Yep.
Look, I have to admit it, I'm intrigued. I've seen gorgeous videos from "content creators" I do watch (basically D2EA and OA) and have been tempted. But by god, all you have to do is a simple google search to see how awful it is. People think we're like a cult on here, but it's nothing compared to some of the SC ardents. I was talking to someone about it a week or two ago, and they likened it to scientology.
You get paid to recruit members (every player gets a referral code) and the rewards for doing so are persistent through the alpha and will remain on release (the afterlife... which is where we'll all be by the time its actually released). Anyone who's critical of the game within the circle gets slaughtered. They essentially send out "missionaries" to the social media accounts/forums of other games (you've seen 'em in here) to sow malcontent and "show people the way" (using their referral code of course).
But the player community aside (they're not all loons, obviously) just read some of the media reports. They've raised over a third of a BILLION dollars, but an article in Forbes said that by the end of 2017 they were almost broke. Ex employees paint a picture that makes the state of Frontier seem perfectly organized and running like a well-oiled machine. Remember how Frontier have been slaughtered for their Glassdoor reviews? Ironically Cloud Imperium have the exact same 3.7 star rating. (Only, and this is the cynic in me, most of FDevs negative ones have come in the last few months, whereas most of CIGs positive ones in the same span.)
This isn't to poop on the game. If its ever released I'll definitely buy it. I just find myself utterly confused that all these people who are "falling out of love" of Elite (and its understandable, nobody's saying its not a mess!) are suddenly lockstep in their love of a game that's got more bugs, is being developed by a company with just as much negativity surrounding them (arguably more), has just as many limitations (arguably more) than the game they love(d), and has a giant pile of evidence pointing to it being a pyramid scheme/money grab.
