Star Citizen

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 10th of October 2012, the website built to launch Star Citizen crashed in the middle of the game's announcement at GDC. By May 2026, combined crowdfunding and early access sales for the project had passed US$1 billion. That sum makes it one of the costliest video games ever developed, and one of the costliest single pieces of entertainment ever produced.

  The game is a multiplayer space trading and combat simulation from Cloud Imperium Games, made for Windows and led by director Chris Roberts. Yet it still has no projected date for the end of its early access period. How does a project raise that much money without shipping a finished game? What do the people who paid actually get to fly, shoot and explore? And what happens when those backers ask for their money back?

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• 2. Unfinished Business

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  From 1990 to 1996, Chris Roberts worked at Origin Systems, where the Wing Commander franchise made his name. His own studio, Digital Anvil, completed Starlancer in 1999. Then the sweeping plans for a game called Freelancer began to drag. Delays led to Microsoft acquiring the company, and Roberts left the project. A new lead and many staff replacements finished Freelancer, which appeared in 2003. The finished game was well received, but critics noted that it lacked the extensive features Roberts had planned. He has since described Star Citizen as a spiritual successor to both Wing Commander and Freelancer.

  Pre-production on Star Citizen began in 2010, and production followed in 2011 using CryEngine 3. Outside companies including CGBot, Rmory, VoidAlpha and Behaviour Interactive built an early prototype and concept art. That prototype was meant to attract outside investors. Then the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter campaign succeeded, and Roberts decided to crowdfund his game instead. He hired Ortwin Freyermuth, Ben Lesnick and David Swofford. Cloud Imperium Games, founded in 2012 by Roberts, Sandi Roberts and Freyermuth, took shape to run the campaign.

  The company announced its Kickstarter on the 18th of October 2012, eight days after the GDC presentation. The pitch promised "everything that made Wing Commander and Privateer / Freelancer special". Backers were told to expect a story-driven single-player mode called Squadron 42 with drop in and drop out co-op. They were also promised a company-hosted persistent universe and a self-hosted multiplayer mode open to modders. The campaign swore off subscriptions and pay-to-win mechanics. It named November 2014 as the target, with every proposed feature present at launch. Virtual reality support, flight stick support and a focus on high-end PC hardware completed the wish list. Windows would come first, with Roberts calling Linux a goal after the official release. The campaign drew over US$2 million, a figure that later totals would dwarf.

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• 3. Modules And Missed Dates

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  The Hangar Module reached players on the 29th of August 2013, six days after Roberts announced it. It let them walk through an enclosed space and inspect some of the finished ships, and the project called it its first deliverable. That release began a modular approach, with smaller pieces of the game shipping ahead of the full Persistent Universe. Around the same period, the team announced it would use an artificial intelligence system called Kythera, developed by Moon Collider.

  Arena Commander, the flight combat module, was scheduled for December 2013 but slipped six months. It arrived on the 4th of June 2014. At first every player received single-player versions of its game types, while a small group got multiplayer access as the studio planned to scale up. On the 11th of August 2014 it opened to everyone and gained the Capture the Core game type. A racing mode followed in September. By December, Arena Commander had reached version 1.0, which the project called a significant milestone.

  Star Marine, the first-person shooter module, was announced at PAX Australia 2014 for release in 2015. Cloud Imperium contracted its development to IllFonic, a studio in Colorado. Early plans had teams starting inside a ship, flying to a space station and fighting in zero gravity. Close to completion, CIG discovered that the module's assets were not built at the same scale as those for the rest of the game. By August 2015 the contract was terminated, and an in-house team took over. Outlets reported the module as delayed indefinitely or even cancelled. It was finally released on the 23rd of December 2016, a year after the projected date.

  Alpha 2.0, first called Crusader, arrived on the 11th of December 2015, a year after the date when the whole project was first meant to be complete. It combined gameplay from the earlier modules and was later retitled Universe, becoming the main focus of development. Alpha 3.0 was announced for December 2016 at Gamescom 2016. In October 2016, at CitizenCon, the company said it would be split into four smaller releases. Then December brought a surprise: Star Citizen would move to Amazon's Lumberyard engine. Roberts said Lumberyard offered deep cloud integration with Amazon Web Services and a social link to the streaming platform Twitch. The heavily modified version, called StarEngine, now powers both Star Citizen and Squadron 42. Alpha 3.0 finally came in December 2017, followed by a public roadmap of upcoming features. The developer counted it as the start of early access, and no end date has been set since.

