As Bethesda's Starfield hogs the spotlight, Star Citizen has quietly amassed another $100 million in crowdfunding. But, even with the massive funding, there remains no full release in sight.
Cloud Imperium Games has been working on Star Citizen for the better part of the last decade. The space exploration sandbox MMO has reportedly received over $600 million in funding according to the game's website since it debuted in 2012. Star Citizen currently has over 4.7 million backers.
According to CCU Game, Star Citizen has received $59 million in crowdfunding this year. May was the biggest month for Cloud Imperium as the game had $19.1 million in funding. Based on the official website, Star Citizen receives anywhere from $50,000 to a high of $186,000 per day this month.
2022 was the game's biggest year in terms of funding overall with $110 million. The current year is the fourth-highest for player-backing with 2021 ($86 million) and 2020 ($78 million). Over the last year, the game has received $100 million from backers.
Star Citizen is widening its lead on being the most expensive game in development. The second most expensive game to develop was CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 at $357 million. The Last of Us Part 2 pales in comparison to Star Citizen with a budget of just $249 million.
However, Grand Theft Auto 6 may dethrone Star Citizen as the most expensive game in development. The latest installment of the GTA series reportedly has a budget of $2 billion. GTA 6 is expected to be released between April 2024 and March 2025.
Cloud Imperium Games charges around $45 for early access to Star Citizen. Players will need to get one of the starter packs to be able to play the game. Additionally, players can buy ships ranging from $45 to $1,100. Backers also have the option of donating additional funds to the developer.
Star Citizen has a poor reputation outside of the game's loyal player base. Many gamers assume that the game will never get out of the early access stage. However, with the funding that the game currently receives, it may be in the studio's best interest to continue the development phase.
Star Citizen's single-player companion, Squadron 42 is still in development. Both the base game and the single-player campaign still don't have an official release date and may still be years away from launch.
Star Citizen is available for early access on PC.
That is insanely impressive! I am keeping an eye on this game.
While is is not a game I will likely play, I have supported the company just because I want to see it get finished.
This is the biggest downside to not using a development company. It can take a very very long time to complete a game and sometimes you have to fully rely on the crowdfunding to keep the project going.
Feels like we are still like 3+ years away at this point.