Star Citizen Development Discussion (Is Derek Smart Right?)

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DigDog

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,474
2,108
126
kn51 said:
Bigger than ever, with outside investment it is darn near $500 million.

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Star Citizen developer plans 1000-person Manchester mega studio

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it's not clear to me how they could deliver $500M worth of product tho.
lets say that SC releases and it costs $100 per copy - do five million backers get a product code? Or did people just throw money at them for pay-to-win ships?


lets consider EvE Online; that game has ships that cost as much as a IRL car, but you need hundreds of people to buy them ingame - you cant just pop in the store and drop ten-k for one.
Surely you'd think, once SC goes live, they would do a sever wipe so that everyone starts on the same level. Will that wipe the majority of those 500M?
Are the 500M ALL going to development?

Mass Effect 2 had a total budget of $60M inclusive of worldwide publicity. Obviously, apples to oranges, but still X coders for Y hours = total product.

.. i dont think the $500M that SC has are actually being converted into product; im sure that *some* work is being done, but im worried that backers will wind up with $50M worth of game and $450M will just vanish.

As others have pointed out, 500 million american sheckels, thats enough to do serious stuff - i doubt we even have the knowhow to build a 500M game.
 
K

kn51

Senior member
Aug 16, 2012
696
112
106
You jumped to the only realistic conclusion of this fiasco...the only way for this "game" to be successful is to never be released.

Like you said, where does the money go? It is an incredible amount of money with little to show for it.
 
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GodisanAtheist

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,783
7,117
136
Its some sort of weird scam/pyramid scheme/money laundering thing at this point, or the money is all actually going into some DARPA mind control project to separate whales from their money and the whole Star Citizen thing is a front...
 
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Vivendi

Vivendi

Senior member
Nov 21, 2013
697
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I'm sure Chris Roberts and his inner circle have already taken a bunch of that $500million as salaries and "expenses".
 
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Skel

Skel

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
6,214
659
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DigDog said:
it's not clear to me how they could deliver $500M worth of product tho.
lets say that SC releases and it costs $100 per copy - do five million backers get a product code? Or did people just throw money at them for pay-to-win ships?


lets consider EvE Online; that game has ships that cost as much as a IRL car, but you need hundreds of people to buy them ingame - you cant just pop in the store and drop ten-k for one.
Surely you'd think, once SC goes live, they would do a sever wipe so that everyone starts on the same level. Will that wipe the majority of those 500M?
Are the 500M ALL going to development?

Mass Effect 2 had a total budget of $60M inclusive of worldwide publicity. Obviously, apples to oranges, but still X coders for Y hours = total product.

.. i dont think the $500M that SC has are actually being converted into product; im sure that *some* work is being done, but im worried that backers will wind up with $50M worth of game and $450M will just vanish.

As others have pointed out, 500 million american sheckels, thats enough to do serious stuff - i doubt we even have the knowhow to build a 500M game.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they pulled it by stating "we've pulled in $350 million and we haven't even released.. imagine how much we'll rake in when we do". The $350mil is from the article. While this has nothing to do with real life, I wouldn't underestimate the guy's ability to BS people into giving him more money.. hell somehow over 10 years he's pulled in more money than most games make...a bit mind blowing.

Of course when the game comes out everyone that would care has already spent too much. I doubt they'll ever recoup this 'investment'.
 
Artorias

Artorias

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2014
2,110
1,381
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Just for comparison Rockstar released GTA5 in 2013 with at least 4 years of development from 2009. They spent something in the neighborhood of $250-300M while having the most experienced people in business. Red Dead Redemption 2 cost around $500M with 8 years of development. That's the benchmark. Both of these easily rank as one of the best games ever released. You can see where the money went.

Star Citizen needing anywhere near $500M+ is insane.

Lets see Bethesda's Star Field next year for comparison.
 
KMFJD

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,141
42,119
136
DigDog said:
it's not clear to me how they could deliver $500M worth of product tho.
lets say that SC releases and it costs $100 per copy - do five million backers get a product code? Or did people just throw money at them for pay-to-win ships?


lets consider EvE Online; that game has ships that cost as much as a IRL car, but you need hundreds of people to buy them ingame - you cant just pop in the store and drop ten-k for one.
Surely you'd think, once SC goes live, they would do a sever wipe so that everyone starts on the same level. Will that wipe the majority of those 500M?
Are the 500M ALL going to development?

