This is the development that never ends / it goes on and on, my friend. 
It looks like an interesting game based on videos of it.
I looked it up on WIKI and there doesn’t appear to be any reason for the delays despite a pledged amount that greatly exceeded what it would cost to produce it in a timely manner. There are are a lot of people asking for their money back.
I believe the reason is simple enough. They want a game that uses the most modern tech, which takes time, by then the tech has been superseded. A perpetual loop of promising more and more and more.
It’s even simpler: they’re making more money now than they will if and when they finish the game. They have no incentive to actually produce anything.
And they’re chasing all the most modern tech, even when it’s completely irrelevant. There’s no reason that you need tears on people’s faces to be accurate to within a tenth of a millimeter, for a space exploration game. And yet, they put that at a higher priority than the ability to actually BUY things in a shop.
Well, that and this is just what happens when a project has no limitations on time or resources.
Their “biggest update yet!” has apparently stirred enough interest to crash the servers.
A pretty good article that summarizes the history and increasingly-awkward stage the product is below. A sample:
But don’t worry, the ability for multiple people to sign in at once is a feature that they’re planning on adding any time now.
Apparently the video gaming journalism world is STILL licking the boots of developers. This article is just appalling in its refusal to tell the truth or call out what’s happening, and in the way it’s massaging the facts to make this fiasco seem okay. I loved this line:
“Unfortunately, the Star Citizen servers were not up for the high volume of interest in the update from many of the 4.4 million backers who have funded the game so far.”
“Many” is doing some heeeeeavy lifting there. Does anyone really believe the number of people who tried to log on was a significant portion of four million? Here’s a much likelier scenario; it was a REALLY small percentage of that because only hard core, deluded whales are holding out hope. 100,000 users is a very high estimate. RSI’s servers failed because they’re used to a tenth that many people trying it at peak times, and they long ago stopped improving server capacity.
Increasing server capacity costs money, and RSI is in the business of taking money, not spending it.
I was just thinking the same thing…
I agree, but it takes a brave publisher with deep pockets to take on an organisation that probably has the money to sue for anything that might come close to libel.
Won’t a libel suit require the plaintiff to disclose information? I’m not sure RSI wants the public to know about their work, or lack thereof.
Is it? It’s pretty tongue-in-cheek. The caption on the image they chose to use says, “This image is from a Star Citizen trailer that’s now over a decade old!”
Also stuff like:
Well, after rolling out a new development roadmap back in 2020 (no, that’s not a typo), RSI scaled back the specificity of its feature release date targets last year.
I don’t think they’re trying to polish any turds, and they’re definitely not trying to appeal to their particular audience. The community comments for the article are firmly negative about the game.
I’m okay with articles getting snarky about Scam Citizen.
The most interesting part of that article is the quote from Star Citizen Number One, at the end:
Is this Roberts finally, obliquely, admitting that RSI is never going to release a finished version of Star Citizen?
“Finally” is not how I’d describe 2015. It sounds like he’s accurately describing this hot mess of a lifestyle.
If I ever teach a course about the sunken cost fallacy, Star Citizen is going to be a phenomenal example.
For perspective, this thread was started in 2015, and the game was already a joke for being probably vaporware.
But sure, it’s evidence that he’s never had any particular intention of releasing an actual game. He’s always known that the business model would be exchanging dreams for dollars.
The cost keeps sinking, sinking, sinking into the future.