Star Citizen Most Successful Crowdfunded Game Ever, Chris Roberts Shares His Secrets

Star Citizen is a space exploration game that is notable for having a huge Kickstarter campaign. It’s quite possibly the biggest Kickstarter game ever, and part of the reason for that is the rewards structure in the game. Roberts says that this has helped grow the Kickstarter for the game. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Star Citizen is that it got the majority of it’s through its crowdfunding platform. The game has currently raised 52 million dollars, but only six or seven of that was on Kickstarter itself.

[Jdoki]

I'm hoping this doesn't turn in to some giant Chris Roberts vanity project, and they start producing more tangible stuff - and commit to a deadline.

The Hangar and the test game play I have tried have been graphically spectacular but not blown my socks off.

It'll be interesting to see what Roberts delivers versus Frontier - which is working on a much smaller budget, but seems more focused and making better progress on Elite: Dangerous.

[Saryk]

I agree. I put in $65 for giggles because of the Wing Commander days , which were fun. I hope it turns into something like that , but not holding my breath!

[Jdoki]

Yeah I backed Star Citizen on the strength and nostalgia of Wing Commander (although I preferred Privateer 2), and also backed Elite: Dangerous as playing Elite on BBC Micro and Spectrum were some of my best early memories of gaming.

I think we'll be lucky to see Star Citizen launch in the next 2 years.

[Flavor]

Venture capitalists, publishers, and entrepreneurs did not give chris roberts any money for twenty years FOR A REASON.

Crowdfunding ... and we all know how smart crowds can be...

[Jdoki]

That's unfair.

Publishers had become scared to back games that market research says won't make a boat load of money.

The market for space based flight games / sims dried up. Publishers didn't want to take the risk. And I can kinda understand that. What Publisher would give a dev 10million (let alone 50+million) to build a space based flight game - especially in the last 5-7 years where FPS and TPS games have been the money makers and the PC gaming market has been (supposedly) shrinking.

What option do devs like Frontier, and Chris Roberts have other than go crowd funding.

There's no indication that Roberts is not a skilled dev, and his track record is exceptional (the Wing Commander games were truly ground breaking).

The concern is that 50+ million is almost too much for the type of game most people want to see, and sooner rather than later there's needs to be a switch from 'give us more money', to 'now we're delivering'.

The other concern is that there's No Man's Sky on the horizon, which is getting insane hype, has been made for a fraction of the cost, and could steal thunder from Star Citizen - but on the other hand, the hype it's getting shows that now appears to be the right time for space based combat / flight games to make a resurgence.

[user5669510]

you do know the makers of wasteland 2 said they been looking for publishers for the longest and had to crowdfund. and how that game turned out? we could go on, keep sucking of these corps that dont try anything new until an indie dev take the risk.

[3-4-5]

There is no way this game initially lives up to the hype.

Maybe over time.

still looks good though.

[NewAgeisHere]

Well the success or failure of this game could decide the fate of Kickstarter as well, let's hope they get it right.

[Panthers]

Looks good, but I am so against kickstarter. Just too big of a risk I guess. There is one game I have helped because it is my only shot at getting another decent SOCOM game, and that is H-Hour.

[Roccetarius]

After observing Star Citizen for some time, i'm still not feeling it. The game is most likely not living up to expectations, and it's going to be decapitated once it actually releases.

[Jdoki]

The game definitely lacks a bit of 'soul' at the moment. I didn't feel any personality from it.

Everything, from the graphics, game play, website, and newsletters feels a bit sterile, and there's too much that is still geared toward getting more donations rather than developing something special.

[SteamPowered]

Recommended Specs - i7-2700k 4 core and gtx 780, but I still havent seen much for VRAM needs. Any word?