  Early updates after Alpha 3.0 added basic mechanics for the Persistent Universe and tried to steady a build described as "barely playable". Alpha 3.3 brought Face-over-IP technology, built with FaceWare Technologies. By 2019 the studio had adopted a quarterly update schedule, though worries about the long development continued. While working on Alpha 3.8, developers explained Object Container Streaming, a technique meant to ease memory limits on both client and server. A client-side version shipped in December 2018. The server-side version, they said, would be "one of the biggest technological milestones this game has seen to date." The Alpha 3.18 update later brought major outages.

  The 2012 campaign had floated a very different schedule. Roberts said then that three years in total would be ideal, adding "Any more and things would begin to get stale." Critics later blamed the slippage on micromanagement by key people at CIG and on feature creep. The press began to suggest the game might become vaporware. Comparisons were drawn with Elite: Dangerous, another crowdfunded space simulation announced around the same time, which was released in 2014.

  Austin, Frankfurt, Santa Monica, Wilmslow and Derby host the studios of Cloud Imperium Games and Foundry 42. Partners have included Turbulent, Virtuos and Wyrmbyte, and CIG acquired Turbulent in July 2023. In November 2021 the company announced a new Manchester office, opening in May 2022, which would become its UK headquarters. Some 400 people from the Wilmslow office were to relocate there. At the end of January 2024, live game director Todd Papy and several other leads left during a restructuring tied to the move. Before CitizenCon in October 2024, CIG reportedly required a seven-day work week for staff on event deliverables. The goal of that two-week push was to finish update 3.24.2 and a Squadron 42 demonstration. Staff were promised 12 hours per week of time off in lieu, available after Squadron 42 shipped, provided they still worked at the company. In an August 2025 interview, Roberts said the full game was aiming for a release in 2027 or 2028.

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• 4. Inside The Game

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  Pyro, Stanton and Nyx are the three star systems of the Persistent Universe. Together they hold four planets, nine moons, a planetoid and a gas giant, all open to travel in space or on the surface. Players choose a male or female avatar and spawn at a space station or on a planet. From there they pick their own path: trading, bounty hunting, mining or taking on missions.

  A law system tracks criminal behavior and applies a rating that blocks access to certain areas. A high rating can bring bounties or violent reactions from law enforcement. Players lower it by hacking the law enforcement network or by paying off their fines.

  Jump heights change from planet to planet because each world has a different gravitational pull. In zero gravity, players move with six degrees of freedom, using thrusters on their backs. Aboard a ship, artificial gravity lets them walk around freely. Flights between space and atmosphere happen in real time, without loading screens.

  The final game will use a currency called UEC, short for United Earth Credits. The early access version uses a temporary stand-in called aUEC, for Alpha United Earth Credits, which will be reset from time to time and at release. Ships can be bought with real money or with earned credits at in-game kiosks, or rented for intervals from a few days to a month. Any purchased or rented craft is spawned at a landing zone through the ASOP Vehicle Retrieval Terminals. A destroyed ship requires an insurance claim and a wait for delivery.

  Procedural generation builds the planets, each with distinct biomes and areas of interest. Every planet has a landing zone, often inside a city, where players step out and explore on foot. Some cities have transit systems linking their sections, and stores sell weapons, items and trade goods. Most planets also have cave systems, with investigation missions and rare ores to mine.

  Arena Commander offers game types from Free Flight, where pilots face no combat, to Pirate Swarm, a horde mode with different enemy types. In Vanduul Swarm, up to four players fight waves of computer-controlled enemies. Capture the Core borrows the logic of capture the flag, with teams fighting over an opposing core. The racing type offers three courses on a purpose-built map. Battle Royale and Team modes award points for destroying enemy ships. Arena Commander also introduced g-force effects, so a pilot who maneuvers too hard can black out. A multi-crew component was announced at a 2015 conference but has not been implemented.

  Star Marine offers two game types on two maps. Last Stand pits Marines against Outlaws in a capture-and-hold contest, where points accrue faster as a team holds more control points. Elimination is a free-for-all won by the highest kill count. Both last ten minutes, though Last Stand can end sooner if one team pulls ahead on score. SATA Ball, a zero-gravity team sport announced in 2015, has yet to appear. Patch 3.13.1a, released on the 19th of May 2021, left the Hangar Module disabled because of ongoing issues.

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• 5. Squadron 42

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  Erin Roberts, brother of Chris, supervises Squadron 42 at the Foundry 42 studio. He worked with Chris on the Wing Commander series and led production and development of games including Privateer 2: The Darkening and Starlancer. The developers describe this story-based single-player game, set in the Star Citizen universe, as a spiritual successor to Wing Commander.

  The player enlists in the United Empire of Earth Navy as part of an elite military unit. The campaign opens with a large space battle. Choices can earn optional citizenship in the UEE and affect the player's status in the Persistent Universe, though neither game is required to access the other. Reported features include space combat, first-person shooting and a conversation system that shapes relationships with non-player pilots. The Kickstarter proposed an optional co-operative mode, which was later recast as a separate mode added after release. The game is planned in episodes. Episode One should offer an estimated 20 hours and about 70 missions, with Episodes Two and Three to follow.

