I think they'll keep releasing patches and new versions of the game, but they won't be anywhere near what was promised. Half of the features that they promise for each patch (to generate hype and get more money) won't be in the patches and will instead be pushed back/delayed by years. Eventually CIG won't be able to keep up with the promises-to-backlog ratio and it will all collapse.
It's only a matter of time before the most hardcore backers start to see what's going on. The general gaming community already has enough sense to stay away from this project until the game has been proven to be viable.
When opinion turns against you it turns against you big time.
The mainstream press are sitting back waiting for something to swing the pendulum one way or another and they are already couching their bets so as to not lose face.
if 3.0 is poorly received and lacking any real progress I doubt they will be too kind unless backers are flooding the servers and singing its praises. Which doesn't seem likely to happen. Add another annual sale season into the mix with a poorly received 3.0 and the time could be run down pretty quickly.
There wont be more patches beyond stuff designed to keep the ship from going down as quickly as at otherwise would.
As people have said ... no White Knight is going to be on the horizon for SC with all the presales and engineering debt.
What will be interesting is whether or not CIG delay 3.0 until AFTER the annual big sales (or some version of that with a 3.1-4.0 etc offered as coming very soon to fix the short comings of a earlier than then paired down 3.0 release)
That has worked before and it could work again ....
CIG claim technical/ staff issues that prevented 3.0 being what they wanted and suggest the fixes are imminent. They get another stack of cash in ShitizenCon etc and off we go for another 12 months...albeit with more refunds and complaints.
