dsmart
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None of that will happen. The Star Citizen IP is now toxic. Just like the Shitizen community that sprung up around it.
I only see the following scenarios:
- A complete collapse in which neither Star Citizen, nor SQ42 get released. Game Over. The End.
- They limp along, then release SQ42 in 2017. It tanks. Game over. The End.
There is absolutely no other scenario here.
Oh this just keeps getting better and better. This an RSI/CIG response to someone reporting them to the BBB when his refund was denied.
So apparently Goons have found Chris Roberts car dealership biz. Yet another failed business venture he was running prior to Star Citizen. This explains everything. And that’s the same biz address as his other corporations (1, 2).
Remember how in my latest blog I said that he evolved from a game designer into a salesman?
Aside from that, I had already said that his missive to me and The Escapist about his “opulent” lifestyle prior to Star Citizen, was pure bullshit.
No. If the project folds, they will file for bankruptcy. Then everything gets sold. I don’t envision any circumstance whereby any of this project ends up in the public domain.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"]
Them Shitizens. So funny.[/caption]Shitizens at it again.
So yesterday I got wind of this image (update: removed after being reported) they put up, claiming that they had taken down a Glassdoor review I had written. Fact is, I had nothing to do with it. When someone mentioned it on SA forum, I went and took a look. Then I checked with a source who knew who wrote it. Then I tweeted about it.
The original review: (as posted on Twitter)
In typical fashion, they were bragging it about it on a Reddit (update: thread now removed after being reported).
What got to me is the fact that, aside from harassing, attacking, abusing anyone (gamers and media alike) who expresses any dissent against this project, while accusing them of being Derek Smart alts, they could actually pull off a stunt like this. It sets a terrible precedent. So I decided to do something about it. I wrote a blog (awaiting response to my email before I make it live), and wrote to Glassdoor this email.
We simply cannot allow these anti-social clowns to do stuff like this because they will continue to do it.
“Hello,
The reason for my contacting you is to inform you that you have been misled into removing a review that recently appeared on your website.
Specifically this one:
https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Cloud-Imperium-Games-Reviews-E776546.htm
The company CIG has been embroiled in a social media firestorm these past months, having received over $112M from backers and never delivering the product which was promised to be delivered in Nov 2014.
That has sparked many media articles, social media wars, including several blogs from myself. In fact, this article from gaming publication The Escapist, is one you should read.
Some of the anti-social misfits, posing as Star Citizen fans, have been doing everything they can to harass, attack, abuse, and intimidate dissenters of this project; gamers and media alike.
So it came as no surprise that they reported this employee review and got it removed. Then tried to tie it to me; though I had nothing to do with it, nor did I write. You can see that discussion over here on Reddit (where else?) after they did it; then went and bragged about it.
I am in the middle of a 5K word blog about specifically this Glassdoor issue; but I wanted to reach out and give you folks the opportunity to review/research this carefully and to restore the review as-needed.
All you’ve done is enabled harassment and intimidation of employees and contractors who would now refrain from posting on Glassdoor knowing that if it’s not flattering, they can have it removed. Which is great, because then they’ll just go tell their stories to the media instead.
What you have condoned here, goes against whatever it is your site is trying to do because, rest assured, this Star Citizen project is dead. And with over 500+ people having worked on it these past five years, even if 1% bothered to share their experience on your site, that’s a sizable number of people who would other not even bother because of incidents like this.
That is all.
– Derek Smart“
BACKERS BOUGHT A DOOR.
So a couple of weeks ago, an image of a custom built door showed up on social media. Naturally, with backers and the general public commenting on the project’s wasteful spending (e.g. all the expensive Restoration Hardware furniture at the same new LA office), this too turned into another hot button subject. Doorgate!
Responding to backer queries, CIG denied that it was expensive. In fact, in an RtV stream, they claimed that it was a standard wooden door on a door opener.
Then a backer emailed CIG customer service seeking answers as well. He too got a similar response.
As these things tend to go, a bunch of Goons went digging. The results are, well, interesting.
As it turns out, not only is the framework by Stanley Access, but also that particular size, dimensions, is about $17K. Even if the whole contraption does in fact include wood or hollow dry wall, including professional installation (as seen in the images), that entire vanity contraption is estimated to have cost backers around $20K.
