[Some Dude]

I think for folks who are kicking in a modest amount of money for a project, I would agree that some livestreams, weekly reports and forum updates would be sufficient. The Webcam idea might be a little too Orwellian for some, but hey you never know.

What I mean by “Investor and backers” are firms and individuals that have substantially more money involved in a game’s production and are expecting more than just a copy of the game, some chachkies and DLC i.e. a share in the profits. Typically these larger entities want to see financial reporting and production input that is normally kept private and it takes time and energy to secure these types of communications.

[Some Dude]

If Star Citizen is going to crash and crash hard, this is a real tragedy because this doesn’t just affect RSI and their backers:

-Large crowdfunded projects in the future will receive extra levels of scrutiny, causing even ones with talented, responsible folks behind it to fail
-If there wasn’t enough gamer rage against devs and publishers nowadays, this will surely ratchet it up to 11
-Potential investors for big-budget games might decide to put their money elsewhere
-Investors and backers will start requiring more transparency, which probably isn’t a bad thing, but too much could cause studios to burn a lot of time and money providing it
-Depending on if RSI declares bankruptcy or not, and whether or not backers can get refunds, you can expect legislation down the road that could make life more difficult for crowdfunded projects

Don’t get me wrong, I would love nothing more then to buy a finished version of Squadron 42 and relive some of those fond memories I have from the space-sim heydey, but if this what they have to show for their time and money thus far, I don’t see a way out unless they sell their assets and IP to a studio that is capable of seeing a more scaled-down game to completion.

[Author]

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