Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Star Citizen: Smart Offers $1M to Investigate, RSI Responds to Concerns
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Derek Smart is not mincing words when it comes to Star Citizen and his contention that Roberts Space Industry is conducting shady business. He has written several blogs, participated in interviews and been the subject of countless forum threads around the game space. Today he has written another article which, at first glance, might appear to be more of the same. However, he is serious in getting to the bottom of what he believes is going on to the tune of one million dollars out of his pocket.
Smart is calling for a forensic accountant and an executive producer to get to the bottom of all of his allegations one way or another.
Give backers the opportunity to hire an independent forensics accountant, and an executive producer, to audit the company records, and give an accurate picture of the financial health of the company, and it’s ability to complete, and deliver this project in a timely fashion. I hereby offer to foot the entire costs of this effort. And I will put up to $1m of my own money, in an escrow account of an attorney’s choosing, to be used as-needed for this exercise. I will pay this price to prove that I had every right to seek these answers. So this money can either go toward a good cause (righting this ship), or to attorneys who are most likely to burn it all down anyway.
You can read Smart's latest post on his personal blog.
Polygon also has a short article that reveals the first smatterings of response from RSI to the issues raised by Derek Smart. Community Director Ben Lesnick was interviewed by a German site about Star Citizen and, for the first time since the war of words began, issued a few statements addressing player concerns:
"I keep going back to the John F. Kennedy moon quote, that we're going to go to the moon... not because this is easy, but because it is hard. That's Star Citizen. We're not as important as the moon shot, but we're here to meet that challenge. We're here to do something incredible. We reached out to the community because they are the ones that would understand what a publisher wouldn't. And I think that stands today. You're going to see incredible progress in the next few weeks. It's going to be good. But none of that criticism worries me because it's not correct."
Check out the full article, along with a link to the German site at the link above.
Comments
Go on Derek give the fuckers hell, they could of avoided all this by answering those fair eight questions. I have a truck load of popcorn being delivered.
If you think that would be the end of it for Smart, you haven't been paying attention.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
If he's so worried about the state of the project why not just give RSI that 1M to help the development in exchange for a look at what's going on from the beginning before raising all this mess? -_- it's so obvious what he's doing that it hurts my brain every time i see people cheering him...
Damn why am i even bothering to write this down...
Derek Smart will probably shit himself if anyone actually takes up his offer, but I have no doubt that he has a range of escape clauses lined-up in that event.
He knows he is quite safe, because his bluff will never be called. But it does play well in front of his audience...
The essence of his allegations are that there has malfeasance in financial reporting and handling by RSI. Why on earth would he throw $1M at them with that in mind?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh, dayummm! This guy is my Hero!!!
Apparently, these haters don't know who they've been messing with. They've done woken up the beast. CIG will provide transparency and accountability dambit or they are going down! They will pee in their pants when they get a hold of this. Smart needs to start a crowd funding effort to help with this sham of a pyramid/ponzi scheme these guys have going. There are many of us who would support him in this effort.
Heads will roll and Derek Smart will be vindicated.
/laughs!!
Long standing feud against Chris Roberts since the 90ies.
See: Comment from Wingmanhttp://descendentstudios.com/
Have fun
Lol that makws a lot of sense, have you actually been following this story. If you had I don't think you would make such silly remarks.
Nothing that Smart has said that I have seen so far has been unreasonable IMO.
That's just the thing with him, he knows the game isn't together yet, I am sure he would pay 1 million to see it exposed as it stands today, if that was released to the public it would be damning, which is exactly what he wants it to be. I'd give this game a good 5-6 years of development before it's actually ready to be seen in full, I'm sure he would too. At 2.7 years in things are going to look disjointed, completely bareboned, etc.., . There's a reason studios do not show that stuff to the public and fight hard when it's leaked.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
All that is being asked for is good effort accountability. If that is happening, then there is no need to worry. These guys are professionals. They know what $85 MILLION dollars of development effort look like. If you can show proof of that effort you have nothing to worry about. Its really just that simple.
I can't wait until you see the real Derek Smart, I really can't. You really think this is about your "cause" to him?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Really that's the only answer you can give. Oh and that "have fun" nonsense is actually irritating lol.
Indeed.
Wait! you mean like the real Slim Shady?
I did not expect this. It seems fishy to me.
Cloud Imperium have their own lawyers and accountants - their financials are likely going to be on par. Sending in a financial probe won't fix anything. I personally find it hard to believe that Chris Roberts is extensively spending money on personal assets. Most visible issues (e.g. missed deadlines) are likely due to poor project management.
The main issue to me seems to be the lack of transparency. This is not something specific to CIG, but rather a flaw in the crowdfunding system in my opinion.
If there is 1M$ to spend, I would invest it into creating clear outlines for crowdfunding projects. Ones that protect the funders and give them insight and control into the project. Currently, crowdfuding is a very one way street. People invest in a project upfront and then are left behind a brick wall until the project has a product.
I would like to see a system where every backer has insight into the financials and is able to effectively call the developer out, with a third party agency stepping in when the developer is not responding to the concerns of the investors.
The way Smart is framing these demands completely misses the point in my opinion.
And I can't wait until donators see how much cash these people have spent on there own personal lives.
I dont know much about DSmart but I like what he is doing.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
>>>>You, and your wife, Sandra Roberts (aka Sandi Gardiner), should resign, effective immediately, and relinquish control of this company to an interim CEO. >>>
DEJA VU !
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.193920-Derek-Smart-Caught-Up-in-Alganon-Plagiarism-Furor
"Smart, the notorious industry veteran ..... was brought in to assist soon after it launched, but by mid-March he had taken over the company as president and fired founder Dave Allen, a move which prompted no small amount of controversy in itself."
Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Have fun
<table tblf-fullwidth="" tblf-alternate"="">What is an acceptable level of accountability though? I'm all for a Scam/Scheme being uncovered if there is one, I'd think almost everyone is. I'm sure there's many who do not want to see it turn out be a scam as well, I surely don't, it's been a long time coming for a really innovative space sim to release, hell just a good one would suffice.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Yeah i'm following the story, what i wrote doesn't make a great amount of sense obviously, i was just suggesting an alternative as absurd as his solution.
What i'm saying is if this was a crusade for justice and clarity for the sake of everyone who backed this game it would have been managed in a very different way. All i see is screaming and boasting with absolutely no proof whatsoever to back up his argument.
Look, for his own sake i hope he finds what he's looking for, if he's right it will be very interesting (and a little bit sad) BUT i've seen this type of guy so many times before that i'm just waiting for nothing to happen...
Nor can I if that is the case and it's frivolous. Yet you have to remember that money is to pay their salaries, that's the point of kickstarter. People can't do this and work a full time job as well, hence the main reason in going for crowdfunding in the first place. It's money to maintain the business, which is essential to have a game. So you can bet any crowdfunded studio is using that money in their personal lives
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson