This might be the most important Star Citizen video to watch. For people thinking about getting into it, as well as for current players. It gives what almost no other videos or articles can... a fair and mostly objective perspective on the game and its progress.
You know, you pointing out that you have been covering it every day for 4 YEARS really makes me empathize with the few times you really show frustration with it all. How you maintain the positivity is commendable
It's a balance. I have plenty of gripes and frustrations I talk more about on the Livestreams and podcasts, but there are plenty interesting things to cover as well.
@@GlennRRB What makes you think people will suddenly decide to stop spending money on the game with year after year of record breaking income? I think some people won't ever stop giving them money short of the company outright dissolving.
@@nologin5375 Its a lot easier to a company stop receiving money than to receive money forever. Maybe they ll keep fooling around with ppls cash, but everything changes. A lot of good companies die. Imagine the bad ones.
"For now most people should not be playing it" I couldn't agree more. When people ask me how SC is doing I tell them to not get involved unless they're the most hardcore space simmers (and at that point they most likely already have a pledge). I can't wait to do all the cool activities this game will have with my friends but we're not there yet.
Yea for some of us the real dream is hoping we will still be alive when that final release game does finally come! I started thinking I found a game I could play with my son and now we are at the state where I am hoping it will be done so I can play with my grandson and I doubt I will give two shits if it takes so long I would dream about playing with my great grand son!
Yep. I have absolutely stopped talking about it. There are two people I know who are great candidates for SC but have been completely turned off. So no more recomendations from me, until the state of the game gets MUCH better.
I loved Wing Commander, so when this was pitched, I was an early crowdfunder. It's 11 years later, and yeah, I'm REALLY tired of waiting. I'm also tired of the excuses that come out about their really crappy customer service. So I'm not playing, but I'm also really angry that I gave them money a decade ago and am still waiting. They can make all the excuses they want, but a decade is still a decade and they've taken in hundreds of millions without really delivering.
@@Vandetta333 A thank you for "expanding virtual sciences", and a farewell to "all the backers" for making such a "fun and fulfilling ride with friends" a possibility. Yours truly, Chris Roberts and suckers co. It's already the most expensive piece of software of all time. There isn't money for marketing, bar the money they may get in the future out of those too invested. Obviously, deleting progress and talking over points of development isn't as precise and return friendly as quality informed intuition of the best in the industry, or letting AI handle the matrices the so much struggled with, and are probably culling through, over and over, until nothing of value is left. Anything they've worked for for so long, could have been done in 10 months today. The verbal bullshittery of Roberts is the most "vitriolous" part of the same failings that plague Phil Spencer, but he has deadlines that come to pass, and there is progress that stands test of time, unlike Chris who dominates everyone with a shred of money with shitlaced honey, and "Listen! If we do it such.. and SUCH..!" "..blahblah, please let me staaaay..!". Freelancer 2.0 guys- there is nothing in the engine, that would excuse anything like what has come to pass, bar the world being ready for tremendous AI, grand scale compute revolution implementation, results of which, would be on sale already. Get away right now, the sooner it will stop beoing re, and, de-constructed.. the sooner it will release, and be able to build upon itself. *Not attacking you Vandetta333, or anything, just putting things down "on paper"
@@Vandetta333 Its not the time, its 750mil to build a company, buy studios hire people etc. if money starts drying up it will lead to more delays, more money dries up and eventually fail, it all depends on if they are going to have money coming in, they can afford development going far in the future that would require 42 to come out and be a huge hit.
Money was supposed to be used to develop Star Citizen, but it's been used to develop an entire company. Fancy headquarters studio buildings, elaborate constructions at the studios including custom sliding doors and corporate art, rather than pinching pennies they've been spending like it's a never ending stream of cash coming in. Then they're going to sell the final product and and we will have financed the creation of an entire company. All the assets gained using our cash will be theirs to keep and use for further products. Pretty genius actually.
Ill say another thing. If I remember correctly, the original pitch of the kickstarter was the single player campaign wasnt it, it was why i backed. Online took over as the kickstarter got bigger.
I remember buying a ship for this thing in 2013 or so. I also remember that my nephew was just a newborn then. He is now 10, almost 11. I have only touched this 2 or 3 times since then, cause it became obvious what this was turning into. Again, take the time to understand and think about the timespan of a person being born and to being close to becoming a teenager lol, and this hasn't been released yet lol... I feel bad for people that have been invested in this and can't see how absurd it is anymore. Their denial has created this alternate reality that they force themselves into apparently.
Conversely, I bought a Mustang Alpha starter pack three years ago and have at points spent months playing it every day. No other game I own about flying spaceships comes anywhere close in the "actually flying your spaceship" department.
Sure. It's just most backers expected a full / relatively polished experience in less than 6 years because that's what they were promised. Most game studios in that situation get the backlash + get to do the patches for free if they care about making another game ever.
@@ackbooh9032 I sincerely doubt CIG will be making another game. Again they may not even finish this one. And I mean even after all these years, they're still working on trying to get certain things to work. It'd hard personally to fault them for not finishing their game after all these years when the games you see DO get completed in this genre have only a fraction of the potential features
There were people who backed this, excited for a new game from the creator of Wing commander and Privateer, after the 2012 trailer. They had tears in their eyes and spent hundreds of dollars. It would just take 3 or 4 years Roberts said. They have since died, never getting anything playable for or it.
