Over seven years after originally launching as a Kickstarter campaign,Star Citizenand Cloud Imperium Games have surpassed another major milestone in the game’s continued crowdfunding total.
As of now,Star Citizenhas brought in over $250 million in total over the span of its development. As of this writing, the total sits a little bit over $251, 700,000 with over 2,450,000 having contributed to that total. Much ofStar Citizen’slatest funding has come about in the lead-up and days following CitizenCon, the annual convention that celebrates the game and its world.
Despite having a budget that exceeds most of what many AAA games nowadays cost to make,Star Citizenstill seems incredibly far off from formally releasing. Originally planned to release all the way back in 2014, as Cloud Imperium Games has received more money over the years,Star Citizenhas continued to increase in its scope and goal. Currently, the game is available for play in its Alpha phase which allows players access to certain portions of theStar Citizenexperience.
In addition, a single-player offering calledSquadron 42is still in development as well and features actors such as Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, and Gillian Anderson. A beta phase forSquadron 42is said to launch 2020 according to the developers, but no such specific release date has been given just yet.Star Citizen’s4.0 phase of its alpha is also said tokick off next year in Q2 2020.
While there is a tangibleStar Citizenproduct that people can play right now, the game’s development has started to feel more akin to the same model thatEpic Games runs withFortnite. For those unaware,Fortniteis still technically in its “early access” phase despite having been on the market for over two years. Even though plans were previously announced by Epic to leave early access, the developer has since largely remained quiet about such plans.
Perhaps one day there will be a formal 1.0 release forStar Citizen, but it doesn’t seem like it’s coming anytime soon. Until then, I’m sure the game will continue to rake in more and more money.
