Star Citizen - The E.L.E.

[Motto]

And you know what it'll turn into when CIG collapses:

"If only CIG had had more time, they actually could have made the BDSSE. But all those people - who don't know anything about game development - were too impatient to give Chris a real fighting chance. With 160 million and six years, it's no wonder the game still wasn't finished. Of course that wasn't enough time nor money. If all those impatient people hadn't asked for a refund, Chris probably would have made it. It's their fault, those stinky leavers. And of course, that fucking Derek too. You know, the guy who started it all. Let's hope Chris hasn't given up on his (our!) dream and maybe he'll try again. He still got the rights, doesn't he? I'll back him!"

Oh, I found a quote to remember: "it's got more bugs than Starship Troopers"  :D

[nightfire]

"If only CIG had had more time, they actually could have made the BDSSE. But all those people - who don't know anything about game development - were too impatient to give Chris a real fighting chance. With 160 million and six years, it's no wonder the game still wasn't finished. Of course that wasn't enough time or money. If all those impatient people hadn't asked for a refund, Chris probably would have made it. It's their fault, those stinky leavers. And of course, that fucking Derek too. You know, the guy who started it all. Let's hope Chris hasn't given up on his (our!) dream and maybe he'll try again. He still got the rights, doesn't he? I'll back him!"

You'd better add your copyright before this appears as cultist copypasta on Reddit!

[N0mad]

Just spotted this on Reddit/Sc Refunds

After waiting 7 days for a response, I was told I had to request a refund within 14 days of purchase

Admittedly, it was a refund request for an upgrade. ? does this make a difference.

Can anyone confirm?

[dsmart]

Just spotted this on Reddit/Sc Refunds

After waiting 7 days for a response, I was told I had to request a refund within 14 days of purchase

Admittedly, it was a refund request for an upgrade. ? does this make a difference.

Can anyone confirm?

It doesn't matter if it's partial or full, I had already warned that they were going to start refusing refunds. So now it begins.

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/903705988292894720

BREAKING: CIG is going to stop doing refunds by year end. I personally welcome this plan. Why? Because it will fuel the ensuing outrage

[Ghostmaker]

Just spotted this on Reddit/Sc Refunds

After waiting 7 days for a response, I was told I had to request a refund within 14 days of purchase

Admittedly, it was a refund request for an upgrade. ? does this make a difference.

Can anyone confirm?

It doesn't matter if it's partial or full, I had already warned that they were going to start refusing refunds. So now it begins.

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/903705988292894720

BREAKING: CIG is going to stop doing refunds by year end. I personally welcome this plan. Why? Because it will fuel the ensuing outrage

Can they actually get away with that? You've commented on how even their modified ToS can't prevent claims from being brought against them if they refuse refunds.

[Motto]

If they don't have the cash anymore, they have no choice. Refunding part of the whole the backer base would cause a riot too, so it's just a plain an simple No to everybody. And hoping for a miracle to last yet another month.

If it really gets about just surviving, they will just stop answering refund requests. Just ignore them all. That probably will happen right after Shitizen Con.

[Ghostmaker]

If they don't have the cash anymore, they have no choice. Refunding part of the whole the backer base would cause a riot too, so it's just a plain an simple No to everybody. And hoping for a miracle to last yet another month.

If it really gets about just surviving, they will just stop answering refund requests. Just ignore them all. That probably will happen right after Shitizen Con.

Well yeah, but at that point you've got two things happening:

One, I suspect a lot of people are going to ask 'why aren't you offering refunds?'.
Two, some of those folks are going to explore legal options.

I seem to recall Dr. Smart mentioning that the way CIG had structured their funding, it wouldn't be easy to resist legal actions to recover money (which might lead into a whole host of other issues). I might be misremembering though.

[Motto]

At that point, it all doesn't matter anymore. When the money is gone, it's gone. It'll be over. People will walk out or just stop showing up. Stories will hit the media, backers start to panic, investors too, the SC Reddit will explode, landlords will close the buildings, people who still haven't been paid will try to collect stuff from the buildings and all sorts of things. Especially since they have offices around the globe. It'll be mayhem extra ordinaire.

Oh, and we'll be laughing. Not for all the personal grief this will cause the innocent employees at CIG who will get hurt too. But man, am I going to have a field day just looking at that Reddit exploding. And I'll be adding insult to injury too! Speaking about salt, well, I've got some salt left to distribute. A couple of metric tons. And that's just for starters.

[Backer42]

@Motto When the money is gone, key people will go into hiding, some shell firms will go into insolvency proceedings and/or liquidation, assets move around, while Reddit pretends everything is fine.

There is nothing going to explode, it can still take years.

[Motto]

Nah, it'll explode. This is a huge collapse that will draw the attention of all media around the world. The aftermath will take years and the dust may never settle, but once CIG stops having money to pay refunds or for stuff like salaries, it'll be quick and loud. They may be able to keep that moment away a little bit longer, but not by much. As soon as rumor hits the streets that the money is gone, it'll be game over. Chris will not recover from that. So, as a result, he now has to burn through what he has left at the same speed as before. Dialing it down would suggest there might be a moneyproblem and that rumor just can't make it to the street.

[nightfire]

But man, am I going to have a field day just looking at that Reddit exploding. And I'll be adding insult to injury too! Speaking about salt, well, I've got some salt left to distribute. A couple of metric tons. And that's just for starters.

I believe the hardcore fanatics with the biggest mouths on Reddit are going to be the very first ones to go silent and disappear inconspicously when the RSI website shuts down. But not before talking up the features of the Jesus patch 4.0 once more just in time  to offload their ship inventory to the most gullible newcomers, who will be the ones left holding the bag. 

[N0mad]

The history of these things is that the poor employees find out that they have no job at the same time as the rest of us. If CIG collapse, it will literally be overnight. The media interest will be huge.

I can't wait to see what happens at CitizenCon.

[Aya Reiko]

It'll be fast and slow.

The immediate impact will be a lot of people will be out of jobs and it'll be very, very clear the game is not happening.
The properties (not the IP) will depend on the leases.  The website will go on, 'til the registration expires.  The studios will continue to exist until their leases expire.
The IP, on the other hand, could take years of legal wrangling to sort out.

[Motto]

Studios will stop too. They may have a lease for 5 years, but they won't have paid the rent for 5 years in advance. So as soon as they stop paying rent, the buildings will be emptied out. The moment CIG crashes, everything will be terminated and liquidated and most likely very quick. It won't take long to discover that there is no interest in the gaming industry to aquire (parts of) CIG. And then the whole investigation and blaming period will start. Hopefully ending in the prosecution and conviction of the keyplayers in this scam. Strip them to the bone.

[Justanotherposter]

Hello all, first post.

I've been reading these forums for some time now and following up on the whole debacle that is Star Citizen. Finally felt like I too want to take part in these discussions, so here goes.

Back in 2014 I got involved and purchased a starter package, since I love space games and scifi. I mean, it sounded like a cool game, right? How could I've known then that there would be these "management issues" in the development?

Fast forward to this day and now I'm getting out. Submitted my refund request a little over a week ago. I got the standard "have you seen all the cool stuff we've been working on, and SC and SQ42 are both super ambitious products never seen before, yadda yadda" -> replied that I still want to go ahead with my refund. Then I got an email asking for more details, like: handle id, login id, date of purchase, email address attached, that sort of stuff. I answered them and it has been nothing but silence since that email I sent. Obviously reading these latest things about how they might be starting to refuse refunds (because of a number of reasons, money running out being the most serious one) has gotten me a bit worried. I haven't poured a lot of money into SC, but nevertheless it's still money I can spend elsewhere.