Mass Effect 2 had a total budget of $60M inclusive of worldwide publicity. Obviously, apples to oranges, but still X coders for Y hours = total product.

.. i dont think the $500M that SC has are actually being converted into product; im sure that *some* work is being done, but im worried that backers will wind up with $50M worth of game and $450M will just vanish.

As others have pointed out, 500 million american sheckels, thats enough to do serious stuff - i doubt we even have the knowhow to build a 500M game.
Click to expand...
The vast majority of the gamers that are interested in games like this have already purchased a copy, they will not be seeing that many new purchases of the game itself imo, in game purchases are their bread and butter.
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,620
10,829
136
Chris Roberts should issue his own cryptocurrency token for Star Citizen, and start selling ships as NFTs. It'll be great!
 
SAAA

SAAA

Senior member
May 14, 2014
541
126
116
DrMrLordX said:
Chris Roberts should issue his own cryptocurrency token for Star Citizen, and start selling ships as NFTs. It'll be great!
Click to expand...
Sorry, what's the difference to what they have been doing?
Oh right, it isn't even yours nor securely encrypted! xD

As for the 500 millions number running around... wasn't Destiny about that much to develop as a whole? I remember reading some article about those insane amounts that compete with movie budgets, hopefully they made it back after all those years...
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,568
29,179
146
What if Chris Roberts sells a $2k gif for a Star Citizen-themed Tesla Cybertruck spaceship.

That would be absolutely perfect, wouldn't it?
 
Fanatical Meat

Fanatical Meat

Lifer
Feb 4, 2009
34,554
15,766
136
zinfamous said:
What if Chris Roberts sells a $2k gif for a Star Citizen-themed Tesla Cybertruck spaceship.

That would be absolutely perfect, wouldn't it?
Click to expand...

interesting get Musk on board and there could be some sales.

side note, has Derek Smart done anything in the last 5-6 years?
 
Fallen Kell

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,036
429
126
Not sure when this will ever be out officially. That said, I have had some fun the last few patches.Sure it isn't a complete game yet, but there is fun to be had with it. The flight model is pretty good at this point, and it is a lot of fun (once you get to a fight). Bugs will be for now, but most are not much worse than what you get in a Fallout/Elder Scrolls/Cyberpunk 2077...

If you don't own already and don't want to take a chance, just wait it out. If you own it already and havn't played it in a while, I suggest downloading the latest version and do some catch up. There are a couple good videos on youtube to get you started with the current state of the persistant universe (i.e. some basic, go here, make sure you buy one or two of these type things as they will keep you alive and/or get you a usable weapon/armor/ammo that you will need, etc., and go over the basics for controls, missions, etc).

I also suggest watching some of those videos to the people who keep putting this game down. Yes, it isn't out yet. Yes, it is much later than originally promised. Yes, it cost a lot more than they anticipated. Yes, a lot of the reason for the increased costs was due to bad management/direction by Chris Roberts. Yes, it has bugs. But, YES it is fun, and that is the whole point.
 
Last edited:
Fanatical Meat

Fanatical Meat

Lifer
Feb 4, 2009
34,554
15,766
136
Fallen Kell said:
Not sure when this will ever be out officially. That said, I have had some fun the last few patches.Sure it isn't a complete game yet, but there is fun to be had with it. The flight model is pretty good at this point, and it is a lot of fun (once you get to a fight). Bugs will be for now, but most are not much worse than what you get in a Fallout/Elder Scrolls/Cyberpunk 2077...

If you don't own already and don't want to take a chance, just wait it out. If you own it already and havn't played it in a while, I suggest downloading the latest version and do some catch up. There are a couple good videos on youtube to get you started with the current state of the persistant universe (i.e. some basic, go here, make sure you buy one or two of these type things as they will keep you alive and/or get you a usable weapon/armor/ammo that you will need, etc., and go over the basics for controls, missions, etc).

I also suggest watching some of those videos to the people who keep putting this game down. Yes, it isn't out yet. Yes, it is much later than originally promised. Yes, it cost a lot more than they anticipated. Yes, a lot of the reason for the increased costs was due to bad management/direction by Chris Roberts. Yes, it has bugs. But, YES it is fun, and that is the whole point.
Click to expand...

Glad you mentioned this, I loaded it up last year and it looked great, walking around felt good and there definitely is some sort of game there just not for me as is.
Yes delays and budgets are comical it is unfair to say there is nothing.
 
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