In Star Citizen it seems to be only about one topic: money. Now CIG wants to charge for the Citizencon livestream. This is causing protests. Roberts says fans do not see the nuances when they grab their pitchforks.
The Citizencon is a major annual event for fans of the space MMORPG Star Citizen. For all these years watching the livestream was free. This year it is supposed to be mostly paid.
How much will the livestream cost? Those who want to see the livestream from the Citizencon need a digital ticket for about $20-24. The opening speech and the closing event are free, however. The rest is behind a paywall.
Only community subscribers and backers who have reached concierge level have free access. To obtain this, one must have invested at least $1000 in Star Citizen.
Fans say: They want money for us to watch an infomercial
Negative reactions: The announcement is generally seen critically. A popular post on reddit says that the “Citizencon” is already an advertising event used to sell expensive ships.
Demanding money for this goes too far for some.
You are poisoning the well
The fan site Relay strikes a similar chord: CIG has raised 190 million US dollars through crowdfunding.
Star Citizen relies on the goodwill of the community. CIG poisons this well if they charge $20 for people to find out how the game, which they have co-financed, is doing.
God I hope this is true, and they go through with it; because the fallout would be epic. And we’d be set with lols right through the holidays.
Who am I kidding?
It’s Star Citizen. There’s always more; and it’s always worse.
— Derek Smart (@dsmart) 31. August 2018
What does the top critic say? The declared archenemy of Chris Roberts and Star Citizen, Derek Smart, has a mocking word to say.
For him, it is clear that Star Citizen is desperate if they resort to such actions. They must have had trouble selling tickets for the Citizencon, and therefore turned to such measures.
Roberts says: Expensive livestream, we will do it like Blizzard
This is what Chris Roberts says: Mastermind Chris Roberts comments on the action. He says there is a lot of hate and anger towards community management and marketing out there. But it was his idea to charge for the livestream.
Roberts explains this with the increased costs of the event.
What is so expensive? This year the Citizencon is three times larger than the last one, thus the costs are also doubled. Furthermore, everything is supposed to be presented more professionally. This would consume a low six-figure sum, starting from $100,000.
Such community content should not be financed from the budget for game development, so they are looking for another way.
To finance the Citizencon, they are orienting themselves towards Blizzard. They also wanted money for their Blizzcon.
You are watching anyway on YouTube
What matters is what is on YouTube: Roberts also says that streaming is only a small but important part of the event – the vast majority will be seen afterwards through the media and YouTube.
That is why it is so important to provide high-quality videos of the event on YouTube.
Therefore, Roberts promises that they will record, edit, and publish the presentations on YouTube. The presentations will come as quickly as possible – the panels then in the following days.
Streaming is only offered for hardcore fans who want to see the “raw content” live but have no opportunity to be there in person.
Roberts speaks of pitchforks
One can tell that Roberts is somewhat affected by the criticism he considers unfair.
Roberts says: “I understand that some of you do not consider these nuances when you take out your pitchforks. That is why I thought it would help to explain our thinking and decision-making process to you.”
He reiterates the benefits that are offered for free:
- Opening keynote and closing event live in the stream
- and all events for free on YouTube with some days delay
What has the stress now brought? It seems that Star Citizen has only now released the keynote and the closing event for free due to public pressure.
Update: The story has a sequel. Chris Roberts has now completely relented and made the stream free:
