The development of the sci-fi MMORPG Star Citizen is now reminiscent of The NeverEnding Story. After 12 years and more than 600 million euros in revenue, the boss now announces that a release announcement should be imminent.
What’s going on with the release of Star Citizen? The sci-fi MMORPG and its solo campaign Squadron 42 have been in development for over 10 years and have consumed enormous amounts of money during that time.
Star Citizen was announced in September 2012 with a crowdfunding campaign. However, production had already begun in 2011. Since then, nearly 670 million US dollars have been raised, which is about 610 million euros. A large portion of this revenue comes from the sale of virtual ships, for which some players dig deep into their pockets.
Despite all this, the MMORPG is still in alpha. Some gamers are very critical of the development of Star Citizen: After such a long time and money, the game is still merely a tech demo and offers no proper multiplayer or single-player experience.
Some even doubt whether Star Citizen will ever see a full release.
After a successful test last weekend, Chris Roberts, the head of developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), now talks about plans for 2024 in a blog post.
2024 should be a big year for Star Citizen
What does the boss say? After reflecting on the past year 2023, Roberts discusses what 2024 holds for Star Citizen and Squadron 42.
- Squadron 42 should transition from “Feature Complete” to “Content Complete” in 2024: This corresponds to leaving alpha and entering beta phase. Moreover, they are working on integrating features developed for Squadron 42 at an “accelerated rate” into the MMO part of the game, the “Persistent Universe”.
- Furthermore, Star Citizen itself is expected to go into Alpha 4.0 in 2024. This version will include “server meshing” technology as well as the “lawless wasteland” of the “Pyro” system.
- However, first there should be Alpha 3.23, which is set to be launched in April 2024 and will be one of the most extensive updates so far.
What’s the current situation with the release? Roberts further explains that Alpha 4.0 is not yet the “final goal” of Star Citizen. Rather, the developer is even already talking about a 1.0 release, in Roberts’ words: A commercial release that is no longer in alpha or early access.
Although there is currently no release window for the 1.0 version, a roadmap should be provided throughout the year that further elaborates on “the vision and execution plan”. Currently, “Star Citizen 1.0 glimmers on the horizon,” says Roberts.
“In a marathon, they say, the last mile is the hardest, but to quote the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, ‘What we do now echoes in eternity,'” he further says.
The mentioned roadmap was leaked earlier this year. What it contained can be found with the colleagues at GameStar.
What else is new? The post also mentions a restructuring within CIG, which includes a controversial plan to relocate the “Star Citizen” team in Los Angeles to other regions, particularly Manchester, England, Austin, Texas, and Montreal, Canada.
One employee saw disguised mass layoffs in this, as it would be difficult for many employees to leave the state or even the country with little or no notice.
The restructuring also brought the departure of Todd Papy as director of the “Persistent Universe Live,” who worked on Star Citizen for 9 years. Rich Tyrer will now oversee the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 alongside Roberts as Senior Game Director.
Announcements are met with skepticism
How is this being discussed? In the gaming subreddit, a thread about the announcements has already garnered over 1,200 comments in 21 hours. Many respond with mockery: The release is probably only a few years away now and we only need a few million more to perfect the facial features and a flatulence system, for instance.
The reddit user “Warcrimes_Desu” sums up the entire dilemma of Star Citizen: The game is indeed an incomplete and bug-ridden mess, but there is absolutely nothing comparable. No other game allows for such seamless space piracy.
Other users see this quite cynically:
- jetude19 writes: “I built my computer for this game. I have now built 3 more computers and it is still not out.”
- Sirus_Griffing: “Alpha Centauri is also a sparkle. Maybe we will get there before [Star Citizen] actually releases.”
Some users even point out that Elon Musk has already launched actual rockets with his SpaceX program for less money than what Star Citizen has consumed so far. A rocket launch currently costs about 100 million US dollars – about 1/6 of Star Citizen’s revenue (via as).
Currently, many gamers seem rather skeptical about whether they will witness an actual release of Star Citizen. However, it is still evident that many can indeed be enthusiastic about the idea of the MMORPG. Now CIG just has to deliver.
