The development times of video games are becoming longer and longer. The budgets are getting bigger and bigger. But there is probably no game that has blatantly exceeded all logic in both aspects as Star Citizen. A space simulator with elements of massive online RPG from Cloud Imperium Games that has been in development, at least, since September 2012. And today it has announced that its crowdfunding has already reached 700 million dollars.
To be exact, it has reached $701,164,678, at the time of writing this news, according to the company’s internal tracker. This figure is due to a particularly spectacular growth in funding during the week of May 20th. Something that is particularly evident considering that on Saturday, May 25th alone, it managed to raise almost three million dollars.
The reason for this donation frenzy is that the game has received a free-to-play event from May 17th to 29th. This has caused the game’s funding to increase almost exponentially over the past two weeks. A considerable achievement considering that the game already has over five million people who have funded it and has been in development since 2012. Still without a specific date on the horizon for the release of its final version.
That doesn’t mean the game isn’t making progress in its intentions. Last October 2023, at Cloud Imperium Games, they confirmed that the Star Citizen campaign, named Squadron 42, is considered completed. With the development team busy optimizing and refining the gameplay experience, it still doesn’t have a specific release date.
On the other hand, patch 3.23 has introduced wildlife on habitable planets, a feature that players have been demanding for a long time. Although the major update will not arrive until the third quarter of 2024, when Alpha 4.0 will be released, which will include a whole new solar system with new explorable planets. In addition to some other mechanics such as a life support system on ships that, we are sure, will never ever cause any problems or make our space travels more tense.
That’s why, although the game is already playable, it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near complete. Something that, as long as they continue to achieve milestones in their particular crowdfunding, doesn’t seem to be ending. For better or for worse, for Star Citizen fans.
