Game Discussions Star Citizen Discussion Thread v12
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On the bright side, i dont think they could make "throwing" any worse than it is now.
Just to follow up on what The Agent was saying, over on SA there are posts of tweets from 2 people who quit (are quitting) this week and one at least from last week. So that's 3 confirmed exists.
On the other hand, 600 employees (let's go with that figure) in the gaming industry, well known for crunch and being very demanding and stressful, that doesn't seem particularly bad... if its just 3 in a month, hell, that's even quite good.
Also there is some rumour (from The Agent) that Erin is out.... hmmm....
In other news, bad news for Ashes of Creation
Source: https://twitter.com/real_lethality/status/1267548374292729857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1267548374292729857%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.somethingawful.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Fthreadid%3D3898069userid%3D0perpage%3D40pagenumber%3D1044
It is bad news because the harbinger of doom, Lethality, is saying its going to be good. The man curses every game he promotes. He also promotes Star Citizen.
On the other hand, 600 employees (let's go with that figure) in the gaming industry, well known for crunch and being very demanding and stressful, that doesn't seem particularly bad... if its just 3 in a month, hell, that's even quite good.
Also there is some rumour (from The Agent) that Erin is out.... hmmm....
In other news, bad news for Ashes of Creation
Source: https://twitter.com/real_lethality/status/1267548374292729857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1267548374292729857%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.somethingawful.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Fthreadid%3D3898069userid%3D0perpage%3D40pagenumber%3D1044
It is bad news because the harbinger of doom, Lethality, is saying its going to be good. The man curses every game he promotes. He also promotes Star Citizen.
Without speculation we would have the occasional patch update post and announcements of road maps for road maps and maybe a ship sale update. Lets not forget about CIG's big road brush tool breakthrough (Sorry LittleAnt 
). Thread would still be on Iteration 1.
Please speculate because without it the entertainment is over.
). Thread would still be on Iteration 1.Please speculate because without it the entertainment is over.
These exits are good for Star Citizen as it is just early days and not yet time for a lead level designer anyway.
Are they shoving Erin to the chopping block? Has he been MIA this year as well? A little time away from this project working on games instead would be good for his health.
Are they shoving Erin to the chopping block? Has he been MIA this year as well? A little time away from this project working on games instead would be good for his health.
Waitwut?
Curt Shilling also was arrested today (he of the tax payer fraud MMO "Kingdoms of Amalur"), by the way.
And honestly, CIG doesn't have to be the one's laundering money. In fact, my best guess is that they simply look the other way in regards to RMT and wash their hands of any possible weirdness that might occur in the transactions between players. Just because some possible shady stuff is going on with RMT, doesn't mean the entire operation has some kind of Russian oligarch banned from doing business in the US suddenly appearing and working with Turbulent and pulling a lot of strings.
I mean, that's just crazy talk!
And honestly, CIG doesn't have to be the one's laundering money. In fact, my best guess is that they simply look the other way in regards to RMT and wash their hands of any possible weirdness that might occur in the transactions between players. Just because some possible shady stuff is going on with RMT, doesn't mean the entire operation has some kind of Russian oligarch banned from doing business in the US suddenly appearing and working with Turbulent and pulling a lot of strings.
I mean, that's just crazy talk!
And I'm sorry that I don't have exact figures of people leaving, but in my experience from being let go from a gaming company there's usually a lot more people exiting than the people tweeting goodbye.
Obviously everything is going really, really well for Star Citizen and I'm sure there will be no huge bombshells dropped in the next six months. Bring on 4.0!
Obviously everything is going really, really well for Star Citizen and I'm sure there will be no huge bombshells dropped in the next six months. Bring on 4.0!
Yes, really sounds like Sarah, community favorite and designer of the Mercury Starrunner, was let go.
Source: https://twitter.com/sarah_draws/status/1296142415930195971
damn near a miracle she found a job the same day! good for her!
Source: https://twitter.com/CalvWill/status/1296154472289271810
Aw, I guess really believing in something doesn't make it so.
(saw it was from a no-nothing site like 2 minutes after I posted it, sigh. this is why you should never believe anything people post on the internet, especially me)
The slap he received for defrauding Rhode Island tax payers didn't quite go far enough.
edit: Yeah, she's been working at CIG as a concept artist since 2014. Glad she and the others were picked up pretty quickly.
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It’s more that CI’s absurd web of companies could easily obscure crimes (and/or just facilitate the amoral siphoning off of backer money).
And that a grey market in macro purchases could easily be used for money laundering by various parties.
So nothing to report. But certainly some things that any good citizen would keep an eye on
Feel free to post this stuff to the FBI if you like though...
The latest list for the US group comes to 9 companies:
The UK seems to have 5? (IE Cloud Imperium UK Ltd + these 4 subsidiaries)
Germany seems to have 1 currently?:
Roberts Space Industries Germany GMBH
Although you can throw Ortwin’s TwinBros companies into the mix in both the US & Germany seemingly, as they’ve supposedly handled sales & refunds.
The Cayman Islands companies were all for the Calders share purchase, not CIG’s, iirc.
Here’s DS’s old list from 2016 for a historical backdrop. And the fan wiki isn’t bad
I’ve probably got some of that wrong, because it’s a bit confusing.
And also absolutely and completely normal...
As mentioned by the others, it's possible to have some reasonable theories on this front without having hard proof of illegal activity.
- Gaming markets are a favoured target for money launderers. The fact that SC has not only a grey market, but one that features macro purchases, would logically make it a particularly attractive choice for such activities.
