Cloud Imperium Games Spent $4M a Month in 2017 Developing Star Citizen

Megalith

Megalith

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Cloud Imperium Games has released a financial report that sheds light on how the company has been making its money, how fast they’re spending it, and where it has been spent. Based on 2017’s numbers, Gamasutra estimates that studio is burning through cash at a rate of $4M per month. While Star Citizen has already brought about $200 million in revenue for the company (which is impressive, as it’s still in development), “CIG has been spending more than it’s bringing in.”

According to the document, CIG has spent $193.3 million since 2012, with $14.23 million left in reserve. About $48.8 million of that was spent in 2017, putting the company’s most recently reported monthly spending at about an average of $4 million. Revenue sources were split into three main categories, including Kickstarter pledges, subscriptions, and "other" income from partnerships with hardware and software vendors. Based on the graph provided, it doesn't seem like the company has been able to keep steady since 2014, after its initial explosion in revenue upon launch at the end of 2012 and into 2013.
 
By the time this thing actually releases, no one will care anymore. It's impressive they have raised this much money, but they apparently have mastered the art of money mismanagement.

ConnerLeo said:
It's a shame Star Citizen development won't get the Fyre Festival documentary it deserves when it all comes crashing down.
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Haha yep.... "next up on VH1 - behind the video game madness of Star Citizen. How to blow through 193 million dollars on a huge tech demo"
 
The studio they have created will be unsustainable once the game is released. I think people are subconsciously still donating to them because they won't want their existing donations to lead no where. They'd rather give $500 more than to see the previous $500 go up in smoke. Which is why people lose a lot of money with certain investments.
 
This company is as bad as alt coins in the crypto market. People just throw tons of money at it
 
They have a huge cushion of cash that ensures the game will get made. That's the real headline, sorry if some of you can't handle the truth. They bring in a very consistent amount of money every year, the only way they're in any sort of trouble at all is if that suddenly stops. And there's absolutely no sign of it stopping.

Also, the documentation released fucking destroys the "hookers and blow" conspiracies, it shows exactly how the money was spent. No developer releases this kind of accounting info voluntarily, but they did.
 
EODetroit said:
They have a huge cushion of cash that ensures the game will get made. That's the real headline, sorry if some of you can't handle the truth. They bring in a very consistent amount of money every year, the only way they're in any sort of trouble at all is if that suddenly stops. And there's absolutely no sign of it stopping.

Also, the documentation released fucking destroys the "hookers and blow" conspiracies, it shows exactly how the money was spent. No developer releases this kind of accounting info voluntarily, but they did.
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What is the huge cushion of cash? Haven't they already spent 95% of what they've earned while costs continue to rise and income falls? All while still being several years away from release?
 
EODetroit said:
They have a huge cushion of cash that ensures the game will get made. That's the real headline, sorry if some of you can't handle the truth. They bring in a very consistent amount of money every year, the only way they're in any sort of trouble at all is if that suddenly stops. And there's absolutely no sign of it stopping.

Also, the documentation released fucking destroys the "hookers and blow" conspiracies, it shows exactly how the money was spent. No developer releases this kind of accounting info voluntarily, but they did.
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If they have such a "cushion" of money, and supposedly had enough money to finish the game a year ago, why did they need to raise $46 million from private investors?

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...um-secures-usd46m-investment-for-star-citizen
 
They have 14mil in cash reserves left. Says it right there in the article. That is not a huge cash reserve, that's 3 months and they are bust at current burn rates. How can someone be so blinded that they dont even read the relevent info and just rush in to yell at people who are commenting on CIG's very own financial release. "You cant handle the truth," is a bit too serious of an accusation when talking about a video game.
 
F*ck this game.
I bought a starter package when it was announced (about $45).
The scope creep and decision to add first person shooter is what killed them.
As if we dont have enough first person shooter games available?
If they stuck to the original promise and what gamers wanted (Sci fi space sim), It would be in much better state. And how about that facial recognition BS? Why focus on these gimmicks when there is no core gameplay finished?
 
It will be made or it won't. All of this crying by friend and foe alike has no bearing on things. The trolls have just as much to lose as the fanboys as far as I can see. Way too much emotion on both sides of this.
 
