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https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/8hbf64/comment/dyjnan6/?st=JGV521Z8&sh=fd0f1dae
You’re wrong on several points.
The total count of actual paying customers is approximately half of the backer count. So your two million count is more like one. Sorry if the marketing from CIG mislead you into thinking the customer base was twice as large as it is but the market for hard realism Space Sims built for high RAM, new processor, SSD including PC rigs isn’t going to ever be two million people.
If CIG wants 2 to 5 million plus PC customers, they better dial back the realism and fidelity and crank up the fun because that’s the only way to break through to a bigger audience. The massive success of an MMO juggernaut like WoW was built on the back of Joe and Jill Gamer having a blast playing on their potato rigs. That means goodbye ultracomplex keybindings, goodbye 20 minute landing times, goodbye super high poly assets. But that’s not going to happen, we know it’s not going to happen, so either resign yourself to a market size that’s not going to grow to 2 million customers or start arguing the case for the compromises that will make it possible and get ready for a non-stop assault from the majority of the backer base that backed the game because they wanted a premium space sim experience built for power rigs and elite players.
Next point.
Funding isn’t the primary issue, it’s CIG’s fixed costs, and everyone paying attention is quite aware that CIG’s fixed overhead costs with 400+ employees in five studios worldwide are much higher than they were 2-3 years ago when funding levels were quite high yet fixed costs were considerably lower. If fixed expenses exceed income, cash reserves deplete. CIG is behaving in such a manner as to suggest depleting cash reserves.
They are sending unambiguous signals about the urgency of real cash money income that are openly admitted by their employees, obvious from their marketing, and discussed by the community even as recently as the most recent Space Bro Show, featuring CIG/Intel-sponsored streamer and all around nice guy Mitauchi and friends openly discussing market saturation problems, the open and obvious efforts on CIG marketing’s part to get more cash in the door to fund the completion of two releasable games.
Matt Sherman, in chat on Redacted a couple weeks back, spoke of their real need to sustain revenues in the face of increased costs. Zylow’s comment is of the same spirit and even if employees weren’t stating it directly, even if streamers weren’t openly acknowledging it, we see the signs of an accelerated squeeze everywhere.
Contrast the amiable goofy strolls through weekly community news that came from Around the Verse in 2015-2016 with what we have today. Ship Shape, formerly hosted by Lisa Ohanian, was a few minutes spent in simple updates on upcoming releases. Ship Shape today is a half hour program starting up to a half dozen employees from the UK to LA, with Lando shucking and jiving while a ginormous ship production pipeline is key in behind him.
The end of older ATVs were silly jokes, deleted bloopers and other casual business yet today, it’s usually Sandi and her co-host once again making a call to action to take advantage of some sale that’s soon to end.
CIG is so eager to incentivize cash purchases over melt that they’re throwing in free tonks for those spending actually money and pushing price points around in confusing manners.
This year saw the introduction of Premium seating at CitizenCon which itself sent pretty clear messages. They knew some subset would pay more simply for whatever package offered the “best” experience. So here too we see marketing is stratifying the community, creating different classes, in pursuit of a little more cash. “Old money vs. New money”, “Premium tickets vs. Standard”, it’s all reinforcing the same signal.
Melting CCUs are how entitled min/maxxers build their virtual fleets with absolutely no regard to supporting the game
Is this a joke? CIG was given $185 million by customers. There is no company in gaming history who has ever been shown more generosity and trust from their community in the absence of a finished game. Are they entitled to the games they were promised? How much more do they have to give to deserve those games and prove their support? Does Chris need half a billion to make this game? Is that really what it’s going to take? How much money has to be given to merit the respect Chris Roberts promised them in his famous Pledge letter from 2012? Obviously, so far as you’re concerned, we haven’t made it there yet, even though at the time it was written CIG had been given 1/30th the amount they’ve been given through now.
The bad news for you, even though you haven’t figured it out yet, is that the best way for CIG to finish building the road to completion will be in treating those “entitled” backers who got them this far like they actually are entitled to something — respect. If, as you model, the goal from here forward is just to gripe at them for not spending even more and write them off, well, guess what is going to happen to a lot of them? They’re going to get motivated to trash talk the game and dissuade new people from buying in.
It’s already harder to find new people to buy in because the games are 4 years late and still in technical pre-Alpha despite the record breaking funds raised. From one
Skeptic to a Zealot, it will be harder still if former Believers and Evangelists turn into Heretics and Haters.