- A fun, if tricky to verify, claim comes in the form of this spreadsheet. If it accurately represents the major greymarket traders on the trades subreddit, as it claims, the Russian accounts handling collections that run up into the $130K range are... eyebrow raising, shall we say
If you want to get into some really fun speculation though, there's always stuff like this...
- Since the share swap with Turbulent Cloud Imperium UK has a 25% stake in them and two seats on the board. (Ortwin holds one of them).
- Turbulent is doing work for Redpill VR. (And if the gossip TheAgent has heard is correct, some CIG devs are doing some work for them too...)
- Redpill VR are in partnership with Sensorium.
- Sensorium's 'Visionary / Beneficiary' is Mikhail Prokhorov, one of the Russian oligarchs named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. (Although admittedly that list has been challenged for being primarily a 'Forbes rich list', isn't a comprehensive proof of wrong-doing etc, and doesn't carry any sanctions). He's still an interesting character though
All of the above dug up by TheAgent, o'course
It starts to lean a little bit...
But it's certainly fun to note some of these peculiar connections and shifts behind the scenes
We are talking about a parent company whose CFO didn't spot the mafia shenanigans tied up in Gizmondo when he and Erin worked on it, after all. Lord knows what history might have in store for us this time
It seems strange to condemn any and all such civic attentiveness, as you have been. But you do you.
And in the meantime folks will keep laughing at speculations of accumulated richness in the ‘verse too.
Everybody’s happy
From a personal entertainment point-of-view, I'd find it amusing, but looking back at the history of the game so far, I can only see that they have managed to keep money flowing and backers happy (I don't buy spectrum/reddit "unrest" when it never fails to produce a new concept-ship sales record). I have a hard time imagining anything different in the next 6 months. More sluggish progress, some new videos, some concept ships, some new irrelevant feature (ironing clothes maybe? you want to look proper fancy before meeting that AI bartender!), and more money.
I mean, you are correct. The project will probably continue for a long, long, long time. Or it could come crashing down next week or 90 days tops or whatever. Who knows? We do know they were out of cash in 2018 and without the Calder's $47 million infusion they were one bad sale from imploding. Honestly, that usually spells the end of projects like this: just a single, bad day.
I do have a feeling this will go the way of Shroud of the Avatar and release to a rabid fanbase, deflecting all manner of criticism because they spent wayyyyy too much money for the game to be a miserable failure. Deride those detractors, see conspiracies from big gaming companies everywhere, ban any negative discussion and keep hope alive that you're not stuck with a worthless golden castle that cost you $30,000 and giant Kickstarter-crossover airship for another project yet to see release.
But Shroud keeps the lights on. Keeps money coming in. Keeps certain players happy (although there's not much of a fanbase left). Even with their savior Richard Garriott gone, hope for a better game -- somewhere in that sloppy Unity code -- remains.
Really, like I've always said, who cares? Nothing any of us say or do, leaks or no, truth or no, has any impact on anything CIG decides to do or the quality of the game they release. Best thing to do is to simply enjoy watching the train careening across the tracks, seeing a bit of wobble here and there, wondering if now, NOW, is the time it becomes fully derailed and crashes ever so spectacularly. Somewhere though, there is a hope that it reaches the station, maybe a few years late and with some duct tape slapped over it, but arrived nevertheless. Either way, it's a fun time.
Certainly, CI-G and Star Citizen have ushered in the modern era of lulzbucketry. I don't think a single other project has generated so much controversy, cash, mirth, disappointment, wonder, WTFuttery and lulz in the entirety of video game history. It's glorious both in spectacle, mediocrity and meaningless waffle.
Nothing else comes close
It's a shame Louis Theroux is all serious now. This would make for a fabulous documentary from him.
He could interview that Miku guy. Lethality. The guy who proposed at CitizenCon. The bunnyman. Derek Smart. Some old Origin devs gossiping. Lesnick with lots of camera pans at his toys. Gardiner attempting manipulation only to be met by the Wry Grin.
The Crobber Baron himself.
He could interview that Miku guy. Lethality. The guy who proposed at CitizenCon. The bunnyman. Derek Smart. Some old Origin devs gossiping. Lesnick with lots of camera pans at his toys. Gardiner attempting manipulation only to be met by the Wry Grin.
The Crobber Baron himself.
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I dunno, I've been around awhile. While Star Citizen is going on a lot longer than some of the below, these are some interesting reads down the google hole if y'all have some time:
There's more, so many, many, many more, including indie Kickstarter games out the wahzoo. I should really put together a comprehensive list one of these days.
- Atari's E.T. is probably one of the most famous ones and one of the most talked about
- Daikatana and the entire Ion Storm fiasco, including John Romero spending millions and millions on office furniture and uh some other crazy stuffs
- Duke Nukem Forever and the entire swampy mess of redoing stuff constantly
- Final Fantasy XIV's original release, although the comeback was quite awesome
- Kingdoms of Amalur the unreleased MMO and its shady tax payer funneling
- !NSFW! Illfonic's (yes, of Star Marine fame) dark "adult" MMO Revival where players bought houses and furniture and ahem dungeons for real money !NSFW!
- Brad McQuaid's (RIP) Pantheon MMO, who have been charging subscription fees since 2015 without any game to play whatsoever
- Shroud of the Avatar and its hilarious problems over the years -- I often wonder if it will get shut down before the crossover crossbow comes out in Star Citizen (Turbulent worked on their Kickstarter as well)
- EQNext and its famous forum "I believe in this project, you haven't seen what they have been working on behind the scenes" post the day before it was completely shut down
Respectfully my dear Milligna - I disagree.
This completely needs the full Sacha Baron Cohen treatment, dressed as a Bagman Bunny Penguin Kitty hybrid, in all seriousness.