EODetroit said:
They have a huge cushion of cash that ensures the game will get made. That's the real headline, sorry if some of you can't handle the truth. They bring in a very consistent amount of money every year, the only way they're in any sort of trouble at all is if that suddenly stops. And there's absolutely no sign of it stopping.

Also, the documentation released fucking destroys the "hookers and blow" conspiracies, it shows exactly how the money was spent. No developer releases this kind of accounting info voluntarily, but they did.
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Weak troll post. I give it a 14.23/207.53 score.
 
sleepybp said:
F*ck this game.
I bought a starter package when it was announced (about $45).
The scope creep and decision to add first person shooter is what killed them.
As if we dont have enough first person shooter games available?
If they stuck to the original promise and what gamers wanted (Sci fi space sim), It would be in much better state. And how about that facial recognition BS? Why focus on these gimmicks when there is no core gameplay finished?
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They still might be able to pull it off, and while I haven't given up on it, I share some of your sentiment.
 
EODetroit said:
No developer releases this kind of accounting info voluntarily, but they did.
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It wasn't voluntary, they are a corporation with a presence in the UK so they are required by law to release these documents. They have been deferring releasing this disclosure for some time now but I guess they ran out of delaying tactics and were forced to by the UK government or face penalties which they can't afford.

Smoked Brisket said:
They have 14mil in cash reserves left. Says it right there in the article. That is not a huge cash reserve, that's 3 months and they are bust at current burn rates.
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Just FYI that 14m they have was at the end of 2017. So I would guess they burned through that already to get through 2018 with help from their fundraising efforts. According to gamasutra they just last month got a cash infusion of 46m for selling a 10% stake of the company to a private investor.
 
Someone did the math, taking into account burn rate and income, at the time of the $46 million private investment, CIG had about 2 months left before they went broke.

Now I am not the smartest person, but given the state of the game, the statement made by CIG that they had enough money to finish the game was a lie.
 
@ EODETROIT "You can't Handle the Truth!"
Queue "A few good men" movie quote
LOL!
In all seriousness though, I do hope that this game releases somehow, in a playable state.
I truly don't want those who have invested thousands to be burnt so badly.
 
sleepybp said:
F*ck this game.
I bought a starter package when it was announced (about $45).
The scope creep and decision to add first person shooter is what killed them.
As if we dont have enough first person shooter games available?
If they stuck to the original promise and what gamers wanted (Sci fi space sim), It would be in much better state. And how about that facial recognition BS? Why focus on these gimmicks when there is no core gameplay finished?
Click to expand...
They may have been genuine right at the start but soon after the game became a lie.
Either that or it was a lie from the start.
Once they saw how easily money flooded in they did what they could to keep it that way and had the ride of their lives.
The writing was on a the wall yeeaaars ago.
 
sleepybp said:
Gotta admit, the way Chris Roberts milked the "stretch goal" campaign where they would add features at certain funding levels, that was marketing genius.
If only they had a way to deliver as promised
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I agree. It was a genius move on his part. However, that was the beginning of the end for him. The technical debt from the stretch goals (not to mention the ships) is insurmountable.
 
LurkerLito said:
It wasn't voluntary, they are a corporation with a presence in the UK so they are required by law to release these documents. They have been deferring releasing this disclosure for some time now but I guess they ran out of delaying tactics and were forced to by the UK government or face penalties which they can't afford.


Just FYI that 14m they have was at the end of 2017. So I would guess they burned through that already to get through 2018 with help from their fundraising efforts. According to gamasutra they just last month got a cash infusion of 46m for selling a 10% stake of the company to a private investor.
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Wait so someone out there thought that this was worth 460 million USD? Some people have way to much money and not enough common sense
 
quietly playing star citizen delivering cargo missions, failing at merc missions, running bunker missions, buying and upgrading gear all while enjoying the scenery and gallivanting around on moons and a planet in various rovers...
 
chaos4u said:
quietly playing star citizen delivering cargo missions, failing at merc missions, running bunker missions, buying and upgrading gear all while enjoying the scenery and gallivanting around on moons and a planet in various rovers...
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What are you trying to convince us of?
The game is not even at beta yet.
If they can complete it in 6 months you might have a point, but what you can be sure of, the money is running out.
They dont have the time.
 
