Latest Star Citizen Insider Leaks

[dsmart]

Latest from TheAgent

hello

• huge sigh of relief that star marine got up and running
• internal build shown disabled cover and many features in order to ensure less crashes
• still months away from being on live servers
• Roberts thought 2 full alien races had already been created and ready for 2.6
• minor round of leavers last Friday
• "We're in the red, every month, consistently."
• expenses, including royalties, "exceed €4m" a month
• "[CIG] is a laughing stock. [Other developers] I run into always buy me a drink because they feel sorry for me. It's a small plus next to this huge negative."
• "Fuck working through Thanksgiving."

[Rogerio]

And this matches with their current agressive marketing and sales ploy.

Being in the red every month means they are now using the funds that were "saved" for the months ahead, but sooner or later that too will run out.

I wonder if the first signs we will see, will be disgruntled employees receiving their wages late, if at all...

[dsmart]

This is not new actually. It's been this way for sometime now. Which is why they started the aggressive sales plan to inject new money into the project. As I mentioned a few months back, they're going to have to downsize in the coming months. There is no way around it. He has blown through all the money.

[Rogerio]

I knew they were in trouble, but didnt know that negative balance was so long ago. I guess the piggy bank is getting more empty every month.

Also, I am still amazed at how some people part with their money so easily based on a dream, its like a snake oil salesman... except in SC you dont have the snake oil bottle that you can touch and see!

[dsmart]

You've been around on my blog comments/forum for sometime now, so if you recall, for 18 months now, we've all being saying the same thing - that the project was fucked, and that for some reason, the whales are just desperate. They're going to lose their money. Then the real fun begins.

[Rogerio]

Yup, and this time it will be REALLY ugly.

I have seen some "minor" kickstarter projects flop, and the rage and suit threaths were insane!

I can only imagine when it happens to SC, its gonna be a megaton nuke dropping in the gaming industry, and I dont know if the whole crowdfunding will ever recover. The repercussions will extend far further than only the gaming industry too.

But in all honesty, I would have loved to see a game done with ALL they "promised" as I love sci-fi games, but this project is indeed fubar and I will be here with my popcorns reading all the blogs you gonna write about it (and book hopefully).

As for The Agent, I hope he stealths very well and/or doesnt get the sack so we can keep hearing about the project woes. But I am sure as time goes, more "agents" will come out the woodwork and let us know of a few things.

[dsmart]

What's going to happen is that a lot of people are going to be pissed - more than they are now. But there are going to be the usual suspects who will find a way to explain it all away, make excuses etc. Thing is, those people are anon nobodies - with the exception of some known backers (The Wuldge, Miku etc), the pro streamers etc The "at least they tried" bullshit is going to be center stage for some of them as well; and that's going to be truly hilarious.

And there are those who are going to be blame me; because somehow a single person is capable for destroying an entire multi-million dollar project. From the outside.  :smuggo:

[somedude]

I have no doubt there will be lawsuits and deathtreaths. And after all the deception and lying to backers i will personally grab popcorn and laugh when it all burns down.

Especially the things that will come out about Sandi, i'll enjoy. (i can't stand that woman)

[Stan]

Yup, and this time it will be REALLY ugly.

I have seen some "minor" kickstarter projects flop, and the rage and suit threaths were insane!

I can only imagine when it happens to SC, its gonna be a megaton nuke dropping in the gaming industry, and I dont know if the whole crowdfunding will ever recover. The repercussions will extend far further than only the gaming industry too.

I am sure you are right, but a huge % of backers will walk away and keep quiet about their loss, not wanting to appear to have been so stupid.


In respect of the $4m a month spend.    How about a web page with a ticker on it showing the difference between the CIG backer total and this $4mil actual spend.     That might focus some minds and provide some additional amusement.

[dsmart]

I am sure you are right, but a huge % of backers will walk away and keep quiet about their loss, not wanting to appear to have been so stupid.

That's exactly right. A whole heap of them will keep quiet. Others who were insulting everyone, will try to hand wave it all away. It's going to be glorious.

