CIG have had loads of time, money, and even talent, it's good leadership that's lacking. This will all get blamed on Chris Roberts when the dust settles.
I would agree that...based upon what we know...CRs leadership has been less than stellar.
I think he is...or at least was...stuck in the 90s when he made key decisions and having been out of the industries for over ten years he simply underestimated the time and work and resources needed to create SC.
I think he made a huge mistake in choosing CE as the games engine.
I think he chose it because it was the prettiest engine around rather than the engine most suited for the game.
I think CR being CR, he saw the extra funding as a way to bring his vision to life....what began as a crowdfunding exercise to demonstrate to investors and publishers that there was serious interest in a Wing Commander type game changed into visions of the MMO style life simulator he is creating now. Only...he wasn't ready to develop that game, hadn't truly planned for it, and essentially just started making plans on the fly.
And I think that CIG are stuck in a cycle of their own making. They need continued investment from backers to complete that vision.....because the MMO CR wants can easily suck up $2-300 million for development alone, never mind hosting, publishing and marketing costs. I think they are currently in a situation where their income at best matches their spending. I think to keep that income flowing, they are having to spend time and money on ships and items and vehicles so they can be sold to bring in money now, even though they will need to redo those assets later, even though this will extend the development time. And I think this is a large reason why the work on the engine and netcode and flight model...all of which should be locked down preAlpha....is still unfinished.
Development time for ship sales is simply a higher priority because they need the money.
Had CR simply stuck to his guns, released S42 as promised and then just kept developing SC as a separate game, CIG would likely be in a far better spot today.
As it is....I suspect that their future income will vary, will go up and down but generally I think that the trend will be one where their deficit will continue to grow.
3.0 is their last chance I believe to demonstrate real progress for the backers. Even if they do stop issuing refunds, I suspect that won't be enough....I suspect that will simply buy them a few months of development.
CIG need to get their engine finalised. The good news is that that is probably what has been delaying 3.0. The switch to Lumberyard. But whether it is or not, the engine needs to be finalised, the netcode finished and integrated and the flight model improved.
That way they can start working on S42 and get it released...which will open up a new revenue stream. They could also perhaps look at monetising their engine and the toolkit they have supposedly developed. Of course, I'm not certain how the sub licensing situation would work with Crytek and Amazon.
But blame CR? When he has such a handy scapegoat available?
Remember...we're not just concerned at issues such as why SCs engine and netcode isn't finished or why progress is so slow with no valid excuse coming from CIG.
If we can't support SC with all its flaws, then we must HATE. the project (capitals are important) and must be actively working to destroy the game.
