Entertainment
An Incomplete Sci-Fi Video Game Has Now Made Nearly A Billion Dollars
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Entertainment budgets today are astronomical, which is why, when Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts wanted to create his dream game, Star Citizen, he turned to crowdfunding. The gamble has paid off, as 13 years later, the total amount pledged for the development of his magnum opus has topped $933 million.
There is no way any studio would have ever agreed to spend over a decade and nearly a billion dollars on one game, which makes this a wild success story about believing in yourself. Making it even more impressive is that the game’s not even finished.
The Biggest Video Game Ever Made
Once completed Star Citizen will let players explore a massive sci-fi universe where they pilot their own massive capital ships, or smaller, more nimble explorers, to engage in trade, warfare, subterfuge, or anything else that their hearts desire. Every few years, a developer promises a grand sci-fi game of this caliber, and though No Man’s Sky is still around and kicking, nothing has ever been developed at this scale before. For sci-fi fans who have dreamed of piloting the Battlestar Galactica or spending time on a gigantic Babylon 5/Deep Space Nine-style space station, this has been the Holy Grail since the dawn of computing.
Star Citizen is playable right now (well, sort of, patch 4.5 introduced a lot of inventory-related bugs), and it looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s easy to spend hours in the Hanger mode exploring ships and debating if you should get a mortgage to afford the ship of your dreams. You can pay for ships with in-game currency or by using cold, hard cash. That helps explain why gamers have spent over $933 million in support of Roberts’ vision, no matter how long it takes.
A Billion Dollars And Still Not Done
Over the last 13 years of development, Star Citizen has gone through ups and downs. Players never know what the next patch will break, or when the latest promised feature is going to arrive. For example, Squadron 42, a single-player spin-off, was announced in 2014, and now, 12 years later, it’s finally completed. That’s still better than the promised science gameplay, which is nowhere to be found, along with base building, and alien races, among dozens and dozens of other features.
Star Citizen isn’t a complete game, which is why the studio got in trouble with the European Union for not making it clear in advertising that some of the ships are available in the Hangar mode, but are not yet playable in the persistent mode, or in some cases, they don’t exist. What is in the game right now looks amazing, and when everything comes together, it can be fun… for a few hours. As amazing as it looks, and as fun as it can be, you’d think $933 million would have resulted in a complete game after 13 years.
At its current pace, Star Citizen will clear $1 billion in funding in early 2027 and still be considered a disappointment. There’s been nothing this successful in the history of crowdfunding, but how much of that is profit and how much has been burned developing the greatest sci-fi game of all time (once it’s done… if it’s done) remains unknown. Sci-fi fans are used to disappointment, but we are finally getting a Stargate reboot, Star Wars is coming back to theaters, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is finally here, so maybe, just maybe, Chris Roberts grand vision will be here before we know it.