For a freaking themed door! See it in action!
This is to a company that’s thus far been given $112M to build a game – which is over two years late, and is now on the record as being delivered (LOL!! that will never happen) without all features promised.
When this shit-show collapses in the coming months, these are the sort of things that backers are going to look back on and ask themselves how on Earth they allowed this sort of thing to happen.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"]
Backers now own a themed door[/caption]
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDj1Us0M9P_/
Yeah, the thing with MWO is that, even with all the crap that got thrown their way, they managed to deliver a game that people wanted and are playing.
Star Citizen is never – ever – going to get that far. Like ever.
WHY I BELIEVE THIS TO BE THE FINAL NAIL IN THE STAR CITIZEN COFFIN.
None of the arguments people are making are relevant. And White Knights, Shitizens, and Shillizens are doing what they always do: obfuscate, attack, confuse, distort.
These are what’s relevant; all the points from my latest blog.
1) The game he originally pitched simply cannot be built once he increased the scope. Period. All the features already cut out, are evidence of this.
2) The CryEngine which he chose to build the game with, is simply not capable of building it. And yes, even though they now have a custom version of it, that’s more about re-inventing the wheel, than it is about making sure the wheel is still round. The latter being the basis of using a core engine from which a custom engine is derived.
3) Following my first July 2015 blog in which I made the statements I said as:
“Without disrespect to anyone, I’m just going to say it: it is my opinion that, this game, as has been pitched, will never get made. Ever.
There isn’t a single publisher or developer on this planet who could build this game as pitched, let alone for anything less than $150 million.
The original vision which I backed in 2012? Yes, that was totally doable. This new vision? Not a chance.
The technical scope of this game surpasses GTAV, not to mention the likes of Halo.
Do you have any idea what those games cost to make and how long they took?
Do you know how many games which cost $50 million to make took almost five years to release? And they were nowhere in scope as Star Citizen?“
He wrote an entire missive and said this:
“You all know that already; you’ve lived that. You’ve seen Star Citizen evolve and start to come together. You’ve watched our atoms form molecules, our modules form a real, playable game (that you can boot up and play today!). There are people out there who are going to tell you that this is all a BAD THING. That it’s ‘feature creep’ and we should make a smaller, less impressive game for the sake of having it out more quickly or in order to meet artificial deadlines. Now I’ll answer those claims in one word: Bullshit!
Star Citizen matters BECAUSE it is big, because it is a bold dream. It is something everyone else is scared to try. You didn’t back Star Citizen because you want what you’ve seen before. You’re here and reading this because we are willing to go big, to do the things that terrify publishers. You’ve trusted us with your money so we can build a game, not line our pockets. And we sure as hell didn’t run this campaign so we could put that money in the bank, guarantee ourselves a profit and turn out some flimsy replica of a game I’ve made before. You went all in supporting us and we’ve gone all in making the game. Is Star Citizen today a bigger goal than I imagined in 2012? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not: it’s the whole damn point.“
As with all his previous statements and promises, you can flush this one down the toilet too. Chris evolved to be more of a salesman, than a game developer/designer. And a patently dishonest one.
How coincidental is it that – again – shortly after my latest blog dropped, and which I said this:
“And as I have stated before, Chris being a dreamer, I don’t believe that he set out to scam gamers. However, the only right thing that he can do now is to come clean, explain to the backers what he can and cannot do, what went wrong and how, provide the financials to the backers who are entitled to it, and stop taking money for a project he knows all too well that he simply cannot deliver as originally promised.”
He does this latest 104TC in which he reveals that the short-term goal is to deliver a MVP.