  Gary Oldman and Mark Hamill are among a cast that also includes Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, Andy Serkis and John Rhys-Davies. The list continues with Jack Huston, Eleanor Tomlinson, Harry Treadaway, Sophie Wu, Damson Idris, Eric Wareheim, Rhona Mitra, Henry Cavill and Ben Mendelsohn.

  Squadron 42 was originally announced for release in 2014, during the Kickstarter. A 2016 window was later suggested before the game was delayed indefinitely. In 2018, CIG planned to enter the beta stage before the end of the first quarter of 2020. That date moved to the end of the second quarter, then to the third, and the third passed with no news. In October, Roberts said, "We still have a ways to go before we are in beta." In December 2020 he announced there would be no official release date and no gameplay footage for now. He said it was best to wait until the team was "closer to the home stretch". At CitizenCon on the 19th of October 2024, the first gameplay was shown on stage and a 2026 release was suggested. His August 2025 interview kept that 2026 target.

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• 6. Following The Money

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  In 2014, Guinness World Records listed the sum pledged on the Star Citizen website as the largest single amount ever raised via crowdsourcing. A year earlier, in mid-2013, the project had already become "the most-funded crowdfunding project anywhere", having raised its sum in less than a year.

  Crowdfunding passed US$150 million on the 19th of May 2017 and exceeded US$170 million by December 2017, when the game entered early access. After that, the developer stopped stating a clear split between crowdfunding and straight early access sales. Combined sales passed US$300 million in June 2020, US$400 million in November 2021 and US$500 million in September 2022. The number of paying players is unknown, and it does not match the advertised "Star Citizens" counter.

  Backers receive tiered pledge packages that include a spaceship and credits for fuel, rental fees and other early costs. The developers say players can earn every reward in the game itself, except certain cosmetic items and Lifetime Insurance, known as LTI. In January 2017, Roberts said "I'm not worried" about finances. His reasoning was that Squadron 42 could be finished even if no money came in, and its revenue could then fund Star Citizen.

  In December 2018, billionaire Clive Calder bought a 10 percent stake in Cloud Imperium Games for US$46 million, placing the company at a $460 million valuation. TechCrunch commented, "One may very well question the sanity of such a valuation for a company that has not yet shipped an actual product." Clive and his son Keith Calder gained board seats. A further $17.25 million arrived in March 2020, raising total private funding to $63.25 million.

  United Kingdom disclosure rules forced Cloud Imperium Games to publish accounts for parts of the company. They showed US$193 million spent over the five years from 2012 to 2017, with $14 million reserved. The 2020 accounts showed about £1 million paid in dividends. The 2022 accounts, posted in March 2024, revealed that the outside investment carries a put option. It lets investors recover their money plus interest in windows during 2024-2025 and 2028. CIG estimated the liability at £47.8 million for the UK business. Calder invested in equal measure on the US side, so the total owed could be around $130 million if investors exercised their options.

  In 2014, Eurogamer reported that a grey market had grown from the sale of limited-run ships and the inability of players to sell ships to each other. Middlemen began processing trades, and the practice spread after insurance mechanics changed for newly sold ships. CIG tightened gifting, announcing, "In order to eliminate the middleman scam, packages will be giftable only once before they are locked to an account." Middlemen worked around the rule by handling only the money while the two players swapped goods. According to the report, Roberts expressed no desire to clamp down on the trade.

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• 7. Press And Public

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  Writing for Polygon in 2016, Charlie Hall called Star Citizen "a hope wrapped inside a dream buried inside a few layers of controversy". He compared it with No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous, saying each offered something different. PC Gamer's Luke Winkie also paired it with No Man's Sky, calling it "the other super ambitious, controversial space sim on the horizon". He said fans of the genre, disappointed by No Man's Sky, were turning to the unfinished game, sometimes with worries that it might fail to deliver.

  Between September and October 2015, The Escapist ran a pair of highly controversial articles citing sources who said the project was in trouble. Roberts wrote a scathing response, and CIG threatened the site and its owners with legal action that never materialized. In March 2017, Derek Smart wrote that the parties had settled out of court. A statement from Defy Media said both sides had agreed to delete their comments about each other. The article later tied for third place in an award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

  In September 2016, Kotaku UK published a five-part series on the project's controversies. One installment covered the long-rumored feud between Smart and Roberts. That December, Wired gave Star Citizen a 2016 Vaporware Award, and Massively OP named it "Most Likely to Flop" for both 2016 and 2017.

