Star Citizen’s $27,000 Bundle Raises Eyebrows

Megalith

Megalith

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Cloud Imperium Games introduced a $27,000 bundle of spaceships and in-game content for Star Citizen this week, sparking another round of controversy as to whether the crowdfunded game is a legitimate endeavor or intricate scam. The developers say that they created the Legatus Pack due to requests from “a hardcore segment of the community.”

“Alright, this is getting ridiculous,” said redditor Strykerx88 in the Star Citizen subreddit. “I’ve been on the ‘wait and see’ side of the fence for 6 years now, but sh*t like this makes me fall right over into ‘maybe the guys calling this game a scam are on to something.’ ... Close your f*cking ‘donation’ shop and finish the god damn game, if it even can be finished and become playable in any current fan’s lifetime.”
 
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So this is for the hardcore section of the community, huh? Surely most of them will already have put a hefty sum into the game (you know, multi-hundred dollar ships, that sort of thing)? This seems like a way of squeezing extra cash from people who've already sunk a lot of money into the development of this game.

I mean, it's obviously just a publicity stunt to get people talking about SC again, given that it's been a few months since the last big patch, so it's not really worth get exercised about in any case.
 
Few things I can remember about the scam.

  1. Most open development - Change the TOS 6 times and goes back on promise to show where the money went.
  2. 17 Companies most are just shell companies
  3. Instead of staying with main studio moves to at great expense LA.
  4. Tons of nepotism, friends, wife, etc
  5. 2mill of backer funds tossed in the trash over the engine
  6. Who knows how much backer money was tossed in the trash over the Illfonic disaster.
  7. Insane cost of hiring top actors when the base game is no even remotely close the 6 mill kickstarter goals.
  8. No developer ever has wasted more time making videos that say a lot but add up to nothing, every video is a monument to the ongoing waste of backer funds.
  9. Flat out lied about the early development of SC all demos they were created by crytek.
  10. They are talking about adding water soon, devs did not even know that the ships were underwater for the first year due to how the engine handles water.
  11. They have changed how you buy ships to keep the cash coming in.
  12. How many videos in end ship sales?
  13. Spend 25k to get some free ships
  14. Spend 1k so you can get a hat?
https://starcitizentracker.github.io/

In addition to the outrageous ship prices you can get these goodies if you spend and spend.

$1k, High Admiral title
  • Early access to buying event tickets and sale items (including concierge only events/sales)
  • Priority customer service
  • Concierge subform/chat
  • In-game tophat, monocle, whiskey, and gold skinned energy pistol
$2.5k, Grand Admiral title
  • Gold skinned Arrowhead sniper rifle
$5k, Space Marshal/Lt. Commander title
  • Gold skinned RSI Venture spacesuit
$10k, Wing Commander title
  • LTI F8C Lightning
$15k, Completionist title
$25k, Legatus Navium (no title)
  • Gold skinned LTI F8C Lightning
  • Sharkmouth edition Havock scattergun
One person already has 54k in the game and plans to spend more.
 
This is such a stupid thing to get outraged over. It's like getting upset because someone spent six figures on a car, boat, or vacation. If someone wants to throw $27,000 at a video game, good for them. And good for the people who are making something people are happy to throw money at.

I'm impressed with what CIG has delivered so far. They're advancing the art, pursuing something no one else has the business model to allow.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I would love to hear the few dedicated defenders around here defend this. I can only imagine the mental gymnastics required to claim this isn't a scam or pay 2 win game at this point.
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What is there to defend? Are they forcing this on anyone in anyway? Seriously?

It's just some PR stunt/if you wanna you can *shurgs*.

As for the game itself I have my doubts...latest "Around the Universe" showed how they're still working on weapon recoil for Squadron 42...the fuck? How?

I think the MAIN issue here is that they're focusing too much on both technology development and game development. They don't have SET TOOLS to make a game because they're MAKING THE TOOLS...so they create some new shit and next thing you know they're having to remake this whole system over here because of this new system over here.

I think the game will come, something will, we already have pretty decent ground work laid out. Just landed yesterday on a planet and it looks phenomenal. But when the fuck will it end?

ALSO have to keep in mind that while I disagree with them stating release dates that haven't happened there's been other larger richer studios with tech already laid out that have taken LONGER to make SMALLER games. Rockstar gets a pass for a game taking 8 years to make (RDR 2, GTA 5, etc) with hundreds of million already in the bank, full studios, networking, etc yet SC gets shit because they started from scratch?

Come on...people need to get real.
 
People/fools and their money........
But then again I spent $120 to be a legendary founder for Mechwarrior Online and could barely play it on my laptop.
But holyshit, $26k!?
 
Mut1ny said:
What is there to defend? Are they forcing this on anyone in anyway? Seriously?

It's just some PR stunt/if you wanna you can *shurgs*.

As for the game itself I have my doubts...latest "Around the Universe" showed how they're still working on weapon recoil for Squadron 42...the fuck? How?

I think the MAIN issue here is that they're focusing too much on both technology development and game development. They don't have SET TOOLS to make a game because they're MAKING THE TOOLS...so they create some new shit and next thing you know they're having to remake this whole system over here because of this new system over here.

I think the game will come, something will, we already have pretty decent ground work laid out. Just landed yesterday on a planet and it looks phenomenal. But when the fuck will it end?