“So, really what we’re doing with Star Citizen is we’re working on the game, adding features for an incredibly ambitious design – I don’t think there is any other game that is trying to do as much as we’re trying to do. So, degree of difficulty 11, not 10. And, we’ll have what we determine is a minimum viable product feature list for what you would call Star Citizen the commercial release which is basically when you say, “Okay, we’ve gotten to this point and we’ve still got plans to add a lot more cool stuff and more content and more functionality and more features…” – Which by the way includes some of the later stretch goals we have because not all of that is going to be for ‘absolutely right here’ on the commercial release. But we’ll have something that we’ll think, ‘Okay yeah, not everyone can play it but it doesn’t matter – you can load it up, it plays really well, it’s really stable, there’s lots of content, there’s lots of fun things to do, different professions, lots of places to go, we’ve got a really good ecosystem.’ So, when we get to that point that’s when we would say, “Now it’s not alpha, it’s not beta, it’s Star Citizen 1.0.”
That was probably his version of “coming clean”, except that, with his wanton arrogance, he decided to again engage in word play and misdirection; rather than just coming flat out and saying what needs to be said:
“I FUCKED UP. AGAIN. Here is how I’m going to fix it”
4) He was given $500K, then $2M, then $6M. And during all that time, the statements made were in support of the game he promised.
At $112M, five years later, there is no pre-alpha, alpha, beta, or RC build. They’re still at a POC tech demo phase. What they have is nothing more than a CryEngine mod. Don’t believe me? Right now, go to Steam and take a look at Angels Fall First. That UE4 game was built by a team of part-time indie devs; and it has more gameplay, and stability than Star Citizen. I dare not even mention Elite Dangerous.
He was given over 56 times the amount of money he asked for. And wait, there’s more. During every stretch goal, he claimed that the amount raised would make the dream come true.
At $65M, the stretch goals stopped.
This would imply that he would have to deliver everything promised – upon release – with $65M.
He currently has $112M and there is no end in sight, nor a viable product, or a ship date.
Instead, now we have engineering debt which, with insurmountable technical challenges, can never be paid.
That aside from the fact that the selling of JPEG ships, ships in hangars etc, amounts to a Ponzi scheme in which the next one pays for the first and then you get to the point where there is no money to pay for the pile up.
Then the money starts to dry up. The end result is, as I’ve stated in my latest blog, the Extinction Level Event (a word play on a catastrophic collapse) that is now playing out.
And part of this is also an engineering Ponzi scheme because this statement from that 104TC broadcast, alludes to him needing more than the $112M already given, in order to deliver on what was promised. So after raising $112M, and failing to make good and/or deliver on the promises for which the money was given, he now needs additional money in order to make good on those same promises made. Go ahead and tell me you think this is all OK.
“But of course the team is going to absolutely continue working on it, just like if you look at World of Warcraft – they continue to add content and features all the time. The same happens on EVE. We will update stuff, so we’ll update the graphics, we’ll add new functionality, new content, new systems, coming across additional alien races – all that kind of stuff will be there. So, we’re going to work on this as long as you guys let us or support us doing it, because the world’s huge. There’s so many things to do out there.”
5) A “Minimum Viable Product” essentially means that they could add shops (to sell more stuff, instead of actually adding relevant gameplay features) in the upcoming 2.4 patch, fix a few bugs, and call it a full and final commercial release. Why is this relevant? Well, once they released the shoddy mPU 2.0 back in Dec ’15, precisely as I said (in Oct ’15) they would, they started using that as an excuse to deny refunds, saying that it represents a “substantial portion” of the game promised. More here.
That’s precisely what they’re now going to do with the first commercial release.
6) Aside from the nepotism which extracts a large amount of money from the project and gives to family (Chris, Sandi, Erin) and close friends (Ortwin, Derek Senior, Nick Elms, Simon Elms) – all associated with Chris, and some (Elms bros) going all the way back to childhood, there has been lots of evidence of wasting backer money.
For everyone who backed the dream, it’s simple economics to see that with $20M, a single studio can build a fantastic game. Even with third-party contractors.
Instead money has been thoroughly wasted across the world with 4 studios and at last count, over 11 contractor (some of which are entire companies!) entities, all bringing the team count to around 300 (!!!!).
– LA head office which does nothing but make propaganda videos
– Austin which is now a shell of its former self with a skeleton crew
– Foundry42-GER which houses ex-CryTek engineers which some backers were saying was the magic bullet to solving all the engineering problems. Back in July 2015, I said that was bullshit. Here we are. The custom game engine is still shit.
