The most transparent game development EVER!
Game Discussions Star Citizen Discussion Thread v12
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Of interest in the recent Financials release is that their reserve is the outstanding Calder loans + 1 months costs. The moment that loan is revoked this falls like a stack of cards. Despite massive funding they are dependent on that loan. By now having taken 400M+ you would have expected a sizable reserve to cover the remaining development or at least several years more. Any time funding dips and the loans are called it's lights out.
For a non-profit organization, or in conjunction with one, yes.
For incompetent, megalomaniacal video game developers, not so much.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Not exactly. CIG can in theory continue operating at the same staff level hand to mouth without the Calders reserve if funding continues at the same alleged rhythm. It may need to adapt the staff number according to the funding received etc.
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Yes, i know its legal. I just find it funny, especially when backers talk about how its a pledge and the ships are just a gift. Take away those gifts and watch funding tank. They aren't pledging just because of the game and out of the goodness of their hearts. They are doing it for the ships. So saying the ships are just a "gift" is a bit silly.
Just wanted to pick up on this. I don't think anyone here expects to convince any of the other regulars to change their stance.
Mostly its chewing the fat, having a good old debate, and somewhat playing to the peanut gallery.
If Chris and his family weren’t the major beneficiaries of the millions his family (and to a lesser degree Ortwin) have siphoned out of this project, I might be inclined to agree with you. All I see is an utterly unethical abuse of the crowdfunding model, millions more spent frivolously on creating the illusion of success, via lavish conventions, full-scale sculptures, and hundreds of artists who endlessly refactor their own work as the project languishes in development hell.
And AAA CEO executive and director salaries, stock options, and now dividends, of course.
Well of course it is, and that is what absolutely amazes me. It really shouldn't in any way shape or form work, yet it does.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Yeah, couple of things there though. All we really know is that CIG is “still going”. CIGs financial blogs lack key basic elements to form a proper judgement about how well it is all, in fact, “working”.
We also have very little info about concurrency numbers to see if in terms of actual player interest it is “working” well. And the little info we have there (from a letter by Chris Roberts himself a year ago if memory serves) suggests relatively low concurrency figures, much lower even than ED post EDO. Plus some anecdotal evidence of players relatively often bumping into each other randomly which would also suggest low concurrency numbers.
Last but not least the market is lacking one of the fundamental pillars of information usually provided by the game press critiques and reviews (for good or worst) which, given the state of development, would probably not be too flattery. The lack of this information is probably contributing to things “working”.
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![[VR] Merkir](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/141/141091.jpg?1553527154){kind=avatar}
Interesting, and probably not surprising given that CIG would have full time staff managing organic search results and social media.
Also out of morbid curiosity, I connected via VPN through a country I never use, and with a browser I don't normally use (my "untainted" browser) and searched for "Star Citizen". The following critical review was near the bottom of the second page. Most of the prior results were CIG / RSI controlled sites.
Star Citizen’s single-player campaign misses beta window, doesn’t have a release date
Chris Roberts, the creator of Star Citizen, told donors to the $337 million crowdfunded project that the studio was no longer giving a beta date or window for Squadron 42, nor would it be showing gameplay or other assets from the single-player campaign in development.
www.polygon.com
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Did the Cutlass Steal go on sale yesterday? There was a bit of a jump in funding.
Player concurrency numbers, player satisfaction and enjoyment does not seem to matter in this case as evidenced by the large and increasing amount of pledges still rolling in. Unless they are fudging those numbers by way over inflating them. Those are things that in any other circumstance would be very bad for the company, yet in this particular case, the money keeps rolling.
Spectrum has lots of salt.
Fortunately the defenders of the faith are ever present, ensuring no thoughtcrime is being commited and the mods are locking threads and deleting posts. All is well.
Yeah, why would CIG give away a ground vehicle "worth" 50-80 dollars?
Its not like other companies would ever introduce something for free is it, especially around Christmas.
LOL, yes, i'm sure CIG does, that's why the engine works so amazingly well!
