That was an enlightening article. It seems like CIG has serious problems with leadership and budget expenditure. I can't call the game a scam since they at least have something tangible in the works, but they don't inspire confidence as to when or if they'll fully deliver.
I'm glad I never got on this ship. I'm not a big fan of buying into unfinished games with grandiose promises.
As bug ridden and feature incomplete as Star Citizen is right now, I really can't deny how beautifully detailed the ships and cities are. It is actually quite difficult to ignore.
I don't know, they don't seem much better than Elite Dangerous, which is a game that's released. And those ships don't take a real life mortgage to afford.
I'm sure there are a lot of people that wouldn't consider just flying around, exploring, and doing the current missions a game, but you could say something similar about early Minecraft. In sure some didn't see the point without more structure or features, but that didn't stop them from enjoying what was there and looking forward to the future
To put it to perspective Star Citizen's Kickstarter started on 2012. GTA 5 released on 2013, and GTA 6 is supposed to be out in 2025. If it doesn't get delayed too significantly we will get 2 full GTA games before SC is released.
To be fair, CIG is also developing 2 games at once in SC and Squadron 42, the latter of which will actually be released first. The reasons for this are a whole other thing though.
They literally built their engine from scratch. How much do you all think that costs? Wasn’t Starfields improved engine like 8 years and $1bn in the making?
And look at THAT game.
When 4.0 releases I am sure it will be solid. The game as it is right now is visually amazing. It’s a dream to be able to take your ship from port to planet. Mining is enjoyable. Pirating is fun. Flying is great, combat is cool. Spacewalking is cool, and also salvage. It’s just like being in space as I would imagine it.
It’s not finished for sure but I can see where it’s going and I like it.
GTA 5 used an in-house engine (used previously, sure, but StarEngine is also modified from a pre-existing engine). The combined development and marketing budget is US$265 million. Development started in 2008 and released in 2013.
Cyberpunk 2077 also used an in-house engine, budget (not sure if marketing is included or not) is US$316 million. Development started in 2012 and released in 2020.