Star Citizen raises more than $1 million in four days following alpha 3.3 test release

[CenturionNami]

It's total is almost 200 million now.
https://www.pcgamer.com/star-citize...lion-in-four-days-following-alpha-33-release/

Star Citizen may not have a release date, but fans are still throwing money at it. In the four days after developer Cloud Imperium Games pushed alpha 3.3 to public test servers, marking the start of fan convention CitizenCon, it raised more than $1 million, which is nearly as much as it pulls in during some entire months.

On Wednesday, when another star-studded trailer for singleplayer spin-off Squadron 42 was unveiled, the game received nearly $380,000, according to its live funding tracker. Fans backed it for a further $325,000 on Thursday, and roughly $190,000 on each of Friday and Saturday. To put that in perspective, it raised a total of $171,582 in the previous week.

That brings total crowdfunding to more than $195 million, and it could well hit the $200 million mark before the end of the year.

The day before the trailer, Cloud Imperium released alpha 3.3 into the Public Test Universe. The update lets players use their webcam and microphone to map both their voice and facial expressions onto their in-game character. It also added a bunch of ships, including the Anvil Valkyrie dropship, which will cost you a whopping $330. You can also buy a $700 version that has some very expensive bells and whistles.

Cloud Imperium has promised to publish a "full roadmap to Squadron 42's release" in December, so it won't be long until we know when the game is finally coming out.

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Seems like all the naysayers who keep screaming about the game running out of money look like fools now.[/quote]

 

[Gravity Insanity]

 

[steviestar3]

They can't keep getting away with this.

 

[Becks']

SC has managed to gather more money than Zelda BOTW (120 million) and Super Mario Odyssey (prob 80 to 90 million) budgets combined. Insane.

 

[WellbornWarrior]

Are these actual investments were investors get something back, like with Project Cars or straight donations?

 

[Cenauru]

I nearly bought the $45 basic entry. Really want to mess around with the alpha stuff, but I decided to wait for better performance. Heard the latest PTU was a massive FPS boost though.

 

[Akira86]

....hey guys...this looks interesting, do you need some of my money?

suddenly reminding myself why I got a gtx 1080 and a in the first place.

 

[metalshade01]

They can't keep getting away with this.

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I know that's the popular, low IQ way to view things, but maybe the company that is being the most open, showing almost every single step they take, and listening closely to fans input, like we wish others developers would emulate, just maybe they are doing what they need to do in order to deliver on the vision the developers and fans have for the game.
I made my kickstarter backing years ago, I am quite content waiting for however long it takes to play the game that has the scope I desire.

 

[Jraphics Horse]

Are these actual investments were investors get something back, like with Project Cars or straight donations?

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They get a sense of pride and accomplishment

 

[Horp]

Yep, more money, thats what they need.

 

[McScroggz]

Some people hear about the facial and voice mapping thing and probably get excited. To me it's endemic to the fundamental flaw in how Star Citizen is being made. It's as much a tech demo as it is a game. I would think for a project that has been maligned for being mismanaged, for poor use of resources, for constant delays, and in general for not having enough actual "game" that it would be a really obviously bad decision to work on something really superficial like face/voice mapping instead of putting those resources towards making Star Citizen a more fully fleshed out game and/or more polished.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

SC has managed to gather more money than BOTW (120 million) and Odyssey (prob 80 to 90 million) budgets combined. Insane.

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Breath of the Wild?

 

[Becks']

Breath of the Wild?

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Yep.

 

[Springy]

I know that's the popular, low IQ way to view things...

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Hot damn, did you have to work hard to so effortlessly act like an ass or does it come naturally?

The other guy was talking about a video game and you flippantly call them stupid for what reason exactly?

 

[WellbornWarrior]

Some people hear about the facial and voice mapping thing and probably get excited. To me it's endemic to the fundamental flaw in how Star Citizen is being made. It's as much a tech demo as it is a game. I would think for a project that has been maligned for being mismanaged, for poor use of resources, for constant delays, and in general for not having enough actual "game" that it would be a really obviously bad decision to work on something really superficial like face/voice mapping instead of putting those resources towards making Star Citizen a more fully fleshed out game and/or more polished.

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That's entirely on Chris Roberts if the rumors are believable. He insists on adding more and more features every day despite everyone telling him it's not feasible.

 

[capitalCORN]

That's entirely on Chris Roberts if the rumors are believable. He insists on adding more and more features every day despite everyone telling him it's not feasible.

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Chris has always been about the pie in the sky. Y'all new to the dude or something? Still managed some good bangers though.

 

[Derrick01]

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Yep.

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I didn't know they disclosed the budget, that's fascinating.

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

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They are making something though. You can play it!

 

[Metalmurphy]

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

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You are assuming this isn't part of their plan to just keep getting money without committing to actually releasing a game.

