I'm confident that the game will eventually launch. The question is whether it will eventually resemble a finished product, or if they'll run out of money and have to take what they have and push it out the door.
This is where I am at. I am surprised that some posters think it appropriate to attack Mr Roberts on the basis of issues with his ex-wife. Why are we even hearing about his marital and ex-martial issues.
I don't think we will get a finished product as expectations are too high so what launches (EA far more likely) will never match up to that. But we will get a game, after which those of us who have the sense not to CF/pre-order games can read the reviews and make up their minds as to whether they want to buy the game.
I'm afraid I disagree since those issues with his ex-wife goes towards his character and his capacity to lie. He made those declarations to obtain a restraining order and subsequently claimed he did not recall those events. That same woman is also working in his company.
This is a crowd funded project and they are taking people's money on faith that they will build a game. If this is the type of person he is with personal relationships that he has transplanted into his company I'd say those personal relationships bear scrutiny.
Elon Musk has managed with his tweets to cause damage to Tesla. I'd hate to think what damage a falling out with his wife in this case who works in the company will have on this project and I have no trust they will behave professionally because of their history.
I'd say it has every bearing on the project.
I start with the principle that I will watch your movie, buy you game and so on if it is a good product. You may be the most obnoxious person in the world, but if you make a good product I will buy it. I don't expect you to live your life like me or live up to my standards.
He may well have lied previously which does not live up to my standards, but that is not to say I have never ever lied before. Have you?
So lets see the game and make are decision then, I can see how you think a possible lie factors here but even if I was the Crowd Funding sort I would give him the benefit of the doubt. You and I are not public figures, if you dig hard enough you can usually find one negative story on anyone who is over 40.
And the fact you disagree is not an issue, if we all thought exactly the same way as they seem to want you to do on social media what a terribly boring place the world would be.
"The number of developers working on Star Citizen and its single-player campaign Squadron 42 has grown to 475 across three nations." - dualshockers.com ( February 16, 2018)
"Last year Cloud Imperium released financials that showed its biggest expense was annual salaries of $30 million." - forbes (May 31, 2019)
$30 million divided amongst 475 employees averages out to $63,157, well below what's considered the industry standard. That $300 million figure that they seem to be focused on would support salaries for 10 years, assuming they don't grow anymore and sustain this ratio. That's before you even get into any other expenses that come with this development. Maybe there should be some actual math and unbiased research involved. This is not an example of good journalism.
I believed in the hype that others here expressed about it being a scame before, but decided to do my own research as well as actually checking the game out during the last Free Fly event (there's another going on right now). You can actually see what they're putting their money and energy into. As long as you keep in mind that the game is still in alpha, it's a pretty enlightening experience. I haven't pledged into a real copy yet, but I'm definitely planning on it. There hasn't been another game this detailed and ambitious, and I'm convinced that they will pull it off and reset the bar as I've seen and played it with my own two eyes and hands. I don't know why the hype train wants to give so much baseless hate to this venture.
I do love when people try to explain away issues by stating the average.
Here lets throw out some other numbers and the average.
Erin Roberts, arguably someone who is qualified for the role he is in, took a salary of 230k pounds which is about double that of the average salary for the region he’s in and the job he does.
If Erin is taking double the average then I wonder what Chris is paying himself seeing as he probably considers himself gods gift to gaming. Or how much Sandi is being paid cause she’s “a brilliant marketing genius” or how much Ortwin is being paid.
Wow I never knew that. I’m pretty sure Jacobs from Camelot Unchained is not drawing a salary. Isn’t their payout supposed to be their ownership stake?
Are they really paying themselves?
Erin wasn't one of the original founders, and at least for their UK operations his share is only about 5% of the company, so him getting a salary on top of that share isn't that surprising. Also even if 230k pounds a year is lot, he was in high position even before joining Cloud Imperium Games, and 230k a year plus share in the company isn't unreasonable compensation for boss who has a couple of hundred people working under him.
