More hilarity as the SC sub reddit denizens turn on each other:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/7h8r2r/i_hate_it_when_someone_says_its_been_6_years_in/
Some idiot (50 upvotes after 4 hours) is trying to argue that SC has actually been in development for 3.5 years. Even the zealots are finding fault with this one.
The sequence - as I understand it - is essentially
2011 - Development of Star Citizen (original) begins
2012 - October; Kickstarter launches
2013 - September; F42 incorporated
2013 - October 18; $23 million (the figure at which no outside investor is needed) raised
2015 - April, Foundry 42 Frankfurt created
2017 - January, 2.6 released
2017 - December, 3.0 released (presumed)
2011 to 2017, gives 6 years, heading onto 7. All that pre-production work? it counts as part of the game development.
I do note that there seems to be some confusion about when CIG was actually founded.
Some sites give a date of 2010, some of 2012. CIGs own site apparently once said 2011, but that page has been removed. I'd be inclined to go with 2010 myself as there had to be somebody doing the work in 2011 when development started.
In 2010 Chris was shopping the project around to publishers and investors, all of them told him to fuck off. Then by 2011, he was already working with the CryTek guys to build the launch trailer and assets, having decided to use their engine. They saw Chris Roberts name, and the chance to boost the profile of the engine, while making some money in the process.
The most hilarious thing is that all this argument about when it started, is meaningless and doesn't matter. What matters is that in 2012, he claimed that he could build the game for $2M and deliver it by Nov 2014 (+ 18 months leeway for delays, as per the TOS). He then extended the scope and by Nov 2014, had raised $65M.