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SourceStar Citizen fans have set yet another record in crowd funding: $20 million pledged to make sure this game is made by developers instead of publishers. It's especially fitting to me that we reach this goal today, on the anniversary of the release of the original Wing Commander. Thanks to the support of this incredible community, Star Citizen embodies everything I dreamed of doing with that series, and opens up the potential for so much more. Each of you has helped to make this possible and you are allowing us to create a game the way games should be created. Thank you!
At the $20 million mark, you unlocked the following stretch goal:
First person combat on select lawless planets. Don't just battle on space stations and platforms … take the fight to the ground!
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SourceIt's unbelievable: Star Citizen fans have helped us reach the $15 million mark without any special promotion! Ten years ago, big publishers decided space games weren't profitable… and you are proving them very, very wrong!
The $15 million unlock adds another flyable ship class to the game, the oft-discussed escort carrier. Every backer will also get a free digital 42-page Upgrade Handbook manual with their game which goes through the process of customizing and overclocking ship systems! We're excited about putting this one together, since it goes right to the heart of what's going to make Star Citizen unique.
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SourceI would like to extend my most heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you! We just hit $17 million at slightly past 12am PST August 31 2013 - less than seven days after we hit $16M!!! The power of this community is simply amazing!
We still have a ways to go before we have achieved the goal of being completely community funded but based on our current trajectory we're going to make it - maybe even by the end of this year! Which will be another amazing milestone that will have been set by this community. The enthusiasm and support the development team and I have felt is amazing and makes us even more determined to make the best damn space sim ever! (BDSSE!)
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I have read all of the criticism and there have been many great points. One of the great things about Star Citizen's development is that we can get feedback like this… and use it to figure out how to make things better.
The intention of creating Voyager Direct right now was the very opposite of what a lot of people are upset about. It is not supposed to be a cash shop! It's meant to be the very opposite!
I felt that it was important that we should make clear what are in-game items, earnable via game play. This was the whole reason of segregating these new items into the Voyager Direct store rather than the pledge store. We intend for players to be earning UEC in a limited fashion as early as the dogfighting module (say for fighting so many test battles, or winning a team battle competition) and felt Voyager Direct would be the first step in getting the basic systems in place. Ultimately you will be purchasing all these game items inside the game from in-game vendors on various planets but this won't come online until the Planetside module. Since the web team at Turbulent had already built a store interface and the team here was already creating items to outfit the hangar and ships, it seemed like an easy option to create Voyager Direct now to allow all of you to play with and check out some of the game items as they are created rather than waiting for Planetside module to see them in engine. The concept was that people that wanted to show their support and contribute towards the development cost of the game could buy some items to play with in their hangar but by establishing the prices in game terms it would also make it clear that these items are all earnable in game. I should also point out that Voyager Direct is intended only to sell cosmetic items or basic ship items that would be available on pretty much any planet - the better items will always have to be bought by actually flying to the appropriate planet or earning the via gameplay. There is no need to buy anything from Voyager Direct - it is all OPTIONAL and should be viewed the same way that you view paying for a subscription or buying a skin. All of this will be earnable in the game, without too much time invested.
I'm very opposed to having a game where ANY of the items, outside of your initial game / ship package can be only purchased with cash. I hate the bifurcation of items in most online games, even when they are just for flair items. I want Star Citizen to allow players to earn everything they need in-game for ships, upgrades and even flair.