Whether Star Citizen ever truly releases or not, it’s a game whose legacy will be cemented by just how much cash was invested inside of it. Going door to virtual door many years ago with hat in hand, Star Citizen would make most of its bank off of digital real estate, selling fans on the idea of a grand odyssey across the stars inside of a spaceship that they’d just thrown some very real money down for.
Is Star Citizen an impressive piece of technology, that could serve as a benchmark for what PC games are capable of? Yes, yes it is! I may not be a believer in the project at all, but there’s no denying that in its current state it is one heck of a pretty sales pitch.
Is Star Citizen anywhere close to being fully realised? Who knows? The Squadron 42 single-player campaign still claims that it’ll enter beta by the third quarter of the year, while the touted public roadmap of upcoming features has instead been replaced with a guideline of upcoming content based on developer Cloud Imperium Games’ “internal sprint-tracking process to visualise our progress” which may just be in the running for most bullcrap PR speak of the century. Alpha 3.9 of Star Citizen is also meant to introduce weather locomotion, tweaks, a player status system and PvP bounties.
Between what’s real, what’s caught up in development limbo and fans debating if the project is worth supporting, one thing is clear: Star Citizen is still raking in a ton of investment cash. According to Kotaku Australia, investors have added more to the Star Citizen coffers, throwing another $17.25 million dollars at Chris Roberts and his team. That’s a staggering amount, on top of an initial investment of $46 million from two years ago.
According to the studio, that investment resulted in the deep pockets the Calder Family Office, Snoot Entertainment, and ITG Investment now owning more shares in Cloud Imperium at a discounted rate:
Today, Cloud Imperium announced that existing investors – the Calder Family Office, Snoot Entertainment, and ITG Investment – have exercised a one-time option to purchase further shares in the company. The share prices reflect a discounted option price for existing shareholders that was pre-negotiated at the time of the initial investment in 2018. There were no changes to the Board composition as a result of this transaction. Chris Roberts continues to maintain full control of the Board and Group.
Overall? That means that with proper companies and fans throwing money at Star Citizen, the crowdfunded experiment now has over $550 million sunk into it. A number that is simply staggering to fathom.
Last Updated: March 30, 2020
Original Heretic
March 30, 2020 at 13:38
Most expensive game to make, ever.
At least it’s assured of the Guiness record for the foreseeable future.
NBT
April 23, 2020 at 18:53
The numbers they use are extremely wrong . Funding is only at what ? 280 mil not 550 mil …so where the almost other 300 million come from is something no one knows
MechMachine
March 30, 2020 at 12:47
That is a lot of money. Holy shit.
NBT
April 23, 2020 at 18:53
yea would be allot of money if the number would not be wrong
Crescent
June 11, 2020 at 16:05
Where is your source to dispute the information?
Muhammad Ahmed Nana
March 30, 2020 at 14:19
I was not a believer until I played it during a free fly week.
Shoogo
April 23, 2020 at 15:49
The game is developing, new content and topics for discussion appear, but the game journalist continues to write about how much money Star Citizen raised. https://media3.giphy.com/media/l3vRlFhu4YRc7HITC/giphy.gif
NBT
April 24, 2020 at 10:44
and they are even getting the number wrong, by almost 300 million