According to Cloud Imperium Games, Star Citizen made more money through crowdfunding in 2017 than all Kickstarter games combined.
According to information from Cloud Imperium Games, Star Citizen was able to raise more than 34.9 million dollars through crowdfunding in 2017.
In contrast, Kickstarter achieved revenues of 17.25 million dollars for games throughout 2017. This means Star Citizen generated about twice the revenue as all Kickstarter projects combined.
In 2016, Star Citizen could actually raise even a little more – 36.1 million dollars.
The numbers raise some questions
However, there are some things to consider. Cloud Imperium Games has not provided any further explanations regarding the mentioned numbers. For example, it is unclear how refunds affect this. Are these already included? And it is certain that there has been a whole range of refunds. Additionally, Kickstarter does not transfer all the money that is displayed at the end of a successful campaign to the developers. The company retains a certain amount.
Kickstarter is not performing as well anymore
One must also consider that interest in Kickstarter has significantly declined over the past years. This is due to many factors, including disappointing games such as Shroud of the Avatar or developments that simply take a very long time, where players are still waiting for results before supporting another campaign.
Additionally, Fig has emerged as a strong competing platform, offering many top titles. Currently, Kickstarter also simply lacks a truly outstanding crowdfunding project in the gaming sector that could rekindle interest.
Therefore, the numbers should be taken with caution, as it cannot be stated exactly how accurate they are. Nevertheless, it can be seen that the crowdfunding of Star Citizen is still very successful.
