More like "What a load of balls"
Star Citizen Discussion Thread v11
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More like "What a load of balls"
Alpha 2.4 in Summer 2016 iirc
Dont see it happening. Once "persistence" is in people will be back to "waiting" for stuff to get implemented to a degree that makes progress and playing meaningfull. Even with persistence most features are not nailed down yet or are open to (drastic) change in future builds or plain missing. Plus servers and netcode still isnt up to snuff to allow for consistent org play. Nah, persistence is important of course but its certainly not the go-signal for people to "get at it" and start playing in earnest.
I could be wrong of course but I just cant see it happening. The few testers in this thread go through the motions despite all the bugs and non-persistence and their game experience is severely limited due to what SC can do and cant. Persistence wont change the amount of content or options to experience so I doubt user count would go up a lot.
So is 2020 the year of put up / shut up reckoning though? I'm keen to see outside of pretty ships what else SC has (but then so is everyone else)
Looks to me as if CIG is observing this year as much as we are. As Viajero mentioned, they could slap "release" on it today and call it "done" anytime so they are in the clear. They continue the development because there is still money to be had
Sataballs is what you get when a dev teases you with a game but doesn't deliver.
One of the ironies of Star Citizen is that I backed Star Citizen to give me something to play while I waited for Elite: Dangerous to mature beyond what I figured would be a bare bones state at start. This was based on Chris' claim that development was mostly done, and all he needed was a few more million to add additional content.
Eight years, 300+ million dollars, and dozens of shell companies later, and Star Citizen seems to be further away from release than ever.
Roberts has long since absolved himself of the original Kickstarter obligations. He has made various snarky statements when pressed about release, talking about how it's already at version 3, or how it's now basically in early access, or how there won't actually be a definitive "release" because of the rolling updates, not to mention how they now refuse refunds.
As soon as the funding threatens to dry up you can be sure Roberts and his inner circle of friends and family will make their excuses and cash out. Right now they're literally making millions for little more than stroking his ego.
It's just a test...that strangely works at first iteration. I suspect that Ci¬G have been able to implement this baby persistence for some considerable time...but didn't... until they were practically forced to through the impatient and increasingly hostile reactions from backers...
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I still suspect that's exactly where Ci¬G are headed and in the not too distant future...they're running out of development cash a lot faster faster than they can drag it in. To highlight this...how many senior devs have we seen on video over the last 6 months talk about features being 'too expensive' to implement?
I could point out that exact phrase used more than once in practically every recent video from the likes of John Crewe, Todd Papy, Sean Tracy, Tony Zurovec and Paul Jones. It's got so prevalent, I make a mental note every time I hear it.
Every department is working on a rapidly ever decreasing budget... hence why the massive 'annual planning phase' after the seasonal break (previously never ever mentioned as being a thing) and also why they're back to desparate cash grabs like advertising this years CitizenCon in LA asking for advance ticket money barely a couple of months after the last one shut up shop.
Ci¬G as a company are winding up to something...and I don't for one minute believe that's anything related to the announcement of a Sqn42 release...
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But its been the best ever year for funding - cry the backers, totally oblivious to the fact that money in doesn't equal money available. Its quite possible the Calder had stipulations about returns that CIG had to fulful or there are other repayments that we are not aware of.
Let's remember the wise words of the Great Visionnaire :
www.pcgamesn.com
September 2016. Time flies...
Star Citizen right not to ape “basic, bare minimum” approach of Elite: Dangerous, claims Chris Roberts
When a game takes as long in development as Star Citizen, it’s only natural those on the outside would look to compare it to other, arguably similar titles that have managed to reach the market in far less time. For those eagerly awaiting Cloud Imperium’s epic space sim, the game that has them g
www.pcgamesn.com
“If we don’t do a lot of this stuff upfront then we’re going to repay that technical debt later on.”
In a way CR has been vindicated - because they didn't do that stuff upfront (networks, persistence, flight model, the boring stuff) and they have been mired in technical debt. He called it, but sadly didn't listen to himself....
In a way CR has been vindicated - because they didn't do that stuff upfront (networks, persistence, flight model, the boring stuff) and they have been mired in technical debt. He called it, but sadly didn't listen to himself....
Let's remember the wise words of the Great Visionnaire :
September 2016. Time flies...Star Citizen right not to ape “basic, bare minimum” approach of Elite: Dangerous, claims Chris Roberts
When a game takes as long in development as Star Citizen, it’s only natural those on the outside would look to compare it to other, arguably similar titles that have managed to reach the market in far less time. For those eagerly awaiting Cloud Imperium’s epic space sim, the game that has them g
So many statements by backers and CIG simply do not age well at all. About as well as DS's famous 90 days tops statement.
![[VR] Merkir](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/141/141091.jpg?1553527154){kind=avatar}
With $300M+ stroking Roberts ego, he probably releases every night.
(I'll see myself out.)
And so now they're slowly sliding onto the horns of a dilemma.
The longer they allow the persistence to continue the greater the outcry from backers who've invested time and earned new toys, when they wipe. But. The longer they leave it the less reason there is to purchase ships, and the more those buyers will feel duped. Yet. If they revert to wiping every time they'll fuel the increasingly hostile reactions from backers tired of getting nowhere.
That suggests that money issues are properly biting and/or that Calder are starting to lean on them and rein in their spending. It also makes you wonder how many other features are being dropped that they're not talking about publicly.
The Calders' (South African billionaire Clive Calder’s family office and his son Keith Calder’s Snoot Entertainment) 10% stake, Dec-2018, has always been called an investment as best I know, and given that Clive Calder is a very successful business man, it surely won't have been a pledge.
Even if we knew how badly CiG needed the cash injection it would hard to speculate on the actual terms, but, having to fund (any) repayment schedules out of ship sales* would naturally reduce real-money available to fund the development, which aligns with Mole's observations and concerns. One thing is known, GiG received '...two new board members, Dan Offner on behalf of the Calders, and Eli Klein as an adviser to the company'.
Assuming the above, then this could be a compounding problem as, if they needed the Calder's money as backer money isn't enough, further reducing backer money by repaying Calders (or others) actually puts them in an ever worsening situation.
All-in-all, it's a bit of a tragicomedy given all the assertions made by CR about SC already being fully funded, and that pledge dollars are worth three times (was it?) publisher/backer dollars.
All just speculation. CiG could be buoyant, in good health, with dynamic management and under full sale, with the pipelines primed... ..and I could be the messiah, and not a very naughty boy...
e. * Of course the Calder's might take repayments in stock, and ultimately end up with CiG for a 'bargain price'. (happy theorycrafting everyone!)
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But what would they, or anyone else, do with it?
You've got a few ship models, endless jpegs, ancient mocap footage, a script written by someone who can't write scripts, someone elses Vision and very little else.
I can see Ci¬G coming up with some very creative solutions regarding ships purchased in game...like making them only part of a backers fleet as long as they aren't destroyed or limiting insurance claims on them...something along those lines. It's along the same lines as making in game rentals not upgradeable which originally seemed like Ci¬G had capitulated on limiting ships by tying them to a backers' purchases.
It's all about money at the end of the day. Should Ci¬G not find an alternative funding route to subsidise perisitent ship sales...something will have to give.
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