NYT: Game Raised $148 Million From Fans. Now It’s Raising Concerns. [Star Citizen]

[TangoAlphaLima]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/...million-from-fans-now-its-raising-issues.html

Mark Kearns, 38, a web designer and gamer from Chicago, stumbled upon a new video game called Star Citizen while online in late 2013. The game, which was in development, promised to revive the spaceflight simulation genre with a sprawling universe for players to explore.

Intrigued, Mr. Kearns decided to pledge money to see the game come to fruition. In total, he donated $175, which gained him access to Star Citizen’s alpha version — a playable version of the game in its early stages — plus a virtual ship to use in the game.

Since 2013, the game has quietly amassed more than $148 million in funding — all from regular people who have donated either through the crowdfunding site Kickstarter or through the game’s online donations page. The amount is a record for a crowdfunded video game, and one of the largest for any crowdfunded project. Star Citizen’s developer, Cloud Imperium Games, has not taken any money from traditional financiers.

Yet the gigantic sum of money has created issues for Star Citizen, which began with a modest goal of raising $500,000 in 2012. As the dollars have mounted, the ambitions of Cloud Imperium Games have grown, and the game’s official release has repeatedly been pushed back. Some gamers have demanded refunds. One even filed a formal complaint with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office last year.

Clifford Zernicek, a 36-year-old designer from Houston, has pledged more than $15,000 to Star Citizen. He said he liked that the development of the game “isn’t behind closed doors, like normal publishers.”

“Of course I have reservations about whether or not Cloud Imperium Games can meet their goals,” said Mr. Kearns, the web designer in Chicago. But he added that “after a few updates and patches, I considered my pledge money well spent and anything else that came from the game was a bonus."

Kickstart me for $150 mil if old.

 

[Ricky_R]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

 

[Zombie James]

Donated $15K and he wanted were a few updates and patches. Glad it worked out for him.

 

[StarVigil]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

 

[JMY86]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

I would be stunned if this game released before 2020, and not surprised at all if it never was released.

 

[wildfire]

I still think Cloud Imperium should still be given the same benefit of the doubt in making a GTA V sized game in the same time frame as that game but anyone who wants to argue the NYT calling out production issues is a blind to apparent feature creep.

 

[Vyse The Legend]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

 

[SargerusBR]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

2020 alongside Death Stranding and Cyberpunk

 

[BadAss2961]

Donated $15K and he wanted were a few updates and patches. Glad it worked out for him.

lol

Cloud Imperium... Where'd this team come from anyway? They're fairly new, and I don't see any games they've developed, so i'm wondering if they at least consist of people with good experience.

 

[Trickster]

"Now" it's raising concerns?

 

[Abounder]

Article is a good primer but doesn't add much new stuff. Anyway here's my take: the single player campaign will be released in time to cash in on the Star Wars/Mark Hamill hype, but the persistent universe will always be a janky scopecreep/ghost-town mess. Would love to be wrong on the latter but yea Chris Roberts has a mixed project management history to say the least, and Star Citizen sure as hell hasn't been any different in that regard so far...

 

[Ethelwulf]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

Alongside agent. In all seriousness, any one has a clue? I don't think it ever will.

 

[wildfire]

I would be stunned if this game released before 2020, and not surprised at all if it never was released.

GTA V took 5 years and the formation of the 3 studios finished around 2014. They should have this game out in 2019. If they don't they deserve all the vaporware labels.

 

[ScaryShark]

“I’m already building the best game I can,” said Mr. Roberts, who acknowledged the bumps. “But imagine — the game I can build with $140 million is going to be very different to the one I could build with $10 million. If I can build a bigger and more robust experience, I will.”

That would scare the shit out of me if I was emotionally and financially invested in this project.

 

[True Fire]

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. AAA Game development takes a long time, and this game is very ambitious.

It's games like Soul Saga that concern me.

 

[x-Lundz-x]

lol

Cloud Imperium... Where'd this team come from anyway? They're fairly new, and I don't see any games they've developed, so i'm wondering if they at least consist of people with good experience.

Well Chris Roberts is leading the team which made some of the best games of all time (Wing Commander), so there is that.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Donated $15K and he wanted were a few updates and patches. Glad it worked out for him.