The issue is that we only know Erin's salary through their UK operations because it's mandatory to publish that under UK laws, but we have no knowledge how much money they are paying themselves through their US operations. It could be millions a year and we wouldn't know.
I am not saying Chris Roberts is perfect, since there is definitely some level of mismanagement going on there and quite a bit of money has been unnecessary wasted.
But that is due to feature creep and the immense scope of the game... or rather two games. Squadron42, where Top level actors were hired in for Voice and Cameo work, which doesn't come cheap. You can bet half the budget went into that alone!
Then we have Star Citizen which has a huge scope now on itself together with the persistent universe.
Are you trying to say that you think they spent 150 million on Voice and Cameo work?
LOL
Have you actually seen the dev videos from Squadron42 and which actors they hired and the way they filmed everything and equipment used? Basically in similar way as the filming techniques used for the movie Avatar.
That definitely doesn't come cheap I can tell you that! You can bet that some of those high profile actors won't leave their house for pocket change.
People who are calling Star Citizen a "fraud" are straw-manning the issue.
First of all, Star Citizen is a working "Alpha" of which - as Roberts himself points out correctly - Cloud Imperium has actually been showing and demonstrating the work product in its ongoing current state in a public and transparent way. (They also publish regular periodic "status reports" of various kinds on YouTube, I believe every week.) Additionally, the fact that the computer gaming software technology *already developed* has pushed the envelope of computer gaming and is the most advanced in existence is constantly being demonstrated. (Of course, there's the element of getting everything to work together coherently and seamlessly, which is another level.)
Second, the fact that it isn't a fraud does not mean that there aren't management issues or that the funding money couldn't be spent more efficiently. Cloud Imperium certainly has burned through money at a horrendous rate. At the same time, we have to bear in mind that Roberts' very intention is to produce not just the best sci-fi computer game in existence but the most advanced computer game ever made. And he's doing it.
So just look this up if you don't believe me: It's public knowledge that Blizzard spent around $200 million on World of Warcraft in its first four years *after* they launched the game (2004-2008). It's also known that Star Wars The Old Republic also spent around $200 on development. (I still remember when a Stargate MMO that I was really looking forward to, and all the millions of dollars already spent on that project vanished into a black hole when the project evaporated.) The software technology and scale of Star Citizen goes beyond both WoW and SWTOR. So are there issues? Sure there are, as there would be with anything on this scale.
There's nothing wrong with good criticism and pointing out legitimate problems. But, hey, it's also good to keep the rhetoric in perspective and not turn it into some weird gossipmongering session.
I am not saying Chris Roberts is perfect, since there is definitely some level of mismanagement going on there and quite a bit of money has been unnecessary wasted.
But that is due to feature creep and the immense scope of the game... or rather two games. Squadron42, where Top level actors were hired in for Voice and Cameo work, which doesn't come cheap. You can bet half the budget went into that alone!
Then we have Star Citizen which has a huge scope now on itself together with the persistent universe.
Are you trying to say that you think they spent 150 million on Voice and Cameo work?
LOL
Have you actually seen the dev videos from Squadron42 and which actors they hired and the way they filmed everything and equipment used? Basically in similar way as the filming techniques used for the movie Avatar.
That definitely doesn't come cheap I can tell you that! You can bet that some of those high profile actors won't leave their house for pocket change.
I know the actors. How much do you think they get paid for a week's work? Filming was at Andy Serkis studio. They didn't even all see each other.
So again... no chance they spent 150 million on Voice and Cameo work. And believe me (look back at my posts), I love the idea of Squadron 42, love the actors, loved Oldman's Speech... but those actors got a tiny sliver of that 150 million.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
The problem is, if there is no one to control the stretch development, than nothing gets done and the game is never finished. Look at what happened to GW2. They put out a manifesto and then when the game came out, much of it was not in the game. It happens and this is a reality that needs to be understood for ALL games, especially SC. So what, there is a playable alpha out. GW2 had them too. The difference in look between GW2 alpha and GW2 playable was pretty extreme. Putting out one to 5 solar systems and then having expansions that add more make more sense than DOING IT ALL. It is hard to do it all when the line for doing it all keeps moving.