Awwww locked...
robertsspaceindustries.com
Someone poking fun
robertsspaceindustries.com
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robertsspaceindustries.com
Fortunately the defenders of the faith are ever present, ensuring no thoughtcrime is being commited and the mods are locking threads and deleting posts. All is well.
Yeah, why would CIG give away a ground vehicle "worth" 50-80 dollars?
Its not like other companies would ever introduce something for free is it, especially around Christmas.
LOL, yes, i'm sure CIG does, that's why the engine works so amazingly well!
Awwww locked...
CIG's priorities... - Star Citizen Spectrum
...according to the just released financial report 2020 and specifically their headcount: US Marketing personell: from 57 +49% to 85 Development personell: from 114 -3% to 111 Rest of...
robertsspaceindustries.com
Someone poking fun
thanks CIG, I would like to return the gift - Star Citizen Spectrum
at this point we exchange photos of our bikes. this is mine. You can hang it if you want, I'll do the same with yours. thank you and merry christmas
robertsspaceindustries.com
Mods active on this one, editing posts and PMing users
- Star Citizen Spectrum
Isn't it funny how all efforts throughout the year are so easily devastated? - ION nerf - They sold us one thing, delivered it in the 2nd pass only to take it all away and and make it next to...
robertsspaceindustries.com
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Indeed, with the caveats I mentioned above: There are key basic financial elements missing in CIG’s blog. So it is really hard to conclude exactly how well things are really working just based on that pledge counter. We don’t know for example what return conditions the Calders have stipulated, or if there are any other main loans outstanding. We don’t even know how accurately that pledge counter represents revenues as the figure is not shown within an actual financial report audited by an independent party etc.
Also remember that your “in any other circumstance” includes the usual cases were the product has been reviewed by the game press with numerous and in depth critiques and scores, which SC lacks. That lack of transparency makes SC different and it probably helps support the “working” part.
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To me, what makes it a scam, is they keep promising things that they cant deliver, currently. They can pretend not to know that, but I think they do know that. That's why it's a scam. Do they hope to release SC as they've promised? Probably. That doesn't mean they believe they can.
What they're counting is for someone like FDev to figure this stuff out, then implement it in their game as if they came up with it. With all they've promised over the years, and all things that amounted to broken promises, do you think they think they can deliver well...anything?
It's nice some folks are enjoying whats in there now, because that's about it. And there must be a lot of good stuff in there. But 101 star systems? How about 3? Not likely.
It's a pre-alpha you can participate in. Just like Odyssey. If it was a product, and I think we're all talking of a released game, it'd have reviews all over the place. And there'd be lots of noise about it being released. It's not like it'll be something the can slip past the gaming community. "oh you didnt notice...we released it last Thursday.." Nope, all eyes on this one.
What did i "forget" ? Where are the thousands of systems, deep space exploration, etc. ? Where is salvage ? Thousands of NPCs with subsumption AI ? Dynamic mission systems ? Newtonian flight model (yes, that was a promise) ? You REALLY want us to play this stupid game again ? The progress rate of this development has been more than glacial. In 10 years they have only delivered one game loop (mining). Everything else is either at embryonic stage ("tier 0" = quick and dirty implementation that barely stands on its own), or many years in the future, or not even on any roadmap. Not to mention the hare brained ideas for mission givers that will fall completely flat on their face if they manage to increase the player count per location (didnt say "when", because that much is now really uncertain).
Please lets have a proper list. Everytime i try a new patch to see if it's finally the "jesus patch", well i find out it's not, and there's nothing much to do apart from what I was doing last patch, save from different bugs and random deaths, with now the addition of me losing my stuff when getting killed by these random bugs. The new one in 3.16 seems to be ship doors and ramps not closing at all.
Where did i say that ? please quote me.
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Now now... let's be fair! CIG never promised thousands of systems. They only took money for 110! Of course, it's only taken them nine years to produce one, but I'm sure the pipelines will be unclogged any day now...
That promise was from the 2011-2012 crowd funding campaign. The reduction to 100 and some was later (after 2014 IIRC). And yeah we'll be lucky to have 5 complete by 2030.