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12 Years and $700 Million Later, What's Going on With Star Citizen's Development? (insider-gaming.com)

submitted 1 month ago by Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] Jrockwar@feddit.uk 175 points 1 month ago

$700 million is the estimated development cost of the Falcon Heavy.

Not a game, not a space simulation, but the actual Falcon Heavy rocket. A rocket that can actually go into space.

I know they're different things but I thought I'd leave this here to put things in perspective.

[-] TheYang@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

but only as in the modifications to Falcon 9 to make Falcon Heavy, right?

[-] Jrockwar@feddit.uk 5 points 1 month ago

I don't think so, SpaceX claimed (and NASA apparently verified) that the development costs for the Falcon 9 were $300 million. It's in the Wikipedia article, also here: https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2022/10/23/how-much-would-falcon-9-have-cost-if-it-was-developed-by-nasa/?amp=1

I was under the impression that the Falcon Heavy was a ground-up development. But in any case the Falcon 9 was cheaper, so go figure...

[+] Cagi@lemmy.ca -15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That is $700 million is revenue for Star Citizen, not development costs. More and more players are joining by trying it and sticking around, and CIG is making more money every year because it's genuinely a fun game now. If it wasn't, they wouldn't have $700 million in revenue from a growing base of paying customers after ten years. But that doesn't get clicks from ignorant salty cynics. "IT BAD SCAM" is a more profitable headline than "fun game enjoyed by many".

When videogame "journalists" are drumming up controversy, you always have to take it with a grain of salt. Lord knows we have enough of it.

I spent a grand total of $45 dollars on this game and I have had hundreds of hours of fun. Imagine buying a game for less than the cost of a new AAA game, playing it, enjoying it for dozens of hours or more for ten years, then someone who has never played it starts telling you how you have to spend thousands of dollars and actually didn't have fun and it's not a game, it's a scam because you heard this one guy spent his life savings on imaginary space ships and regretted it. That's how Star Citizen players feel; it's very confusing.

[-] athairmor@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago

As of 2022, according to its financials, the company has spent $637 million on development, with 2020 – 2022 averaging over $106 million a year. Assuming that the company continues spending around $100+ million a year, it doesn’t take a mathematician to realize that the $790 million raised so far at the time of writing is on the verge of, or has likely, run out.

No, the article is claiming $700M in development costs—based on $637M spent by 2022–and $790M raised. They’re speculating that the company is going to run out of money soon.

[+] Cagi@lemmy.ca -21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So they made over 150 million in profit so far, make more and more money with more and more players every year and that's a sign they are failing? "STEADILY GROWING PROFITABLE BUSINESS IS DOOMED TO FAIL!"

The speculation of gaming journalists is the worst way to get reliable and responsible gaming news.

[-] athairmor@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

That’s not how you calculate profit. Their revenue might exceed their costs so far but they have to keep spending. The game isn’t done and it costs money to just keep the lights on.

Look, I don’t know their financials. I’m just correcting what you claimed and pointing out what the article is claiming which is that their spending appears to be outpacing their revenue.