I believe the development has to be reined in on this game as it is the only way it will ever come out. 300 million is almost as much money to make Avengers: Endgame (purported to cost ~350 million). That is kind of ridiculous.
I believe the reason CR had to go crowdfunding is because no other financial institution believed he could make this product and release it. CR has a record of flops, no game released, and one impressive game. ONE GAME out of all the flops, etc. says something about the fact he cannot manage anything. I mean, the ship sales, says it all.
If this game does come out it will only be played by players who put so much money into the game, they can't afford not to play it.
A modicum of unbiased research on Chris Roberts reveals a man who desperately wanted to be a filmmaker but couldn't quite make it.
How can people who have invested money in this project, with how far behind it is and the technological setbacks, be okay with the millions of dollars and the inordinate amount of time/focus spent by Roberts on utterly frivolous things?
Things like studio space and crew for motion capture performance with 'name' actors are decidedly not cheap and will do very little to make SC this huge, sprawling, persistent universe. And what's worse, it's all being directed by someone with Roberts proven lack of ability. It's like a car manufacturer spending millions of dollars and hundreds of man-hours on a cup holder on a long overdue project.
A SC apologist above decried SWtOR for its "$300 million budget" (it was actually $200 million) when the reason for that high cost was making it fully voiced. They should be very upset with how CIG is spending their money.
While technically a game is being made and thus, no fraud is being committed, an argument can be made that the game itself is little more than a pretext to allow Chris Roberts to play director. That argument isn't without precedent (see the Freelancer-Wing Commander movie debacle).
I'm confident that the game will eventually launch. The question is whether it will eventually resemble a finished product, or if they'll run out of money and have to take what they have and push it out the door.
This is where I am at. I am surprised that some posters think it appropriate to attack Mr Roberts on the basis of issues with his ex-wife. Why are we even hearing about his marital and ex-martial issues.
I don't think we will get a finished product as expectations are too high so what launches (EA far more likely) will never match up to that. But we will get a game, after which those of us who have the sense not to CF/pre-order games can read the reviews and make up their minds as to whether they want to buy the game.
I'm afraid I disagree since those issues with his ex-wife goes towards his character and his capacity to lie. He made those declarations to obtain a restraining order and subsequently claimed he did not recall those events. That same woman is also working in his company.
This is a crowd funded project and they are taking people's money on faith that they will build a game. If this is the type of person he is with personal relationships that he has transplanted into his company I'd say those personal relationships bear scrutiny.
Elon Musk has managed with his tweets to cause damage to Tesla. I'd hate to think what damage a falling out with his wife in this case who works in the company will have on this project and I have no trust they will behave professionally because of their history.
I'd say it has every bearing on the project.
And lets not forget how long it was before he even admitted he was married to Gardner.
The guy is a lying sack of shit who has been exposed over and over again but like all great con men his disciples still believe in him.
As for whether its a scam or not depends on semantics I suppose. If they end up raising 500 million and they release something someone could have made for 100 million is it a scam? What if they find out through forensic accounting that all these salaries they claim to have given all added up to far less than what they claim or anyone thought?
EVERY penny should be accounted for with this thing. I suspect its not even close even with their creative accounting. I am sure that Roberts his family and his cronies have all benefited personally and directly from this charade. Beyond that they have also been able to live like rockstars on a 'company expense report' and flown all over the world the past 6 or 7 years, leasing private jets expensive cars and mansions living like royalty. THAT is something the Forbes article should have focused on. Just how much the guys lifestyle changed once the crowdfunding money started rolling in. From the anecdotes I have heard the guy didnt have a pot to piss in 10 years ago now he is living like the Kardashians.
