# 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:** 56
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 10:46pm 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/734528/1101 "2025-04-10T22:46:28Z")
The headline of “They can’t keep getting away with this” is funny. Obviously they _can_ keep getting away with this. $1B here we come! ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 10:48pm 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/734528/1102 "2025-04-10T22:48:36Z")
This is not hyperbole. They have ships for sale for thousands of dollars. Imaginary space ships for an imaginary game. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 1:17pm 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/734528/1103 "2025-04-11T13:17:22Z")
I don’t understand why the police aren’t at least investigating. Allegedly, the production cost for GTA VI is two billion dollars. But later this year, a functioning game will be available for sale, and will almost certainly be an enjoyable and finished product. What’s especially funny about Star Citizen is that looking at it, even if it were a completed product, it looks boring and unoriginal. Visually, conceptually, it’s just more of the same. It looks like EVE, Elite, or a game like Starfield. The ships are the same old shit, the environments what we’ve all seen before. What’s new about this? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 1:54pm 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/734528/1104 "2025-04-11T13:54:03Z")
For shits & giggles, read these old Star Citizen threads (they’re short) that showed up in the “related” tab. Full of innocence, hope and wild-eyed expectations. > [@Oh merciful gods! Wing Commander Designer Making new, high end PC exclusive Space Sim!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-merciful-gods-wing-commander-designer-making-new-high-end-pc-exclusive-space-sim/637335): > > Chris Roberts, lead dev on the Wing Commander Series and involved in severla other Space flight sims is working on a PC exclusive Space Sim with modern PC hardware in mind: The plan is to have a persistent online world in a similar vein to Dark Souls, essentially existing around a sprawling single-player/Co-Op friendly campaign. I’m dusting off the old joystick as we speak. though it might eb a bit premature as it isn’t due until 2014 frowning Looking mighty sweet though! Name is: Star C… > [@Star Citizen. Anybody playing?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-anybody-playing/691942): > > It’s a crowd-funded game being created by Chris Roberts, the man who gave us Wing Commander and Freelancer. It will be a PC-based space sim, and eventually will have ship-to-ship combat, interstallar commerce, a FPS option, multiplayer, PVP, all that good stuff. Right now it seems to be a little lean, as they’re mostly in alpha and only opened the beta testing for the ship-to-ship combat a couple weeks ago. That link’s not working for me from work, probably because it’s a gaming site, so it … > [@The PC Space Combat Sim is back!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pc-space-combat-sim-is-back/639941): > > And it’s Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame at the helm! ---
**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:** [April 11, 2025, 4:53pm 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/734528/1105 "2025-04-11T16:53:04Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Full of innocence, hope and wild-eyed expectations. Two ironic quotes from the first thread you linked: > [@Oh merciful gods! Wing Commander Designer Making new, high end PC exclusive Space Sim!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-merciful-gods-wing-commander-designer-making-new-high-end-pc-exclusive-space-sim/637335/8): > > So the Kickstarter/crowdfunding effort for Star Citizen is officially over. > > Total raised: $6,226,891 > > According to these guys that also means they are getting another $20 million in private funding from investors. > > So $26 million to make this awesome game. > [@Oh merciful gods! Wing Commander Designer Making new, high end PC exclusive Space Sim!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-merciful-gods-wing-commander-designer-making-new-high-end-pc-exclusive-space-sim/637335/16): > > don’t really get the fever for this game, but whatever. impressive kickstarter campaign. If they only knew. ---
**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 11, 2025, 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/734528/1106 "2025-04-11T19:33:34Z")
Airk certainly hit the nail on the head way back in 2012: > [@Oh merciful gods! Wing Commander Designer Making new, high end PC exclusive Space Sim!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-merciful-gods-wing-commander-designer-making-new-high-end-pc-exclusive-space-sim/637335/17): > > the larger the project, the more trouble it seemed to have.” ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 4:14am 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/734528/1107 "2025-04-12T04:14:28Z")
> [@Oh merciful gods! Wing Commander Designer Making new, high end PC exclusive Space Sim!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-merciful-gods-wing-commander-designer-making-new-high-end-pc-exclusive-space-sim/637335/17): > > Airk certainly hit the nail on the head way back in 2012: > > > [@Oh merciful gods! Wing Commander Designer Making new, high end PC exclusive Space Sim!!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-merciful-gods-wing-commander-designer-making-new-high-end-pc-exclusive-space-sim/637335/17): > > > > the larger the project, the more trouble it seemed to have.” He also hit it here: > [@The PC Space Combat Sim is back!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pc-space-combat-sim-is-back/639941/3): > > Let’s not count our horses before they’re baked here. It’s great that he’s managed to persuade a bunch of hapless people to give him money for an insanely ambitious project, but even if he’s not pulling a Peter Molyneux and promising a jillion times more than he can ever hope to deliver, he’s not going to be releasing this until November 2014. Which makes announcements of “The PC Space Combat Sim is back” as a result of this project seem a bit premature. > > And honestly, my money is “Molyneux Syndrome” here. What was the last successful game this guy made? Do we have any reason to believe he can handle a project of this scope after his previous effort in this direction…didn’t entirely pan out? It’s great that he’s the Guy That Made Wing Commander™ but still. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 4:37am 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/734528/1108 "2025-04-12T04:37:29Z")
> [@The PC Space Combat Sim is back!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pc-space-combat-sim-is-back/639941/3): > > he’s not going to be releasing this until November 2014. Ah, those innocent bygone days of yesteryear. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2025, 5:17am 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/734528/1109 "2025-04-12T05:17:53Z")
Look, it’s easy to make a typo and put 2014 instead of 2034. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 7:22pm 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/734528/1110 "2025-04-12T19:22:32Z")
Optimist. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 7:23pm 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/734528/1111 "2025-04-12T19:23:10Z")
He didn’t specify which calendar. The Muslim one, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 7:41pm 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/734528/1112 "2025-04-12T19:41:16Z")
