I see this time and again, and it now false. If you take development costs alone SC is now the joint second most expensive game ever to produce. It still number 6 if you throw other games marketing budgets into account.
That CIG report they have raised $130+ million does not mean they have spent $130+ million.
Further...it is also a bit misleading.
Of the money they have spent....they are supporting four studios. They have wasted what must be millions on third party contractors whose work they effectively threw out. They have hired major stars for voiceovers, employed huge amount of motion capture and so on.
They have also rewritten CryEngine which would have taken time and effort and money. Held conventions. Made video diaries. And so on.
Put simply....compare the situation of CIG with that of another studio. Say GTA5 since a lot of people use that comparison.
GTA5 was developed by Rockstar over 5 years, used three different engines, involved work by over 1000 people at multiple locations around the world and cost $140 million to develop and about as much again to market. This team...averaging about 250 developers a year for 5 years...was experienced and making use of established well developed engines and were engaged in a project of a type they were slready familiar with.
CIG have less money. So far.
Their development team is less experienced and hasn't built this type of game
Their development team is smaller
Their engine was unsuited and far from optimal for this type of game and needed a substantial amount of reworking
They are now working on "two" games...albeit ones with a very high degree of linkage.
Rockstar is believed to have spent $140 million over 5 years.
CIG have estimated to have spent $60-$80 million over 4 years...possibly more given the factors above. Much of they are known to have done....cutscenes, the engine, ships, conventions, hiring actors, motion capture, etc...is not necessarily development that would show a lot of onscreen gaming action. They would need the engine developed first.
So...they are trying to do more with less. That development has been slower than a game such as GTA5 is not surprising.
This...IMO...is a result of what appears to be poor management and communication, with decisions made that...although reasonable at the time...have hindered the products development.
They are a new studio led by someone who has been out of the industry for a decade. Mistakes are to be expected.
Of course, one could also argue that they have spent more on development. That they have spent over $100 million. Rockstar managed that sort of expenditure...no reason CIG can't have matched them.
My own thinking is simple.
Starting with an experienced team and a working toolset (yes, the engines were improved) it took Rockstar 5 years and $140million to develop GTA5.
CIG started with a botched engine, a small inexperienced team, no working toolkit and want a game grander in scope and scale.
I think they have wasted time and money. I think they should have gone with a custom engine once their vision and funding expanded. But having to develop the toolkit needed to develop the game would obviously slow them down. (Whether they needed to do so is another question)
So...if we assume the toolkit is now effectively finished (barring issues such as the netcode) then where CIG are NOW is probably equivalent to where Rockstar were in Year 2 of GTA5s development.
Either way....so long as CIG can continue to raise funds, it can continue to develop. So long as it can the developers it can work around any technical issue that comes up. As others have said, there is no 'impossible'...it's only whether it is cost/time effective to do. And CIG don't seem to care in that regard.
If the estimates are correct...Rockstar spent about $30 million a year on GTA5. CIG is raising about that much and their team was much smaller the first couple of years, allowing them to create a buffer. Its possible that buffer has gone...also possible they still have $50-70 million left.
Of course, CIG still have marketing to do and servers to set up. Both of which could be expensive. Especially since they need to market two games.
But the point bring made is that we can't judge the degree of progress simply from the amount raised. There are too many variables and IMO....given CIGs lack of experience and the problems discussed so far, including the engine...this is a game that will require at least 8 years to develop. Maybe less if CIG skimp on various systems and assets. And as such isn't likely to have mich visible sign of progress at this date.
The 3.x patches will add and expand the basic in game mechanics
The 4.x patches will presumably polish all this and add content, systems, ships, etc
Add in time for testing and fixing...easily another 3 years work.