That was a different guy. The guy who was happy with updates and patches donated $175.

 

[wildfire]

"Now" it's raising concerns?

For a mainstream publication as big as the Times? Yes. This is actually timely.

Gaming focused news outlets talking about this first is expected over the more general mainstream outlets that have a much wider variety of tastes to cater to.

 

[HStallion]

I won't put any money down on this project nor do I think it makes any difference as its already got tons of cash but I will pick it up when it releases whenever that might be. Honestly it sounds like a dream game for me but its kind of fallen off the radar for me, still insane to see the amount of money its garnered.

 

[Euphor!a]

I still think Cloud Imperium should still be given the same benefit of the doubt in making a GTA V sized game in the same time frame as that game but anyone who wants to argue the NYT calling out production issues is a blind to apparent feature creep.

I think the GTA devs have earned the benefit of the doubt, these devs certainly have not.

 

[faridmon]

When is the final game supposed to release? Realistically?

They finally said 2020

 

[Marcel]

The idea of spending $15,000 on a single video game is mind-boggling. Sad thing is there are probably people who have spent much more on Star Citizen.

 

[wildfire]

Well Chris Roberts is leading the team which made some of the best games of all time (Wing Commander), so there is that.

And they absorbed portions of the Crytek team so they have the most knowledgeable people who understand the game engine they are using as employees.


They have built carious components but it still remains to be seen if they'll have it working within a reasonable time frame.

 

[XPE]

Didnt realize it was that time again. I guess it had been a couple of months since the last sensationalist article about star citizen

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

The idea of spending $15,000 on a single video game is mind-boggling. Sad thing is there are probably people who have spent much more on Star Citizen.

Another guy spent $22,501 as of April 2015. I'd imagine the total is higher now.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/guy-spends-22-500-on-star-citizen-has-no-regrets/1100-6426321/

 

[bitbydeath]

Probably would have released years ago and for far cheaper if they had used Unreal Engine instead.

 

[reKon]

Didnt realize it was that time again. I guess it had been a couple of months since the last sensationalist article about star citizen

what if it actually blew up though (in a bad way)

 

[wildfire]

I think the GTA devs have earned the benefit of the doubt, these devs certainly have not.

I wholeheartedly agree that they deserve less benefit of the doubt than Rockstar. It's why advise people who consider buying in to Star Citizen not to. They supposedly are getting additional funding from financially capable angel investors. They should prove being able to manage the very generous budget they already have now. People should also be concerned with the fees that will have to be paid towards the movie stars attached to this project. Hamill thanks to a reviving Star Wars was never going to be a reasonable purchase especially since his image likeness will be present and not only his voice like the Arkham games.

Didnt realize it was that time again. I guess it had been a couple of months since the last sensationalist article about star citizen

You heard it here folks. The New York Times is a source of sensationalism like the New York Post or Page 6.

 

[Fuchsdh]

That would scare the shit out of me if I was emotionally and financially invested in this project.

It's the classic "give creators no deadlines or constraints, and it destroys the product" story. Happened to 3DRealms, and they had a history of video games under their belt. That the hubris affects the Kickstarted success acutely isn't surprising.

 

[XPE]

what if it actually blew up though (in a bad way)

When this happens the developers usually go very quite CIG continues to put out 4 videos a week and daily updates on twitter

 

[Marcellus Wallace]

Mass refunds on the way. This game will never release.

 

[Unreal Champ]

This annoys me so much. It's really hard to accept that a team like this can raise $148 million and don't have much to show for it but yet I've seen good indie teams with good ideas struggle to raise £50k.

 

[Hip Hop]

Why would anyone give this much money to an unproven team?

Once again gamers reacting to name titles and premises instead of acting on who is making the game.


Chris Roberts hadn't worked on a game since 2003.

I wouldn't give a cent to these people.

 

[Piggus]

GTA V took 5 years and the formation of the 3 studios finished around 2014. They should have this game out in 2019. If they don't they deserve all the vaporware labels.

More than 1000 people were apparently involved in GTAV's development with a budget of about $265 million. Cloud Imperium doesn't have those kinds of resources, though they do have a lot of people working on this. It will ultimately come down to how well the project is managed.

