit since 2014](https://cloudimperiumgames.com/uploads/60baf874439c41509fa1d6f584d4e8f1.jpg). I bet Chris Roberts’s paychecks are being cashed though. Who invested $46 million in the company in 2018? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/507 "2020-01-07T16:24:54Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Who invested $46 million in the company in 2018? [These guys, in exchange for 10% of CIG.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/12/20/billionaire-clive-calder-and-son-invest-46-million-in-studio-behind-crowdfunded-game-star-citizen/#3ef128921aad) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/508 "2020-01-09T18:45:25Z")
Humble has some game called Headsnatchers for free. Local/Online party game where you, uh, snatch the other people’s heads? > **[The Humble Store: Great games. Fantastic prices. Support charity.](https://www.humblebundle.com/store)** > > Choose from thousands of games for PC, Mac, Linux, and Android while supporting a charity of your choice. New games added every day! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/509 "2020-01-09T18:48:55Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Humble has some game called Headsnatchers for free. Local/Online party game where you, uh, snatch the other people’s heads? > > [The Humble Store: Great games. Fantastic prices. Support charity.](https://www.humblebundle.com/store/headsnatchers-free-game#checkout-section) Is that what CIG releases instead of Star Citizen? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/510 "2020-01-09T19:56:56Z")
LOL, that was supposed to go into the free games thread. I was in a hurry and did a word search for “Free” and posted without checking. Oh well, something to play when you’ve spent all your money on vaporware space freighters 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/511 "2020-01-15T22:26:17Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …just watched this video based on the experiences of a gamer playing the Alpha: > > The game looks like a nightmare. As in, a literal nightmare. Like the sort of nightmare you wake up from screaming. Best quote: "With each void consumption giving me a surreal peek behind the curtain at just how much this world is held together with tape." > > The game looks so fundamentally broken. [They _still_ haven’t decided to help players who find themselves trapped in the environment!](https://www.millenium.org/news/355848.html) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/512 "2020-01-15T23:16:30Z")
[Here’s an attempt to translate your link to English.](https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=fr&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://www.millenium.org/news/355848.html&xid=17259,15700021,15700186,15700190,15700256,15700259,15700262,15700265,15700271&usg=ALkJrhiqpjapCkCbIFzTXWRWSgqMzV3H1A) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/513 "2020-01-17T22:45:46Z")
Sorry, I’m on Chrome and it translates automatically. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/514 "2020-01-24T17:51:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > [Crytek wants its lawsuit against CIG dismissed](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-01-04-crytek-wants-to-dismiss-its-own-lawsuit-against-the-star-citizen-developer-until-squadron-42-comes-out) without prejudice until later in the year, since their lawsuit revolves around a game actually being released. [CIG wants a $500K security bond released as part of the proposed dismissal.](https://www.pcgamer.com/cryteks-lawsuit-over-star-citizen-using-cryengine-continues-heating-up/) I wonder how long that would last 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/515 "2020-02-10T22:54:02Z")
Oh, look: [they announced _another_ game mode a few days ago, also with no scheduled release date](https://www.mmorpg.com/star-citizen/news/theaters-of-war-highlighted-on-star-citizen-stream-1000055249). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/516 "2020-02-12T00:44:39Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > It seems that, yes, there’s sort of a bare-bones world you can wander, but there aren’t really any systems to interact with. You can shoot other players, but there just isn’t any kind of economy, let alone a way to progress. Exploration seems to be functionally nonexistent and there are huge tracts of real estate in the game that have no purpose whatsoever I suggested to some probable donors that Elite had done all that years ago and they weren’t happy. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/517 "2020-02-21T19:49:37Z")
[Crytek and CIG have settled their lawsuit.](https://www.pcgamer.com/crytek-and-the-star-citizen-devs-have-agreed-to-settle-their-lawsuit/) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/518 "2020-03-16T20:34:09Z")
[Star Citizen: now more like _Second Life_ in space rather than _EVE Online_.](https://www.tweaktown.com/news/70951/star-citizen-has-next-gen-survival-mechanics-like-no-other-game/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/519 "2020-04-15T04:11:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Star Citizen has received [46 million dollars in venture capital](https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/12/20/billionaire-clive-calder-and-son-invest-46-million-in-studio-behind-crowdfunded-game-star-citizen/#2efb73001aad) in exchange for a 10% stake in the studio. [These guys just bought another 17 million dollars worth of shares.](https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/03/star-citizen-has-now-raised-over-550-million/) The game has raised 550 million altogether. I wonder if they’ll hit a billion dollars before it’s all said and done. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/520 "2020-05-16T19:33:57Z")
[One month after _PC Gamer_ reports on disgruntled players](https://www.pcgamer.com/star-citizen-players-arent-pleased-with-recent-roadmap-changes/), [Roberts announces yet another round of free play](https://www.futuregamereleases.com/2020/05/star-citizen-free-to-play-week-happening-soon/). Is somebody getting desperate for fresh meat? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528.md?page=27)