– Foundry42-UK which he built for his brother (and which hosts Erin, Derek, Nick, Simon) like what happened decades ago with Digital Anvil collapse, is headed by Erin who they think (he will fail) is going to redeem his brother by delivering SQ42 – a game that i) very few backers give a shit about ii) has already been pre-sold; and which, in the economics of PC games, will never yield enough additional money to make a dent in finances. Aside from the fact that sources are telling me that it’s already shit.
7) For the money (currently $112M) given, what gamers are going to end up with as a MVP, is probably a game that could have been built for $20M and in under 4 years. Just as I predicted here.
And shipping an MVP, with funds (their worldwide estimated burn rate is pegged at around $3M per month) now drying up, invariably increases the risk of the project collapsing and him never delivering on any of the other promises. And that’s precisely how Ponzi schemes collapse.
8) When I recently stated that Star Citizen (PU) was in maintenance mode, some people just scoffed. That’s precisely what’s happening now as I said here. This plays into the MVP state whereby some bug fixes, features (e.g. shops in 2.4) designed to raise money rather than implement core features, will be implemented. The engine is FUBAR. There is no getting around this. And there is nothing they can do to fix it because right off the bat when Chris increased the scope, he put the game completely out of the engine’s scope.
Quoting from a Reddit AMA he did back in 2012 shortly after raising $2M on Kickstarter, in which he said:
“The difference between this and Fable is that it is intended as an online continually updated and developed game, rather than a fixed amount of functionality and content that will go onto a disc. So all the features may not make it for day 1 but we will bringing on as much and as many as we can over the life of the universe.
There will be some features that will not make it as I’m sure some of my ideas wont work out once we start testing them with real users, and there will be some I haven’t talked about will be in the game that everyone will wonder how we could have ever conceived not having.
Part of the reason of doing this with community involvement from the start is to make sure the people that will be affected by some early choices have a voice int he process. Perhaps its feature A or feature B at launch. Backers will get a say in which feature is more important to them. Its not a perfect process but I think it will be the bets one for the long run – and as a lot of people have noted just a sub set of some the proposed functionality will be pretty awesome and I’m not going to stop until we get it all (that makes sense from a fun / payable / balancing standpoint)”
That was before backers gave him $112M to deliver on the dreams. The very nature of stretch goals. Anyone using this statement to mean that he knew all along that everything promised won’t be in the game upon release, is an idiot. Note that this statement was also made BEFORE he significantly increased the scope of the game after the KS and fundraising continued on the RSI website.
Aside from that, in this FAQ for the game he stated thus:
“The purpose of the higher stretch goals is to ensure that the game-as-described is finished in the two year time period.“
That “two year time period“, was to be Nov 2014. A date that came and went. And at that time, they had raised over $65.5M.
9) The current ToS 1.2 in which they promised to do refunds and provide financial accounting for failure to deliver the product as promised, after being extended by six months from the original promised date of Nov 2014, expires on 05/31/16. They won’t do either of those.
This should be the biggest sign that they have no intentions of delivering anything as promised, and that all Chris has said since day one, was designed to extract money from gamers, while delivering a fraction of the dreams he promised. Paying $100 for a box you could have bought for $5.
10) Failure to deliver on what they promised – and for which they got $112M – is 100% illegal according to Federal law. There is absolutely NO argument about this fact. And it has nothing to do with crowdfunding, though that has its own Federal rules and guidelines.
==============================================================================
And the fun part? As per ToS 1.2, anyone looking to sue over this, has to go through arbitration on their own.
There can be no class action lawsuit arising from this as long as you bought the game, downloaded it, and agreed to that ToS.
The only legal action to ever come from this, is if either the Feds (FBI or FTC) or States (Attorney General) take action, or some enterprising attorney finds evidence of malfeasance, fraud or similar, and files a standard lawsuit. Then everything goes into discovery, and backers finally figure out what happened to their money.
Make no mistake, this farce WILL end up in some form of legal action. What form that will take, is what is currently unknown at this time.
I personally do NOT believe that they will ship any MVP version of Star Citizen (PU), let alone SQ42.
I personally – without a doubt in my mind – believe that the project, as we knew it, is DEAD. And anyone still giving them money, deserves to lose it. All of it.