I have been watching the development for a while. I agree, there needs to be more transparency in accounting. But I do see they've made some tech that other games don't have and could never do on the engines they use. UDK doesn't have any kind of ability to do seamless streaming of assets and with server meshing across an on-demand scaling server system. Hell many engines aren't even set up for 64-bit floating point precision. So to be fair, yes they are far from perfect, but at the same time, they have been making shit happen.
I mean, look at that article like you knew nothing about video games nor Forbes typical writing style for non-fortune 500 topics, the article is very heavily biased. Some of the numbers are not accurate and more importantly, much of the support in the arguments are irrelevant because the examples are from pre-2016/2015 when CIG finally got their shit together.
Well, as I would say to anyone, decide yourself after trying it, the game is free right now for the weekend only, they call these weekends (sometimes they do it for a week) Free flight week or weekends. The official site to register is https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist Also, use a referral code to get some bonus UEC (in game currency) when you register. If you need one, here STAR-GN2F-6JLW. I use it and have had my friends use it because it belongs to this high level backer club thing, enlistcitizen, that lets everyone who uses the code, access to their fleet. Like Javelins and other capital ships, and any of the current flyable ships. Before I bought a reclaimer last year, they let me try one out a bunch of times. The insides of this ship feel so much like something out of an Aliens movie that I caved in and bought one.
lol all of you haters. This game started from nothing. It was a few guys with no studio. They have built all of their own tech and design studios. The state of development has never been hidden to the backers of this project. Look at how long Anthem was in development and behind closed doors. If players had the same kind of access to that project, Anthem wouldn't have launched in the hot mess that it was/is. Star Citizen continues to progress well and it is very playable in its current build.
lol all of you haters. This game started from nothing. It was a few guys with no studio. They have built all of their own tech and design studios. The state of development has never been hidden to the backers of this project. Look at how long Anthem was in development and behind closed doors. If players had the same kind of access to that project, Anthem wouldn't have launched in the hot mess that it was/is. Star Citizen continues to progress well and it is very playable in its current build.
Another 300 or 400 million and you guys could have your own football stadium, Literally your own football stadium. Lucas Oil field home of the Colts was built in 2008 for about 700 million. But to be honest if you guys don't want to wait you could easily afford a collegiate stadium NOW for a cool 300 mil... YOUR OWN F*&^%ING FOOTBALL STADIUM !
lol all of you haters. This game started from nothing. It was a few guys with no studio. They have built all of their own tech and design studios. The state of development has never been hidden to the backers of this project. Look at how long Anthem was in development and behind closed doors. If players had the same kind of access to that project, Anthem wouldn't have launched in the hot mess that it was/is. Star Citizen continues to progress well and it is very playable in its current build.
Another 300 or 400 million and you guys could have your own football stadium, Literally your own football stadium. Lucas Oil field home of the Colts was built in 2008 for about 700 million. But to be honest if you guys don't want to wait you could easily afford a collegiate stadium NOW for a cool 300 mil... YOUR OWN F*&^%ING FOOTBALL STADIUM !
sTAR cITZEN fIELD has a nice ring to it
Show me a picture of Neyland Stadium on a game day, and I'll show you 100,000 people who *think* they look good in orange slacks.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Great and long overdue article. If you're willing to take $300 million and counting then expect some accountability. This game is an ongoing fraud, plain and simple. I'd love to be wrong but here we are, 7+ years later and release is no where to be seen.
Nah, I agree with the article that it isn't fraud. I genuinely believe that Roberts WANTS to make this game. Whether he has a good grasp on how to go about it is another matter entirely.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
Great and long overdue article. If you're willing to take $300 million and counting then expect some accountability. This game is an ongoing fraud, plain and simple. I'd love to be wrong but here we are, 7+ years later and release is no where to be seen.
Nah, I agree with the article that it isn't fraud. I genuinely believe that Roberts WANTS to make this game. Whether he has a good grasp on how to go about it is another matter entirely.
I don’t think he ever had a good grasp on how to go about it when he was the one in charge. Roberts needs someone to slap him and tell him to focus
I am not saying Chris Roberts is perfect, since there is definitely some level of mismanagement going on there and quite a bit of money has been unnecessary wasted.