ALSO have to keep in mind that while I disagree with them stating release dates that haven't happened there's been other larger richer studios with tech already laid out that have taken LONGER to make SMALLER games. Rockstar gets a pass for a game taking 8 years to make (RDR 2, GTA 5, etc) with hundreds of million already in the bank, full studios, networking, etc yet SC gets shit because they started from scratch?

Come on...people need to get real.
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I think the difference between Rockstar Games and SC is Rockstar never gave a timeline that has changed 48 times. They also didn't spend the entire games creation period selling small portions to you over and over (your money, do what you want, sure, but not comparable at all). It is their money they are spending.

Let me put it to you this way. A guy comes to you and says he wants to build you a deck. He needs $2000 and it will take 1 month to build. When the month gets close he says it will take longer, BUT WAIT, THERES MORE, he has these new neat screws, for an extra $800!.

Would you think that's reasonable? Of course not, it's fucked. You're doing the same with this game.
 
People dumping ridiculous amounts of cash into this scam must be wheelchair-bound sadsacks who got their money in a lawsuit over the accident which crippled them, said accident crushing their dreams of becoming an astronaut.

Because nothing else makes any goddamn sense.
 
If a few whales asked for the $27K package, great. More funding for the game. Doesn't matter to me at all.
 
auntjemima said:
I think the difference between Rockstar Games and SC is Rockstar never gave a timeline that has changed 48 times. They also didn't spend the entire games creation period selling small portions to you over and over (your money, do what you want, sure, but not comparable at all). It is their money they are spending.

Let me put it to you this way. A guy comes to you and says he wants to build you a deck. He needs $2000 and it will take 1 month to build. When the month gets close he says it will take longer, BUT WAIT, THERES MORE, he has these new neat screws, for an extra $800!.

Would you think that's reasonable? Of course not, it's fucked. You're doing the same with this game.
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I already said I don't agree with them changing release dates constantly.

Also, donating money to a game as in crowdfunding/sourcing is different then paying someone to do a set job and them not doing it.

Your example doesn't apply here. People, just like with all crowdfunding projects, know there might be failure.
 
Brokennails said:
I'm waiting for the Star Citizen Bitcoin mining app where you mine coin for "game development funds".....

All the lemmings would jump all over that to help the coke and prostitute fund.
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A Blowcoin crypto might be just what I need to fuel my insatiable desire for coke, thanks for the inspiration!
 
There's no difference between a $2500 package for whales and a $27000 package for even bigger whales as far as outrage is concerned. You either accept them both, or reject them both. That makes this clickbait and not worthy of a news post.
 
EODetroit said:
There's no difference between a $2500 package for whales and a $27000 package for even bigger whales as far as outrage is concerned. You either accept them both, or reject them both. That makes this clickbait and not worthy of a news post.
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Your implication seems to suggest that once someone has been outraged, they should keep quiet about it in the future, even if things become more outrageous. That...doesn't make a bit of sense.
 
i am mostly afraid that this taste they got for donation kills the game, it's too easy to be tempted and change ingame mechanics to take advantage of it, stripping the game of any competitivity or even fairness.
there is a really high chance that this game becomes the biggest Pay2Win game of the century, and i ain't getting my self into a game where i have to spend 500$ a month to have fun and not be shit on in every fight.
 
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alamox said:
i am mostly afraid that this taste they got for donation kills the game, it's too easy to be tempted and change ingame mechanics to take advantage of it, stripping the game of any competitivity or even fairness.
there is a really high chance that this game becomes the biggest Pay2Win game of the century, and i ain't getting my self into a game where i have to spend 500$ to have fun and not be shit on in every fight.
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Exactly... People who dump that amount of cash expect to get some sort of edge from it. I do fear that once released it will be the worst pay2notdie game ever...
This would be solved by resetting all accounts to zero once released... but again the big whales wouldn't go along with it.

This is plain stupid as far as competition is involved. I don't judge people spending it, I do however not like the developers for make it available. This will kill the game in the long run (if it's ever released, I keep my hopes up but will NOT spend a dime until it's released)
 
Anyone else want to get together and "make" game? We will hire 20 video production people and 4 programmers (because we have to make something resembling a game right?) We will release tons of real game-play footage pre-rendered videos and next to no actual content and only take us 5 years to release something that looks nothing like the original game description and is barely playable for like 2 hours. We will make a fortune.

Oh and this will also likely happen:
maxresdefault.jpg
 
Mut1ny said:
What is there to defend? Are they forcing this on anyone in anyway? Seriously?
It's just some PR stunt/if you wanna you can *shurgs*.

ALSO have to keep in mind that while I disagree with them stating release dates that haven't happened there's been other larger richer studios with tech already laid out that have taken LONGER to make SMALLER games. Rockstar gets a pass for a game taking 8 years to make (RDR 2, GTA 5, etc) with hundreds of million already in the bank, full studios, networking, etc yet SC gets shit because they started from scratch?
Come on...people need to get real.
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As for the amount of money taken in, I don't see any outrage over Fortnite making $300 million in April .
 
Jim Kim said:
As for the amount of money taken in, I don't see any outrage over Fortnite making $300 million in April .
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It also started development 7 years ago with a giant establisher developer known as "Epic"...perhaps people here have heard of them?

Game doesn't do 99% as much as SC does, took years and years to develop with money already in the bag, engine already in the bag, etc...yet SC get's shit on because it's MASSIVE scope isn't coming together fast enough for crybabies.

Fortnite was revealed at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards (VGA), with Epic's former design director Cliff Bleszinski introducing a trailer for the game.
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