I spent ~$70 on this years ago and at this point couldn't give a fuck about this game, its blown so far out of scope it'll never get done. But FFS all the knuckle heads that spent thousands on this are gonna get fucked lol.
 
chaos4u said:
quietly playing star citizen delivering cargo missions, failing at merc missions, running bunker missions, buying and upgrading gear all while enjoying the scenery and gallivanting around on moons and a planet in various rovers...
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Enjoy it while the servers are up...
 
tunatime said:
Wait so someone out there thought that this was worth 460 million USD? Some people have way to much money and not enough common sense
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Hmm, yeah doesn't make sense. Maybe a scam to prop the valuation price for the eventual buyout or get more investors if crowd funding money dries up as it looks like CIG needs around > 30 million per year to finish the game.
 
I just keep remembering how CIG said they had enough money last year to finish the game, their financials show that to be a complete lie, how are backers not extremely worried at this point?

It's like backers pretend all the evidence that they have been lied to repeatedly and CIG being on the verge of running out of money doesn't exist.
 
So many stupid comments in one place. Amazing. No one even bothered to look at the document, no one cares that 2018 isn't even in there, so all speculation is bullshit... typical hate train.
 
Jadawin said:
So many stupid comments in one place. Amazing. No one even bothered to look at the document, no one cares that 2018 isn't even in there, so all speculation is bullshit... typical hate train.
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So you have some magical insight into their 2018 numbers? They sold 10% of their company for $46m. I dunno about you, but I don't think that's something they'd do unless they really needed that money. For the past three years they've been spending more than they're bringing in. That cash influx in 2018 likely means they made a lot more than they spent in 2018, but I highly doubt 2018's costs are lower than 2017 especially with that legal battle dragging on throughout the entire year. The big question is, how long can that $46m sustain them? There is zero chance of most of their costs going down, things will only get more expensive as they start adding in more stuff and, hopefully, get closer to completing things. People's concern is very well founded.
 
For all of you that didn't read that Gamasutra clickbait to the end, here's the real story that you missed: https://cloudimperiumgames.com/blog/letter-from-the-chairman/investment-news

Note that all this "news" came out on December 20th. Why Gamasutra is posting it now like its new information, I don't know, desperate for money, most likely. Oh yeah, and they wrote the headline like CIG is in some kind of financial crunch instead of telling the real story, which is that CIG has ~ a year of cushion assuming they make no money at all one year (which as I said, isn't gunna happen). The second truth is that Megalith should have known better than to post this clickbait in the first place, because A) its old news, and B) its been talked about already.
 
EODetroit said:
For all of you that didn't read that Gamasutra clickbait to the end, here's the real story that you missed: https://cloudimperiumgames.com/blog/letter-from-the-chairman/investment-news

Note that all this "news" came out on December 20th. Why Gamasutra is posting it now like its new information, I don't know, desperate for money, most likely. Oh yeah, and they wrote the headline like CIG is in some kind of financial crunch instead of telling the real story, which is that CIG has ~ a year of cushion assuming they make no money at all one year (which as I said, isn't gunna happen). The second truth is that Megalith should have known better than to post this clickbait in the first place, because A) its old news, and B) its been talked about already.
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You are arguing that a letter from Chris Roberts to potential jpeg customers is "the real story." The fact that these financials are from last year dont make them less relevant. Quite the opposite, they make the project look to be in even worse shape, especially after having to take a 46 million dollar loan.

7 years, 246 million dollars and no game, not close.
 
sleepybp said:
This game will be used in triple A gaming corporations as a lesson learned on what not to do for years to come.
It is the definition of how to lose after being given every possible chance to succeed (Time and money)
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Lol, what? This is the best lesson on how to rake in money and not do shit but produce a (glitchy) tech demo.
 
I still love this quote from September 30th, 2014 after raising $55M:

"We keep a healthy cash reserve so that if funding stopped tomorrow we would still be able to deliver Star Citizen (not quite to the current level of ambition, but well above what was planned in Oct 2012)."............Chris Roberts
 
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