But that is due to feature creep and the immense scope of the game... or rather two games. Squadron42, where Top level actors were hired in for Voice and Cameo work, which doesn't come cheap. You can bet half the budget went into that alone!
Then we have Star Citizen which has a huge scope now on itself together with the persistent universe.
Are you trying to say that you think they spent 150 million on Voice and Cameo work?
LOL
Have you actually seen the dev videos from Squadron42 and which actors they hired and the way they filmed everything and equipment used? Basically in similar way as the filming techniques used for the movie Avatar.
That definitely doesn't come cheap I can tell you that! You can bet that some of those high profile actors won't leave their house for pocket change.
I know the actors. How much do you think they get paid for a week's work? Filming was at Andy Serkis studio. They didn't even all see each other.
So again... no chance they spent 150 million on Voice and Cameo work. And believe me (look back at my posts), I love the idea of Squadron 42, love the actors, loved Oldman's Speech... but those actors got a tiny sliver of that 150 million.
CIG spent a lot of money dithering around those first couple of years, and much of it was for Roberts to be a pretend director. IIRC, they had more than a month's long lockout at part of Serkis's motion capture studio. One of the best (and most expensive) in the world. It gave Roberts a chance to hobnob with Hollywood stars. Even as CIG kept spinning up stretch goals with no plan or idea of how they'd accomplish them.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Great and long overdue article. If you're willing to take $300 million and counting then expect some accountability. This game is an ongoing fraud, plain and simple. I'd love to be wrong but here we are, 7+ years later and release is no where to be seen.
Nah, I agree with the article that it isn't fraud. I genuinely believe that Roberts WANTS to make this game. Whether he has a good grasp on how to go about it is another matter entirely.
Just Gross Negligence and Nepotism, without knowing anything more.
They are probably clear on the Nepotism, since I think that only applies to the Guvmint? Gross Negligence...somebody would just need to prove that you can build a barely playable demo, and hundreds of spaceship models and pictures for a lot less than $300 million.
If you can prove that you could do what they have for say, $20 million, I would think some brilliant prosecutor can parlay that into fraud.
Anybody who has played the game can give a quick'n'dirty about what's comparable to what they have atm? Like say, it's 30% Metroid Prime, Gamecube.
Incompetence in running a business may be a reason for investors to shy away, but it's not criminal. For that matter, even drawing a salary to get paid as you create your game isn't criminal.
Incompetence in running a business may be a reason for investors to shy away, but it's not criminal. For that matter, even drawing a salary to get paid as you create your game isn't criminal.
I am only questioning the amount spent on salaries each year, from what we see (and SC releases loads of videos) are people getting value for $30 million a year?
No... just click-bait with 4 old "drama" compiled in a 4 pages articles, including misleading information about house bought with pledges (he did not said it... just leave q question mark like a good low level "journalist would do), mention of FTC complains (129 vs 1.1M individual Backers, forgot to said a US judge DENIED an early backer to get any any refunds (because TOS) apply not missing some trash about Sandi.
Shame on Forbes to let such unethical blogger leave article in their partner program. Forbes you got my eternal Adblock congrats
I believe at some point this cluster fuck of a project will force legislation on crowd funding and hurt future projects. I will be swole AF if my precious future tabletop kickstarters start costing more money
I agree... Forced all project to deliver as much as CIG is doing with a Beta (SQ 42) in 5 quarters all starting from scratch.
Incompetence in running a business may be a reason for investors to shy away, but it's not criminal. For that matter, even drawing a salary to get paid as you create your game isn't criminal.
If this wasn't Star Citizen and the cult of CR at work here, this site would be having a cow. I love the defenders that attack the article, the site, the everything. If any other game company was making a game with $225-300 million in funding, this many years in development and produced what little they produced, people would freak the hell out.
Star Citizen has that much in funding and still says $400 ships and really has very little to show for it.
