Cloud Imperium Games has updated the roadmap for Alpha 4.0 of the space MMO Star Citizen, and the changes have upset the community significantly.
What changes are there? Originally, Alpha 4.0 was supposed to finalize the Stanton system of Star Citizen in June by adding the last planet, Crusader, along with its landing zone, Orison. However, this highly anticipated and major feature will no longer make it into the upcoming version. But that’s not all.
Improvements to PvP bounty hunting were also planned, but these have also been postponed. Additionally, the overhaul of the so-called “Server to Client Actor Networking,” responsible for how players communicate with the servers via the game client, will not be included in Alpha 4.0. Every action is sent from the game client to the server before other players can see that action. Currently, there are issues in the form of delays, which Star Citizen fans will now have to endure longer.
Someone is angry
How are players reacting to the changes? Things are heating up in the official Star Citizen forum. Even the explanation that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the work is met with little understanding.
- futurewazzup is very upset in the official forum: “Fantastic! More delays! 4.0 hasn’t even been released yet, and you’ve already postponed the most important thing: the server-to-client actor network rework. Desync and stuttering are currently terrible when playing with friends, and that has already been pushed from 3.9 to 4.0 and now to 4.1…”
- Putze agrees in the forum: “You speak to my soul. This is all slowly turning bitter. This project is gradually being driven into the ground.”
- [ΩP-H] John Bradley says in the forum: “COVID or not, this is simply bad, I’m sorry. If only you would at least add a gameplay loop as compensation… Just one!”
- Peppercat420 explains the players’ unrest in the forum: “It looks like your backers are not happy… If we were investors instead of consumers, you would have probably lost your funding a long time ago.”
- Shockwave in the forum sees it less dramatically: “I suggest you look at the competition, then you’ll realize that it’s still a game in development that pleases players even when it’s broken.”
Looking at the opinions in the official Star Citizen forum, it seems that Cloud Imperium has managed to turn a whole bunch of otherwise loyal backers against them with these delays.
What about Squadron 42? It is unclear how these delays will impact the single-player version, Squadron 42, which, according to the latest information, was supposed to enter beta in 2020.
Cloud Imperium explains the situation
What are the reasons for the delays? Cloud Imperium Games provides multiple explanations in the forum. On the one hand, the necessary work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic is delaying development. Additionally, there have been earlier delays of features that are now impacting the development of certain systems. It is, therefore, a kind of chain reaction. Something was not finished earlier, which now leads to further features being postponed.
Furthermore, the developers state that they are currently focusing on server meshing. In Star Citizen, for example, all worlds or stations have their own servers that are seamlessly connected. Important optimization work is necessary here, which apparently enjoys priority.
The space MMO Star Citizen polarizes players; some vehemently defend this mammoth project, while others believe the game will never be released. Chris Roberts, founder of the developer studio Cloud Imperium Games has his own opinion on the critics of his game.