In respect of the $4m a month spend.    How about a web page with a ticker on it showing the difference between the CIG backer total and this $4mil actual spend.     That might focus some minds and provide some additional amusement.

Will never happen because the only people who have that accurate data, are CIG. Heck, even the funding chart is suspect; not to mention the citizen count which, even though it is widely known that most have multiple accounts, is still a number that they keep bringing up as some sort of glory.

[ConfusedMonkeh]

The number of registered forum accounts for an indy development company with a game in an early alpha state is nothing short of amazing. How many accounts are there registered to EVE online? A game that's been released for over a decade where the devs actively encourage multiple accounts. Dismissing the interest shown in Star Citizen as nothing to crow about is childish and silly. The interest is amazing. Please find me another indy game with a tenth of the interest whilst in early alpha.

The funding chart may not be 100% accurate for a few reasons. Refunds not counted for example but neither does it show the tax breaks of working in the UK or the income from sponsorship deals with AMD and, more recently, nvidia or any other income form any other source. Citizens pledging for spaceships isn't their only income stream.

[dsmart]

The number of registered forum accounts for an indy development company with a game in an early alpha state is nothing short of amazing. How many accounts are there registered to EVE online? A game that's been released for over a decade where the devs actively encourage multiple accounts. Dismissing the interest shown in Star Citizen as nothing to crow about is childish and silly. The interest is amazing. Please find me another indy game with a tenth of the interest whilst in early alpha.

The funding chart may not be 100% accurate for a few reasons. Refunds not counted for example but neither does it show the tax breaks of working in the UK or the income from sponsorship deals with AMD and, more recently, nvidia or any other income form any other source. Citizens pledging for spaceships isn't their only income stream.

A company with 400+ employees/contractors with 4 studios worldwide is not "indie". Get a grip.

We know the chart isn't accurate. What was your point exactly?

And where did you get info that they got funding from AMD and "more recently" nVidia. I'm dying to know.

[Stan]

The number of registered forum accounts for an indy development company with a game in an early alpha state is nothing short of amazing. How many accounts are there registered to EVE online? A game that's been released for over a decade where the devs actively encourage multiple accounts. Dismissing the interest shown in Star Citizen as nothing to crow about is childish and silly. The interest is amazing. Please find me another indy game with a tenth of the interest whilst in early alpha.

The funding chart may not be 100% accurate for a few reasons. Refunds not counted for example but neither does it show the tax breaks of working in the UK or the income from sponsorship deals with AMD and, more recently, nvidia or any other income form any other source. Citizens pledging for spaceships isn't their only income stream.

And yet ... they need more $$$ and more $$$ and more $$$$ and lots and lots and lots more time.....

Oh and where is the SQ42 progress vid now that this years major funding events" have happened ?

[Kyrt]

And yet ... they need more $$$ and more $$$ and more $$$$ and lots and lots and lots more time.....

Oh and where is the SQ42 progress vid now that this years major funding events" have happened ?

More money is always useful.

But...

The funding model they have is not one which encorages a swift release date
The funding model they have is not one that encourages publication of the game at all
There must have been a lot of money spent already and CIG have very little to show for it
The monetisation of the released game seems dubious as most people who have an interest in SC already have the game, already have a lot of extras you'd expect to get from microtransactions, there will be no sub fee and the pay cash for UEE seems very much like a PTW scenario, depending on how much it costs to get ships up and running.

Do we really need people pooling their 15k a week to get a Javelin up and running and then rampaging around killing newbies?

Roberts talk about a MVP also makes be wonder if CIG will be releasing paid DLC.

Of course, I also wonder if Roberts has any idea how expensive running a bunch of game servers and their associated architecture is.

There is plenty of interest in the game. But interest NOW doesn't translate onto interest in three years time.

And hopefully Elite and NMS will continue to be developed and improved and there will be other games in the genre being released as well. IW already appears to be upstaging SQ42 not to mention MEA.

Lots of choice for anyone interested in the genre.

Maybe CIG realises that so they're getting their profit now?

[Stan]

I think I could get a sub out of the SC fans.