Bethesda adds repair kits to the store in FO 76 and many on this site become Chicken Little prognosticating about the end times.
I simply don't get it.
Where do you think all that money is going? Lobbying in defense of this steam locomotive train wreck, it's just my guess though.
At least we know all this wasn't Derek Smart's fault. lol
Derek Smart is the only person I know of that could have actually done a worse job than Chris. At least Chris has worked on successful projects in the past, Derek is just a waste of space in all matters concerning games.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
No... just click-bait with 4 old "drama" compiled in a 4 pages articles, including misleading information about house bought with pledges (he did not said it... just leave q question mark like a good low level "journalist would do), mention of FTC complains (129 vs 1.1M individual Backers, forgot to said a US judge DENIED an early backer to get any any refunds (because TOS) apply not missing some trash about Sandi.
Shame on Forbes to let such unethical blogger leave article in their partner program. Forbes you got my eternal Adblock congrats
Oh no! What will Forbes do without your ad revenue...oh wait that’s right! They will print the article in their magazine and make up more than enough money to ignore you
Comments
He may well have lied previously which does not live up to my standards, but that is not to say I have never ever lied before. Have you?
So lets see the game and make are decision then, I can see how you think a possible lie factors here but even if I was the Crowd Funding sort I would give him the benefit of the doubt. You and I are not public figures, if you dig hard enough you can usually find one negative story on anyone who is over 40.
And the fact you disagree is not an issue, if we all thought exactly the same way as they seem to want you to do on social media what a terribly boring place the world would be.
The issue is that we only know Erin's salary through their UK operations because it's mandatory to publish that under UK laws, but we have no knowledge how much money they are paying themselves through their US operations. It could be millions a year and we wouldn't know.
That definitely doesn't come cheap I can tell you that! You can bet that some of those high profile actors won't leave their house for pocket change.
Have a look here at the list of actors they hired:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5194726/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
First of all, Star Citizen is a working "Alpha" of which - as Roberts himself points out correctly - Cloud Imperium has actually been showing and demonstrating the work product in its ongoing current state in a public and transparent way. (They also publish regular periodic "status reports" of various kinds on YouTube, I believe every week.) Additionally, the fact that the computer gaming software technology *already developed* has pushed the envelope of computer gaming and is the most advanced in existence is constantly being demonstrated. (Of course, there's the element of getting everything to work together coherently and seamlessly, which is another level.)
Second, the fact that it isn't a fraud does not mean that there aren't management issues or that the funding money couldn't be spent more efficiently. Cloud Imperium certainly has burned through money at a horrendous rate. At the same time, we have to bear in mind that Roberts' very intention is to produce not just the best sci-fi computer game in existence but the most advanced computer game ever made. And he's doing it.
So just look this up if you don't believe me: It's public knowledge that Blizzard spent around $200 million on World of Warcraft in its first four years *after* they launched the game (2004-2008). It's also known that Star Wars The Old Republic also spent around $200 on development. (I still remember when a Stargate MMO that I was really looking forward to, and all the millions of dollars already spent on that project vanished into a black hole when the project evaporated.) The software technology and scale of Star Citizen goes beyond both WoW and SWTOR. So are there issues? Sure there are, as there would be with anything on this scale.
There's nothing wrong with good criticism and pointing out legitimate problems. But, hey, it's also good to keep the rhetoric in perspective and not turn it into some weird gossipmongering session.
So again... no chance they spent 150 million on Voice and Cameo work. And believe me (look back at my posts), I love the idea of Squadron 42, love the actors, loved Oldman's Speech... but those actors got a tiny sliver of that 150 million.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Gut Out!
What, me worry?
Always good to see we are more rational than Reddit.
I believe the development has to be reined in on this game as it is the only way it will ever come out. 300 million is almost as much money to make Avengers: Endgame (purported to cost ~350 million). That is kind of ridiculous.
I believe the reason CR had to go crowdfunding is because no other financial institution believed he could make this product and release it. CR has a record of flops, no game released, and one impressive game. ONE GAME out of all the flops, etc. says something about the fact he cannot manage anything. I mean, the ship sales, says it all.
