Star citizen doesn’t have investors. It has people who have made what are essentially charitable contributions. It has also changed its TOS and a judge has ruled that everybody is beholden to the current terms regardless of what the terms were when they actually donated.
Looks like it was a bridge too far even for the faithful.
[quote]
…Roberts explained that — not unlike the Star Citizen project itself — CitizenCon has expanded in scope and therefore requires more funding to achieve his vision.
It’s his MO, after all. “Oh hey guys, the scope has expanded and I need more money from you! For my vision!”
Every bit of news about Star Citizen just very slightly increases the odds Chris Roberts will actually be charged with a crime over this.
Of course it’s possible Roberts is so emotionally invested and self-deluded at this point that he still believes this is a legitimate business. Surely, though, SOMEONE in the company knows it isn’t.
I’m far from an expert here, but I don’t see that, RickJay. Roberts basically has the money with essentially no strings attached. It’s not impossible some prosecutor could come up with something but unless the SEC gets involved… well, that’s unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. And while the development may be incompetently managed, it’s manifestly a serious effort. The operation is shady, sketchy, and several other words - but it’s not a scam.
That doesn’t mean that Cloud Imperium is immune to civil lawsuits, however. That’s actually getting more and more likely - in fact, it already looks like the CryTek suit is actually quite strong.
Anytime I need to feel good about my decision making skills, I can come here and read this thread and mentally pat myself on the back for looking at Star Citizen when it was first getting started and going “Hmmm, no, Roberts hasn’t proven he can make this happen, I’ll wait and see.”
Bringing up Duke Nukem, though - I think something similar happened to Star Citizen as with Duke Nukem Forever. It wasn’t that the game could not have been not, but there was infinite re-work due to mismanagement from above. Specifically, the guy in charge had all the money to keep work for a very long time, which is exactly what happened. Eventually, the project just kind of fell apart as it was never going to be finished, even though several games could have been completed in the time frame.
What’s the first? The Wikipedia page for development budgets doesn’t list Star Citizen at all (as well it ought, since it’s neither done nor done increasing the budget).
It’s probably not going to make any lists until it’s been either published or canceled.
According to the Wikipedia page, the most expensive development cost was The Old Republic at 200 million, while the most expensive total (development+marketing) was GTA V at 265 million. Something tells me we’ll never get a true reckoning of how much money was raised for this game, let alone where it went.
I think we can read between the lines by the fact that they have raised over $180 million and are desperate to raise more funds. The most expensive game so far was Star Wars: The Old Republic, which reportedly cost $200 million to develop. Destiny and Grand Theft Auto V share third place at approximately $140 million in development costs, although marketing for GTA V is estimated to have cost an additional $125 million.
Found at a Russian site: according to the current TOS, backers can only get refunds if “the studio announces the complete cessation of the development of the game.”
It’s not clear the OP is still around, but I’d be interested in hearing his(?) thoughts on it now, three years after the OP was posted (which was itself after three years of development).
ETA: I’m likely to wait a long time, the OP was in fact the only post ever made by defenderofjustice.