Also, this is their first game, whereas R* has a long track record for releasing massive projects with minimal delay.

 

[family_guy]

No sympathy for people paying more than the cost of a game. They aren't shareholders.

 

[DJwest]

USD 148 Million? This is insane.

 

[wildfire]

This annoys me so much. It's really hard to accept that a team like this can raise $148 million and don't have much to show for it but yet I've seen good indie teams with good ideas struggle to raise £50k.

Cloud Imperium are making a game in a genre that has proven to be a multi million seller in the 90s but by and large everyone from the old guard abandoned when PC devs transitioned to console development.

Smaller Indie dev teams will continue to be small in size and budget because most are pushing the envelope on unproven game ideas that haven't had an established audience.

 

[Inviusx]

You're average GTA game takrs about 5 years to develop. Assuming full scale production started in 2012 (which it didn't according to the article) the 5 year assumption puts it in the 2018 window. That being said SC does seem to be incredibly ambitious so a 6 year cycle doesn't seem out of the question given the feature creep over the last 2 years. In my opinion Cloud Imperium should be given the benefit of the doubt with this project. Ideally I would prefer if they held back the single player and MMO aspects to release simultaneously.

 

[Lime]

Going with CryEngine for a production of this scale was such a bad idea

 

[Akronis]

OH BOY ANOTHER STAR CITIZEN THREAD FOR PEOPLE TO DRIVE-BY POST ABOUT SHIT THEY DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT

Spoiler

this is definitely a drive-by post.

 

[Chris_Rivera]

They are moving slow for that amount of funding. I know they have like 5 studios working, which must be a huge mess to manage. I'd be curious how many devs and artists are working on the game now.

Of course they could be dragging their feet to keep the gravy flowing.

 

[rackham]

People are whiny assholes


More news at 11.

 

[Phox]

I happily donated/ bought the game. Which is where I feel some are a bit confused they are donating buy they're also buying the game which is getting moons next month 🐙

Mass refunds on the way. This game will never release.

I see this as an ignorant post as we've been hearing the same "it's a scam" for the past 2-3 years. No reason for mass refunds when we're just getting to the good part as alpha 3.0 is next month

 

[wildfire]

More than 1000 people were apparently involved in GTAV's development with a budget of about $265 million. Cloud Imperium doesn't have those kinds of resources, though they do have a lot of people working on this. It will ultimately come down to how well the project is managed.

Also, this is their first game, whereas R* has a long track record for releasing massive projects with minimal delay.

True. In fact Rockstar implies it was way higher than that and I would guess that way higher number comes from independent support companies.

Cloud Imperium has the funds to make use of such large teams to handle the more tedious tasks in content creation but I never followed the development too closely to know if they have such contractors at their service.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Going with CryEngine for a production of this scale was such a bad idea

To be fair, they've been in dev so long that facts on the ground changed under them. A lot of their woes have been based on management decisions more than engine ones.

At this point I just want them to ship the campaign so I can buy that and ignore the open world mmo esque modes.

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

I commented on star citizen in a different thread about games being too ambitious.

I only did the free trial and I'm subscribed to the email updates so I see content is being added and it looks amazing but to me it's starting to seem a little ridiculous that this is still basically a beta. Is it even a beta?

Also, lol at spending 15k. I mean dude must be loaded but come on guy.

 

[commish]

I've been tempted time and again to give money to this. They make it sound so cool and epic.

 

[Akronis]

I commented on star citizen in a different thread about games being too ambitious.

I only did the free trial and I'm subscribed to the email updates so I see content is being added and it looks amazing but to me it's starting to seem a little ridiculous that this is still basically a beta. Is it even a beta?

Also, lol at spending 15k. I mean dude must be loaded but come on guy.

>game enters full production around 2013-2014
>game has scope that no game has ever done
>"why is it not done yet"

amazing.

 

[deadscreensky]

Didnt realize it was that time again. I guess it had been a couple of months since the last sensationalist article about star citizen

There is nothing sensationalist in the article. If anything it's probably slightly too lenient.

 

[Sibylus]

I want this to come out and be good so I can play it... but at the same time I'm not going to pretend this doesn't look cursed to all hell by feature creep and mismanagement.