Mayan. Didn’t it start it’s long count back in 2012? That was the start of the 14th cycle and at 5,125 years per long count I make it 10,321,737 years before the 2,014th one. I may be off. Check with me when we get closer. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 12:18pm 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/734528/1113 "2025-04-14T12:18:00Z")
From what I can tell, Roberts has not actually produced a completed product since Freelancer, which was over 20 years ago. I find it interesting that the media beyond gaming-specific websites hasn’t picked this story up. It’s a niche story but at a billion dollars it’s a big one. It’s the sort of story Michael Lewis in his prime was born to write a book about. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2025, 2:13am 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/734528/1114 "2025-04-15T02:13:23Z")
At this point it feels like a doomsday cult. Except instead of the apocalypse, it’s release day everyone is preparing themselves for. “The end of development is nigh!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:24am 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/734528/1115 "2025-04-15T02:24:34Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Roberts has not actually produced a completed product since Freelancer That’s a total exaggeration and distortion of reality. How dare you imply that Freelancer was a completed product. ---
**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, 2025, 2:30am 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/734528/1116 "2025-04-15T02:30:35Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I find it interesting that the media beyond gaming-specific websites hasn’t picked this story up. It’s a niche story but at a billion dollars it’s a big one. The thing is, it’s the same story today that it was 10 years ago, and it’ll be the same story five years from now. The only difference is that the number keeps ticking up. There’s just not much to say that hasn’t already been said. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:40am 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/734528/1117 "2025-04-15T02:40:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > What’s especially funny about Star Citizen is that looking at it, even if it were a completed product, it looks boring and unoriginal. Visually, conceptually, it’s just more of the same. It looks like EVE, Elite, or a game like Starfield. The ships are the same old shit, the environments what we’ve all seen before. What’s new about this? Well, most of them weren’t that old when development on Star Citizen _started…_ Or more seriously it’s a genuine problem with developing games over such a long period, even if one buys that it’s not a scam. It’s very easy for other games that _didn’t_ take so long to make to be developed & released and turn what you are creating into something people have already gotten bored of even if you started earlier. You can easily end up making a “game out of time” that would have appealed to audiences years ago, but who have now moved on in their tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Chelonaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Chelonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chelonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 4:19am 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/734528/1118 "2025-04-15T04:19:22Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > > [@RickJay](#): > > > > Roberts has not actually produced a completed product since Freelancer > > That’s a total exaggeration and distortion of reality. > > How dare you imply that Freelancer was a completed product It’s more that Roberts hadn’t been project lead for several years when the game was completed. Microsoft bought the Digital Anvil in 2000. Roberts left the company and became a 'creative consultant on the game, which released in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 4:23am 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/734528/1119 "2025-04-15T04:23:54Z")
I actually liked Freelancer a fair amount, but it did not exactly live up to the promises. Does this sound familiar to anyone (taken from the Freelancer wiki entry)? > In 1997, [Chris Roberts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Roberts_(video_game_developer)) began work on a vision he had since he first conceived _[Wing Commander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_(video_game))_. **He wanted to realize a virtual galaxy, whose systems execute their own programs regardless of the players’ presence; cities would be bustling with transports and each world’s weather changes on its own time. Commodity prices in each star system would fluctuate, according to the activities of the computer controlled traders, who import and export goods. Roberts envisioned thousands of players simultaneously interacting with and influencing this world through a unique and intuitive [user interface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface) never seen before in other games.** Each player could pursue a quest set up for their character, and join other players to attempt other missions together without needing to exit the game and start a new mode of play. [Artificial intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_artificial_intelligence) would fly the players’ spacecraft, letting them concentrate on combat or other tasks. Roberts intended the cutscenes and gameplay visuals to be of equal quality so players would be unable to distinguish between the two.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)#cite_note-robertsgame-34)[[35]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)#cite_note-change-35) By the end of 1997, it was officially announced that _Freelancer_ was in the early stages of a two-and-a-half-year development schedule.[[36]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)#cite_note-36) They did actually ship, but nothing like what Roberts wanted. Hence Star Citizen. ---
**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 28, 2026, 5:05pm 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/734528/1120 "2026-01-28T17:05:33Z")
I just asked Google about the current news and found this from a couple days ago: > **[Flabbergasted gamers are discovering just how barebones Star Citizen still is...](https://www.destructoid.com/flabbergasted-gamers-are-discovering-just-how-barebones-star-citizen-still-is-in-2026-the-most-expensive-tech-demo-in-history-is-still-ages-away-from-1-0/)** > > It'll probably never even get to 1.0. > “I didn’t realize how dire the state of _Star Citizen_ was,” says the title of a [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1qmf40q/i_didnt_realise_how_dire_the_state_of_star/) made by user CapytanHook, who heard of _Star Citizen_ and its decade-and-a-half-long development journey, but never actually understood what state it’s actually in. > > “It’s just so incomplete and lifeless,” they said, adding that “missions are painfully repetitive,” that there are many bugs, that “ground PVE combat is a joke,” and so on and so forth. While it does look amazing and has great potential, _Star Citizen_ really does need more time in the oven, which begs the question of whether the oven’s been on for the past 14 years at all. ETA: [$928,446,689 and counting as of New Year’s Eve.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/13-years-into-crowdfunding-star-citizen-nears-the-billion-dollar-mark/) [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=55) [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=57)