Star Citizen surpassed $28M, new ship unveiled

Cloud Imperium Games Chairman and legendary developer Chris Roberts just announced that Star Citizen surpassed $28 Millions in crowdfunding. It’s a new record, but one that is destined to last mere weeks if the extraordinary enthusiasm and support behind this game is any indication.

The sci-fi sandbox trade and combat simulator should debut with an alpha release shortly, which will be solely dedicated to dogfighting. By the end of 2014, even the persistent universe beta should begin, with a release for both single player and multi player modes currently scheduled for Q1 2015, exclusively for PC. With all these stretch goals reached and surpassed, many are worried that Cloud Imperium could fall in the so-called “feature creep” issue, spreading the precious resources too much. Roberts addressed this in the following statement:

For our next several stretch goals, we’re going to try something different. We are constantly asked where the additional money goes. Surely new mocap hardware or a new starship design doesn’t cost a million dollars. The answer is that the stretch goals are an example: one big thing we will be doing with some of the money. Every additional million means that we’re hiring additional artists and programmers, equipping the team with better development tools and increasing the size of the talented outsource groups being trusted with aspects of Star Citizen’s development. It means more actors and time for mocap studios, more reference for designers, greater variety in game characters, more options in clothing and armor and a large array of ship items and weapons.

Every dollar improves the project. That isn’t as sexy as spending large amounts of money on impressive, headline-grabbing stretch goals… but it means a significantly better game in the end. So, for the next several stretch goals, we’re going to leave you with the knowledge that the money goes to improving all aspects of Star Citizen’s development.

So, it looks like “only” new ships will be unlocked for the next few stretch goals, rather than new features. Will this be enough to slow the unrelenting march of Star Citizen?

Regardless, the next ship to be unlocked is the Origin 890 Jump, described as “an interstellar super-yacht with exquisite styling and an array of high quality upgrade options”. Stay tuned on Worlds Factory for everything about Star Citizen!