If this game does come out it will only be played by players who put so much money into the game, they can't afford not to play it.
How can people who have invested money in this project, with how far behind it is and the technological setbacks, be okay with the millions of dollars and the inordinate amount of time/focus spent by Roberts on utterly frivolous things?
Things like studio space and crew for motion capture performance with 'name' actors are decidedly not cheap and will do very little to make SC this huge, sprawling, persistent universe. And what's worse, it's all being directed by someone with Roberts proven lack of ability. It's like a car manufacturer spending millions of dollars and hundreds of man-hours on a cup holder on a long overdue project.
A SC apologist above decried SWtOR for its "$300 million budget" (it was actually $200 million) when the reason for that high cost was making it fully voiced. They should be very upset with how CIG is spending their money.
While technically a game is being made and thus, no fraud is being committed, an argument can be made that the game itself is little more than a pretext to allow Chris Roberts to play director. That argument isn't without precedent (see the Freelancer-Wing Commander movie debacle).
The guy is a lying sack of shit who has been exposed over and over again but like all great con men his disciples still believe in him.
As for whether its a scam or not depends on semantics I suppose. If they end up raising 500 million and they release something someone could have made for 100 million is it a scam? What if they find out through forensic accounting that all these salaries they claim to have given all added up to far less than what they claim or anyone thought?
EVERY penny should be accounted for with this thing. I suspect its not even close even with their creative accounting. I am sure that Roberts his family and his cronies have all benefited personally and directly from this charade. Beyond that they have also been able to live like rockstars on a 'company expense report' and flown all over the world the past 6 or 7 years, leasing private jets expensive cars and mansions living like royalty. THAT is something the Forbes article should have focused on. Just how much the guys lifestyle changed once the crowdfunding money started rolling in. From the anecdotes I have heard the guy didnt have a pot to piss in 10 years ago now he is living like the Kardashians.
I agree, there needs to be more transparency in accounting.
But I do see they've made some tech that other games don't have and could never do on the engines they use. UDK doesn't have any kind of ability to do seamless streaming of assets and with server meshing across an on-demand scaling server system. Hell many engines aren't even set up for 64-bit floating point precision. So to be fair, yes they are far from perfect, but at the same time, they have been making shit happen.
I mean, look at that article like you knew nothing about video games nor Forbes typical writing style for non-fortune 500 topics, the article is very heavily biased. Some of the numbers are not accurate and more importantly, much of the support in the arguments are irrelevant because the examples are from pre-2016/2015 when CIG finally got their shit together.
Well, as I would say to anyone, decide yourself after trying it, the game is free right now for the weekend only, they call these weekends (sometimes they do it for a week) Free flight week or weekends. The official site to register is https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist
Also, use a referral code to get some bonus UEC (in game currency) when you register. If you need one, here STAR-GN2F-6JLW. I use it and have had my friends use it because it belongs to this high level backer club thing, enlistcitizen, that lets everyone who uses the code, access to their fleet. Like Javelins and other capital ships, and any of the current flyable ships. Before I bought a reclaimer last year, they let me try one out a bunch of times. The insides of this ship feel so much like something out of an Aliens movie that I caved in and bought one.
sTAR cITZEN fIELD has a nice ring to it
Aloha Mr Hand !
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
No... just click-bait with 4 old "drama" compiled in a 4 pages articles, including misleading information about house bought with pledges (he did not said it... just leave q question mark like a good low level "journalist would do), mention of FTC complains (129 vs 1.1M individual Backers, forgot to said a US judge DENIED an early backer to get any any refunds (because TOS) apply not missing some trash about Sandi.
Shame on Forbes to let such unethical blogger leave article in their partner program. Forbes you got my eternal Adblock congrats
I agree... Forced all project to deliver as much as CIG is doing with a Beta (SQ 42) in 5 quarters all starting from scratch.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.