Joe McClintok
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Derek,
I asked this question a week ago but I think you missed it. With 300 employees averaging $75,000 each (that would be CIG’s cost not the actual employee annual salary which I expect to be lower since the bulk of their staff is in Europe), that brings them to 22.5 million a year just in payroll. Now add in the cost of buildings, equipment, furniture, the MoCap studio and actors, contractors and the salary of the top guys and them blowing through 30 million a year like you said is quite reasonable.This brings me to my question… What will they do to bring in money next? How do you think they will try and increase revenue? Ship sales are down, whales are starting to tap out and even if they launch SQ42 at the beginning of next year (which is most likely not going to happen), the majority of people who would be interested have already purchased it. If they actually do launch the regular game which we know won’t happen, again, the majority of people have already purchased it.
My opinion is that something big is coming beginning of next year revenue wise. Either they add something to the PU and start charging a monthly sub fee or they release SQ42 and require people to purchase ships or mission packs. They cannot continue doing what they are doing, they must be burning through more than they are getting and even if they launch an actual product, they already cashed in on the majority of the sales.
Something has to change in their revenue model for this mess to continue and with Chris basking in the spotlight, I know he will pull every trick in the book to stay there.
Had some free time and threw up another video.
Derek,
Even assuming they have cut costs to average only 25 million a year in costs, it still brings them to having less than 30 million left (assuming they continue to be funded at current levels) at the end of this year. How long do you think it will be until Chris announces that the current build is officially a MVP and starts charging a monthly sub fee?
They have to do something soon to bring in more money. Even launching SQ42 wont bring in much since most people have already pre-purchased it. We are years away from them ever being able to launch the game with even 50% of the promised features so they need to do something.
I feel that something crazy will happen in the start of first quarter 2017 like them charging a sub fee to access the PU. Ship sales are not cutting it and them introducing more unique items like the space bike only add more time to the games development. What do you see happening to bring in more revenue, assuming they actually continue to operate?
The situation is even worse for CIG when you read about all the new space games coming out and realize that the actual SC game is getting very little attention right now by the developers. Since all hands are focused on getting an actual money making product out there, the developers are working on SQ42 and adding cash shop items to SC. Until SQ42 releases, SC will get very little actual new content so it wont be until sometime in 2017 that development might actually shift back to SC. My guess is the shell of a game is not released until sometime near the end of 2019 and then it will not have even 50% of the content promised. By that time SC will be the biggest joke in the gaming industry as so many other quality space-based games will have released by then.
I still have a hard time understanding how the fan’s of SC can not see the focus on revenue generating products (cash shop and SQ42) and how each month Chris brings up some new feature that we all know by now will not make it into the game EVER. Heists and Vaulting wont be in the game and never will be but these fans just bend over and act like Chris is going to give them all these things if they just keep sending more money. It is so similar to Scientology that it honestly scares me.
I think you are over-estimating the fans intelligence. They will be happy to see some progress made, even if it is not for the game they are waiting for. Anyone with a brain has figured out that CIG needs money to continue and that is why most of the progress towards the game has stopped and been directed toward the single player game that is easier to make and might bring in some new money.
The fanatics will have excuses. They will say things like “The single player game uses assets that will be carried over to SC so its OK” or “You haters complain when there is no game and now complain when a game is almost ready to be released”. There is no hope for them. When Chris finally releases a shell of a game with only 20% of the features promoted, and then keep soaking them for more money they will gladly keep paying. Chris has created a money generating machine and at this point there is no stopping it. It doesn’t matter if he never releases the actual SC game, these idiots will keep sending him his tribute each month.
Look at the current state of Star Citizen and then check out this indie project in development
Pretty sad when you think this was made by a few people using Unity compared to the mess that is Star Citizen with a 110 million dollars and over 300 people.
