When Chris Roberts and his studio Cloud Imperium Games took to Kickstarter with a nebulous idea for an epic, sprawling space sim known as Star Citizen, no one in the industry predicted that the vision would grow and expand to become one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns in history. Currently simmering north of $85 million, the haul smashes numerous records, and in the latest installment of the recurring Letter from the Chairman, Roberts addressed a number of fan concerns, including the ever-expanding scope and whether the space sim has succumbed to a delay.
First off, the esteemed developer touched on the astronomical growth of CIG, which began life with only 5 developers in 2012. Now, the studio itself has four different branches worldwide with over 250 employees.
“That’s some pretty huge growth,” he said. “The turnover at CIG is no more or less than it was at Origin, EA, Digital Anvil, or Microsoft when I was making games there.”
This has, as one would expect, had a direct effect on Star Citizen itself. With a larger creative roster to pull from, Roberts has revealed that the project continues to grow and evolve, and in his open, candid blog post, he noted that this approach will prove beneficial in the long run.
“Star Citizen matters BECAUSE it is big, because it is a bold dream,” he added. “It is something everyone else is scared to try. You didn’t back Star Citizen because you want what you’ve seen before. You’re here and reading this because we are willing to go big, to do the things that terrify publishers. You’ve trusted us with your money so we can build a game, not line our pockets.
And we sure as hell didn’t run this campaign so we could put that money in the bank, guarantee ourselves a profit, and turn out some flimsy replica of a game I’ve made before. You went all in supporting us and we’ve gone all in making the game. Is Star Citizen today a bigger goal than I imagined in 2012? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not: it’s the whole damn point.”
Chris Roberts’ bold, uncompromising vision may demand respect, but it’s only heaping more expectations and hype onto a title that is already shouldering a considerable amount of anticipation. Whether this pans off will ultimately be determined when Star Citizen releases for the public, though even that is unlikely to happen until late 2016 at the earliest.
