Star Citizen
Officially in open development since 2012, Star Citizen has just passed a new milestone in terms of its funding and the number of registered players.Thanks to a very invested community and many curious people who take advantage of free trials, Star Citizen has just crossed the $ 350 million mark collected from players. These are now more than three million, and raised $ 3 million in January, and 5.8 million in February. No one can say if Star Citizen will set a new record in 2021 by raising more than 77 million in the calendar year. Remember also that the $ 300 million mark was crossed in June 2020.
Often criticized for the way the project is managed, Star Citizen therefore manages to attract new players again and again. However, the title still doesn't have a release window, but recent updates have kept the game moving at a steady pace. For its part, Squadron 42, the single player campaign set in the Star Citizen universe, no longer has an estimated release date, and Cloud Imperium Games does not want to present gameplay until it is very clean.
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Since that statement was released, the Star Citizen team has published roadmaps that offer a bit of a better idea of what is actively being worked on, but even with those updates, we’re still dealing with the same concerns many fans have had since 2012. Namely, many Star Citizen fans, backers, and onlookers are still unsure when Star Citizen will ever be “released,” what a released version of the game even looks like, and whether the title will ever be able to live up to some of the highest expectations in the history of gaming.
Communication regarding Star Citizen’s development has gotten somewhat better over the years (or at least slightly more frequent), but the game’s development process is still often defined by often unexplained or poorly explained delays.
The Saga of Squadron 42Squadron 42 has been described by Chris Roberts as Star Citizen’s story-based single-player campaign and “as fancy as any Wing Commander would be.” It will reportedly feature a massive story as well as voice acting contributions from talent such as Gary Oldman, Mark Hammill, and Gillian Anderson.
As is the case with many aspects of the Star Citizen development process, the biggest Squadron 42 controversy concerns the campaign’s many delays. The earliest suggested release date for the campaign was late 2014, but that obviously didn’t happen. Subsequent updates to the game included the release of a cinematic trailer and the mention of an eventual episodic release structure, but we still don’t know when one of the most ‘structured” elements of the Star Citizen experience will be released.
In a 2020 statement, Roberts noted that he “decided that it is best to not show Squadron 42 gameplay publicly, nor discuss any release date until we are closer to the home stretch.” Delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic inspired other developers to make similar statements regarding the state of their projects, but Squadron 42’s prolonged development cycle has additionally raised questions regarding the current status of the campaign and what even a snapshot of the final version of the project looks like.
Star Citizen’s Toxic Work Environment and Harassment ClaimsNumerous people close to the Star Citizen development process over the years have shared stories regarding what could certainly be described as a toxic work environment.