  Derek Smart, an original backer from 2012, wrote a blog post in July 2015 arguing that the project's growing scope and weak technology meant it could never be completed as pitched. After the post and the widespread news coverage, CIG refunded him and canceled his account. In August 2015 his attorneys sent a demand letter. It asked for the promised accounting records for backer money, a release date, and a refund option for every backer who no longer wished to support the game. Co-founder and general counsel Ortwin Freyermuth called the claims "defamatory" and "entirely without merit". Smart has remained a critic.

  Online arguments over the project's scope, funding and ability to deliver have been heated. Some writers have faced e-mail attacks over their coverage. At least one popular YouTube personality was allegedly sent death threats by a fan of the game.

  Virtual land claims went on sale in 2017, before the feature existed in the game. Press and public raised concerns about their availability and about pay-to-win advantages. CIG replied that people who owned claim licenses and people who earned the money in-game would be on equal footing, assuming enough UEC. In August 2018, CIG tried to monetize the live stream of the annual CitizenCon event and backed down after online protests. Later it removed a cap on in-game currency, which renewed the pay-to-win criticism.

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• 8. Refunds And Courts

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  A survey posted on the Star Citizen message boards in 2015 drew 1,173 responses, and according to Polygon, as many as 25 percent of backers expressed interest in a way to get their money back. Refunds were first handled case by case. On the 10th of June 2016, the terms of service were amended to remove a passage on refund eligibility. Under the old terms, backers could get a refund if the game was not released within 18 months of its original estimated delivery date. The revision allowed refunds only if developers abandoned the project. Backers who had spent money before the change were told they would keep the 18-month clause if they pursued a refund.

  A month later, a backer filed a formal complaint with both the Los Angeles County District Attorney and the county's Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. His refund attempts had failed after the terms changed. He had first been drawn to the project for its virtual reality support, which would help him play despite a disability. The postponement of that support and the new terms were, in his words, "the straw that broke the camel's back for me." The assigned investigator arranged for Cloud Imperium Games to process a US$2,550 refund. The backer had not downloaded the game client and so had not accepted the revised terms.

  In September 2017, an anonymous Redditor claimed to have spent five weeks winning a US$45,000 refund. Ars Technica reported the story, then retracted it after it was disproven as a hoax. In December, a report described a backer who had spent almost three months seeking a US$24,000 refund and had started a small claims case. A second backer was trying to recover US$16,700. The first case was forwarded to the Better Business Bureau. After talks with the Bureau, Cloud Imperium Games changed its website to describe purchases as a "pledge" and to warn buyers of possible delivery delays. The new terms opened a 14-day cancellation period, and the company said it also kept a policy of refunding backers within 30 days.

  In July 2018, a backer took Cloud Imperium Games to small claims court to recover US$4,496. He said he had grown disillusioned with delays, broken promises and changes in scope. The company pointed to his place in an early tester program called Evocati as proof that it was providing a product to him. He argued the original terms covered him because he had backed the project earlier. CIG showed that a vast majority of his purchases came after the change, when he would have had to accept the revised terms. The judge ruled against the backer. A Forbes report from May 2019 alleged that he kept buying ships after the case closed. It also noted that a Freedom of Information Act request had shown 129 complaints about Cloud Imperium Games at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

  Crytek, the developer of CryEngine, sued in December 2017 for copyright infringement and breach of contract. It complained that CIG kept using CryEngine after announcing its move to Lumberyard, failed to disclose modifications, used one engine for two separate products and improperly removed the CryEngine logo from game materials. Crytek sought damages and a permanent injunction. CIG called the suit "meritless", and Crytek said it had "been left with no option but to protect its intellectual property in court." CIG argued that Crytek was misleadingly selective about their agreements, that exclusive use did not mean a requirement to use the engine, and that the original agreement barred either side from seeking damages.

  CIG asked the court to dismiss the suit in January 2018. In August that year the judge denied dismissal, apart from a single claim and the pursuit of punitive damages. In December 2018 the judge dismissed claims about CIG's right to use another engine and its obligation to promote CryEngine. In January 2020, Crytek moved to dismiss without prejudice or legal fees, keeping an option to resume after the release of Squadron 42. CIG countered by asking for US$500,000 in legal expenses paid by Crytek. It also submitted a May 2019 email from Amazon to Crytek, stating that Amazon had granted a Lumberyard license in 2016 that included rights to CryEngine. In February 2020 the two sides filed a settlement proposal with undisclosed terms. CIG's annual report in early 2021 showed that it acquired a CryEngine license from Crytek in 2020.

  In September 2021, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority upheld a customer complaint about marketing emails for vessels still in development. The authority asked CIG to make clear that the "concept ships" on sale were not yet available in the game. Star Citizen marketing emails now carry a disclaimer warning buyers about that.

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