For 13 years, one developer has been promising to construct a completely simulated galaxy in one of the vital bold massively multiplayer video games ever. In spite of everything that point, and several other lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from keen gamers, you continue to can’t totally discover that recreation, which has but to even announce a launch date. However for the primary two weeks of July, you may no less than pop your head in and have a look round at what its prolonged, costly growth has wrought thus far.
It’s been so lengthy because the announcement of Star Citizen that its title now not even elicits the sense of marvel that it as soon as did, or the exasperated eyerolls it did after that. Lately, most individuals can be hard-pressed to even keep in mind that the sport exists till prompted, not to mention recall any of its wildly lofty guarantees.
Star Citizen has made loads of massive guarantees and didn’t ship on most of them.
Cloud Imperium Video games
Spearheaded by Chris Roberts, creator of the basic Wing Commander sequence, Star Citizen was introduced in 2012 with a Kickstarter marketing campaign that raised round $2 million. The sport was meant to be an MMORPG that permit gamers freely zip round in area, dwelling as merchants, mercenaries, or nevertheless else they selected in a recreation meant to launch in 2014. As a substitute, that yr noticed the discharge of Enviornment Commander, one in all a number of impartial “modules” that developer Cloud Imperium Video games has launched, showcasing varied features of the sport that may, at some point, supposedly, be related into one seamless universe. There’s additionally the first-person shooter Star Marine, the open-world Persistent Universe, and the thrilling Hangar module, which is actually an enormous storage the place you may take a look at the spaceships you personal up shut.
And once I say the spaceships you (versus your character) personal, I imply it. Apart from the sheer period of time it’s taken for any a part of it to come back to fruition, probably the most controversial side of the sport’s growth has been the promoting of digital ships for real-world cash. That may not appear terribly odd, given the prevalence of paid DLC, till you keep in mind that the sport isn’t out but, most of the purchasable ships are nonetheless being added to the modules that do exist, and so they can value you many hundred {dollars} every. In 2023, Cloud Imperium even rolled out a bundle together with a lot of the recreation’s practically 200 ships plus a bundle of beauty choices for a whopping $48,000. Sure, all three of these zeroes are intentional. As of June 2025, Star Citizen has raised greater than $845 million from backers.
The Free Fly occasion could also be your greatest likelihood to seek out out what on Earth Star Citizen really is.
Cloud Imperium Video games
So what does $845 million and 13 years of growth add as much as in Star Citizen proper now? Hell if I do know, however yow will discover out for your self in the course of the Free Fly occasion, operating in the course of the annual in-game Basis Competition till July 14. The concept behind the Basis Competition is to get new gamers into the sport, helped this time by a newly up to date referral program that provides rewards to new gamers who shell out for full entry to the sport — no matter meaning at this stage of growth — and to the gamers who invited them.
To be clear, I’m not recommending you try this. The referral program is frankly extraordinarily sketchy, encouraging gamers to usher in as many new prospects as they’ll. I can’t even essentially advocate the Fly Free weeks as an excellent time, as a result of once I tried it final yr, I discovered the introduction it supplied to Star Citizen so complicated, and the efficiency of the sport so horrible, that I might barely handle to get the hangar to ooh and ahh on the ships on show earlier than it crashed and I made a decision it wasn’t price my time.
On the possibility that it’s performing higher this time, although, I do assume it may very well be worthwhile as well up the free model and poke round, if just for the novelty of it. Improvement occasions in mainstream video games are getting longer and longer as their budgets balloon on the similar charge, however Star Citizen is on one other stage. It’s morbid curiosity, certain, however I’m curious nonetheless about what’s been produced thus far by such a gargantuan and costly enterprise. Moreover, if you wish to wait till it’s completed to have a look, you would be ready a very long time.