 

[a Question]

And its all started with this.

Seriously this turning more into a scam not in the direct but somewhat of a scam. I'm pretty sure when original team realized that they got attention of big "whales" they started just keep making reasons to promise more.

 

[Barnabas Reynolds]

I know that's the popular, low IQ way to view things, but maybe the company that is being the most open, showing almost every single step they take, and listening closely to fans input, like we wish others developers would emulate, just maybe they are doing what they need to do in order to deliver on the vision the developers and fans have for the game.
I made my kickstarter backing years ago, I am quite content waiting for however long it takes to play the game that has the scope I desire.

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Going straight to a personal attack in response to a difference of opinion is surely a sign of superior intelligence. I mean, only a total moron would ask that member what their knowledge is of the subject, and, I dunno, whether or not they were joking before acting like this, right?

 

[Kyougar]

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

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That would be correct if it just was a single-player game.
But there is an even bigger MMO being worked on at the same time.

I'd rather have a polished experience than a game from a Studio where someone "put the break on" and the team had to work 2 years to finally make the game complete after it was released. (Hello, No Man's Sky)

 

[Derrick01]

They are making something though. You can play it!

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You can play a small fraction of it after like 6 years of promises and funding.

 

[Adnor]

Take all the time you need, give me the True Wing Commander spiritual successor that we need with Squadron 42, I've been waiting for a great mission based space sim since FS2, I can wait longer.

 

[BurntFoot]

You can play a small fraction of it after like 6 years of promises and funding.

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The game as promised by Chris Roberts is never going to be made. That's why CIG wants us to rethink what the word "release" means.

 

[Cenauru]

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

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I'm gonna take a bet and say that the people paying for this know what they want and have accepted how long it will take.

 

[Javaman]

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What's crazy us that 200 million is 2 and a half piles of money that size.

 

[Absoludacrous]

It's not a scam in the sense that the developers are sitting there lighting cigars with backers money.

It is a scam in that they know how to manipulate their biggest fans into willingly parting with as much of their money as possible.

The game will probably come out one day. But in the meantime they will have intentionally sucked out enough money from their whales to make mobile developers blush from embarrassment.

 

[Veliladon]

After the wait for Freelancer back in high school my adage is basically analogous to Don't Pay the Ferryman. Don't even fix a price until Chris Roberts delivers the complete fucking game. I'm fairly confident he won't get shit finished because he doesn't have a publisher holding back his perfectionism this time.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

As much as I think SC looks like a cult from the outside, never bet against them when it comes to raising money and generating goodwill from their fans

 

[Rondras]

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

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Yeah, true. The patches we get every 3 months are dreams.. they arent doing anything!!

 

[Yopis]

After the wait for Freelancer back in high school my adage is basically analogous to Don't Pay the Ferryman. Don't even fix a price until Chris Rivers delivers the complete fucking game. I'm fairly confident he won't get shit finished because he doesn't have a publisher holding back his perfectionism this time.

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Austin Rivers brother?

 

[Veliladon]

Austin Rivers brother?

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On my phone. Shitty autocorrect and bad proof reading on my part.

 

[MisterR]

It's the best money making scheme anybody ever came up with in gaming. Just keep getting paid to make a game in perpetuity.

 

[BernardoOne]

That's entirely on Chris Roberts if the rumors are believable. He insists on adding more and more features every day despite everyone telling him it's not feasible.

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Why do people keep on spouting extremely uninformed hot takes in these threads? Jesus Christ.

 

[Solo Kazama]

SC has managed to gather more money than Zelda BOTW (120 million) and Super Mario Odyssey (prob 80 to 90 million) budgets combined. Insane.

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I dont want to defend SC or anything but assets wise how Is it "insane"? its different league.

 

[Urthor]

It's total is almost 200 million now.
https://www.pcgamer.com/star-citize...lion-in-four-days-following-alpha-33-release/

Seems like all the naysayers who keep screaming about the game running out of money look like fools now.

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[/QUOTE]

I believe the burn rate is something like low single millions per month though.

Star Citizen's funding has absolutely peaked and they are now steadily in the burn phase as their income is exceeding their out flowings, meaning they must eventually release the game or run out of $$$. Considering the distance they clearly need to go, even from here, and the amount of money already spent in all likelyhood there's a considerable chance there will be a gap between "complete game" and "fun game" at the end of this development process.

There were many years where it raised so much money that it would pay for the entire year of game development, therefore the release date could easily be extended ad infinitum.

Tbh I will admit that significant features have actually been delivered for Star Citizen and it looks a lot more promising than 2016. That said my stance has shifted from there's no way on god's green earth this will be a good game to "I'll judge it on actual release and not 1 second beforehand."

 

[Deleted member 11182]

I still don't understand what this game is and why people are so excited. Can someone sum up in a few words what's so special about it?

