The fundamental mistake you're making as a non-developer, is that you're holding CIG to the letter of their promises before they actually knew what the monthly burn rate was, how long things would take, if they could develop tech to produce assets based on early estimates, etc. You're taking estimates as carved-in-stone gospel, and this is a mistake. Even game producers and game company top brass know better. It's easy enough to estimate a few assets, but a game that relies on tech that hasn't even been invented yet is a whole other story. But, who else had planetside landing when CIG did it in patch 3.0? Nobody else, as I recall. Now CIG is up to Planet Tech V4 and it's pretty incredible, and ever-evolving.
The reason CIG doesn't have a publisher is exactly because of this type of thinking, which is why Star Citizen could never have been made before Chris Roberts vision and CIG's collective effort, along with direct-funding through ship, merch, subscription, and other sales.
With your line of thinking, this game would never, ever get made. This is what publishers do....they kill dreams...especially the big dreams. Sure, they will be happy to let devs re-skin a tired old engine and keep hawking their microtransactions, but none have the wherewithal, money, time, or vision to do what CIG is doing. Why do you think that nobody made a 'Star Citizen' before Roberts and CIG undertook this massive task? CR of course has a background of making space games, from Wing Commander to Privateer (all of which I played on release), and later on Starlancer and Freelancer. Chris's career evolution has led us to this.
Pledges are the very engine powering the development of SQ42 and Star Citizen, and Star Citizen backers are eager to get their hands on ships. This is why we have to RUSH to buy a $2000 ship before they sell out. And, if the game is so bad (in alpha), then why do the highest priced ships sell out in not hours or minutes but seconds, but for a few warbond stragglers? It's because this game has already demonstrated its value, even in alpha. What release will bring is hard to imagine, and will be light years ahead of its competition (though they're starting to mobilize their efforts seeing the writing on the wall). All we need now is more of the vision to be realized, along with more stability, QoL, and bug-fixes. Optimization generally comes last, though some has to be done along the way to keep players happy and attract new players.
What CIG is doing is totally unprecedented for a very good reason. It's difficult, and it's expensive, and it's funded in a totally new way, and it requires a totally different mindset from the end-user who is used to playing finished product, not helping to test an alpha as an extension of the QA team.
I suggest you consider that game devs (which is my field) are in the business of making estimates, but everything is always a moving target. Any AAA game worth making takes a minimum of 5 years these days for devs starting from scratch (even with a licensed engine), and 5 years can be a long time in the computer graphics and hardware world.
This is why CIG aimed AHEAD of its time with its graphic standards, and they chose the right path. No other space sim touches Star Citizen with respect to graphics and fidelity. Zero. None. Nothing is even close, and I say this as a professional 3D artist with perhaps some idea of what makes good art good. Frontier is having to play catch-up with space legs that will likely only be on planets/moons (not ships), and X4 is scurrying along well behind both of them to keep up. NMS isn't even in the same galaxy, as the lack of fidelity dramatically reduces asset-creation time (seriously, the ships look like they were designed by children).
This is not a project for the impatient or those who think that holding CIG to the letter of every estimate or promise is a productive or edifying pursuit. It's game dev. It's a moving target, CIG is still way in the lead with tech, fidelity, art, sound, and this project would not be possible with the traditional way of thinking or publishing games.
Finally, this game is out. Right now. It's in alpha, and new features are being added every patch, though it's neither feature complete nor content complete. Alphas are not for everyone, but for those who understand what CIG is doing, it's the greatest space sim ever...in alpha....and we're here to help see history in the making whilst testing and helping CIG as they go.