 

[Deleted member 18161]

SC has managed to gather more money than Zelda BOTW (120 million) and Super Mario Odyssey (prob 80 to 90 million) budgets combined. Insane.

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Where are you getting these ridiculous budget numbers from? Considering Sony first party games (which push real time visuals) cost in the region of $50 million a pop there is no way whatsoever what BotW cost $120 million and just lol st Odyssey costing $80-90 million.

If I had to guess I'd say BotW cost $30 million and Mario Odyssey less than $20 million. Even then that's probably grossly overestimating their development costs.

 

[brandonbrb]

Meanwhile in SC

 

[Deleted member 44371]

I nearly bought the $45 basic entry. Really want to mess around with the alpha stuff, but I decided to wait for better performance. Heard the latest PTU was a massive FPS boost though.

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The 3.3 in the PTU right now is amazing. I always had around 30fps but now Im playing with 60 - 90 fps it feels incredible and the planets etc look better than ever

 

[capitalCORN]

The 3.3 in the PTU right now is amazing. I always had around 30fps but now Im playing with 60 - 90 fps it feels incredible and the planets etc look better than ever

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Seriously? Sounds like I'm due for a reinstall.

 

[Deimos]

Meanwhile in SC

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This is why I backed this game.

 

[Trago]

Unprecedented, but crazy.

I hope Squadron 42 actually releases in the near future, I'm much more interested in delving in the single player than the MMO.

 

[Iwao]

Where are you getting these ridiculous budget numbers from? Considering Sony first party games (which push real time visuals) cost in the region of $50 million a pop there is no way whatsoever what BotW cost $120 million and just lol st Odyssey costing $80-90 million.

If I had to guess I'd say BotW cost $30 million and Mario Odyssey less than $20 million. Even then that's probably grossly overestimating their development costs.

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Miyamoto was quoted as saying that they need to sell 2m copies to break even on BotW. That $120m number is crazy inaccurate though. Nintendo only takes the full $59.99 on digital purchases, otherwise it's something like $42 per physical copy. So based on that it's somewhere between $84m and $120m, but even a budget that size is extremely questionable for a game like BotW, and $80-90m for Mario is a laughably extreme figure.

 

[Cenauru]

The 3.3 in the PTU right now is amazing. I always had around 30fps but now Im playing with 60 - 90 fps it feels incredible and the planets etc look better than ever

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Yeah, I'm real close to just buying it now

 

[Shy]

SC has managed to gather more money than Zelda BOTW (120 million) and Super Mario Odyssey (prob 80 to 90 million) budgets combined. Insane.

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Legit question. Where are you pulling that number from ?

That's entirely on Chris Roberts if the rumors are believable. He insists on adding more and more features every day despite everyone telling him it's not feasible.

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They haven't added new features for years.

Stop giving these people money. If they can't make something with nearly $200 million then they're not ever going to make anything.

If anything Roberts has done more harm to independent development than anyone. He's showing how essential it is to have someone in power to put a stop to this shit and tell him to just make the game. He NEEDS someone to tell him no.

Click to shrink...

The game as promised by Chris Roberts is never going to be made. That's why CIG wants us to rethink what the word "release" means.

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But they have been making both a single player game, and an MMO. (which you're able to play as it's being made)

And as far as both games being released. Squadron 42 (the single player game) is going to be coming out, and we'll get a better idea of it current condition.

And for Star Citizen (the mmo game) Chris said when they've gotten server mashing finished (which is the last of the major systems) it'll be in a state to release.

They even have a road map they release every month to inform you of the current state of SC. In regards to the current development.

And its all started with this.

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And now it's this.
Star citizen (the MMO) current state. Taken from the Keynote from their last showcase. (unfortunately, you can only have 2 pieces of media embedded. So i had to link to this instead)
And this vertical slice of Squadron 42 (the single player game) from a year ago.

Seriously this turning more into a scam not in the direct but somewhat of a scam. I'm pretty sure when original team realized that they got attention of big "whales" they started just keep making reasons to promise more.

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That's not what scam means.

I still don't understand what this game is and why people are so excited. Can someone sum up in a few words what's so special about it?

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Because people originally wanted a spiritual successor Wing Commander.

And when got expanded, are now are looking forward to getting a space MMO set in the same universe.

Seriously? Sounds like I'm due for a reinstall.

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I'd wait for 3.3 to go live. (that's what i'm doing)

 

[sandboxgod]

Yeah they just had star citizen con. People went home crazy hyped. They throwing money at Chris Roberts like they at the club

 

[Becks']

Legit question. Where are you pulling that number from ?

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https://ca.ign.com/articles/2016/06/29/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-needs-to-pass-2-million-in-sales

 

[Quinho]

I can't believe they're holding cons and now this...
I mean, the game can be great and all, but it is almost like a scam to me.