@@catriona_drummond The Persistent Universe has been running since 2015. I first tried the game in 2016, but my GPU at the time couldn't handle it. I don't think they should have promised any timeframe, and even when they did, I don't think anyone should have believed them. I don't think anyone, themselves included, had any idea how complicated making this game was going to be. But they're still working on it! They could have taken their ball and their hundreds of millions of dollars and gone home, but they're still plugging away at this monstrosity, trying to get it to be the thing they've been dreaming about for decades.
I'm a 2014 backer and have long given up on any hope. It's been 9 years for me. Is 10 years a reasonable time to develop a game? 15 years? While the stuttering progress and dev issues may just be representative of how other large scale AAA budget games are developed, they're operating on the assumption that they can switch tack at any time (which they seem to be doing quite often) and that they will continue to receive funding from the public in a never-ending dev cycle. What happens when the interest and the money dies out?
Will it ever run out, though? They seem to have figured out a way to keep this ball rolling indefinitely. There's some serious skill involved in pulling that off, I must admit. No game, just endless development, paying for the lives of a sizeable team, seemingly forever.
A really quick note. Some great games like factorio, rimworld, oxygen not included, etc. etc. went for quite some time in early access (5+ years) so to come to citizen's defense for just a second (even though I have no hopes for it) they oversold what they were trying to do but the "early access for about a decade thing" isn't a solid line in the ever more common early access dev cycle. The only way No Man's Sky differs is that it released every update for free which made the game redeemable but the reason I include it here is because rather than go the EA route they released the game 1.0 from the get go. Fast forward to 2023 and it's still getting developed. Star Citizen clearly is a turd that is probably akin to Mass Effect Andromeda. Overly ambitious, has a few redeemable qualities, but overall has no positives for the parent company to >ever< release the game because that only means they'll get roasted akin to cyberpunk or other similar games with day1 patches and continue to fix it... only now in the open. Sad too afaik, Starfield is pretty much what star citizen promised to be, only without all the BS at least according to what my coworkers say about it.
10+ years seems reasonable considering that yet no game, even those that took 10 years have achieved what Star Citizens has already to offer. If CIG seems greedy, remember that this studio needs money and that it is a crowdfunded model. If people stop investing, the project just dies instantly. You don't pay for a jpeg or some useless paint. In fact, you are financing a project and get in return goodies as a reward. You don't buy a paint, ship or a jpeg for itself.
“The game’s not going anywhere”. Aunt that the truth! The promises about delivery dates for content (“SQ42 in 2 years!”) have slipped so many times that CiG has lost all respectability. Scope creep masquerading as stretch goals. If I didn’t know it’d only serve to line a lawyer’s pockets, I’d suggest a class action suit
@@Synthmilk Unreasonable delay for the delivery of a bought product? As Mike said above, they've blown past the promised delivery date with not too much more reasoning than "we found out we had more money so we decided we'd add more bells and whistles" which kept pushing that date further and further back. I'd imagine it would come down to needing to prove intent to scam before a payout would be possible in that situation. This is all hypothetical though. Personally, I think CIG has the money and that's it. No one will see a penny back even if nothing comes out.
@@daggern15 You would have to make the argument that the delay is unreasonable, nobody has made that argument for more than from their own personal perspective, and as is obvious, most people do not agree it's unreasonable. What's been added is far more than bells and whistles. Not to mention, for the PU, none of the features added have had any negative impact on the development of their server tech. Server tech that isn't finished yet. So even if they had finished only the bare minimum of features promised, the game still wouldn't be released, as the server tech is one of those original features. As for SQ42, getting more money than expected and thus expanding the scope and depth of the game is perfectly reasonable for a project of this kind, meaning one that is a dream moon shot. Again, the vast majority are fine with this. It would be hard for nothing to come of the project when we have had something come of it for over a decade. Not to mention CIG doesn't have most of the money anymore, it's mostly gone to salaries. So obviously if there was an end to the project that resulted in refunds, people would not get close to what they paid. That's not a scam, that's simple math.
Yeah, I gave up worrying about it years ago. I was there at the very beginning and it became clear nothing was going to happen fast. Back then I was super frustrated but over the last decade I've grown more to realize that everything worth doing takes a long ass time. I let it go and I'm totally at peace with it. I come back every now and then and I always see meaningful progress. It's plainly not a scam so all I have to do is keep busy until it looks like its ready for me. Pretty easy really, I got a son I should be playing lego with anyway. When he's tired of that then maybe we'll look up to the stars together.
I remember building lego with my best friend and building a toy train line with him and building in his sandpit. We would get in to a groove and these projects were all we wanted to do and we’d even hide from our Mums when they’d call us for dinner or when it was time to go home. These guys are living the dream. Endlessly building systems together day after day, months after month for years. Why would they want to stop that? But they WOULD have to stop that. To do the extremely stressful and incredibly difficult task of actually boxing and finishing a game they need to fix goals and stop endlessly building. What and incredibly hard job that’s going to be but how joyous it is to just keep playing together forever. But it’s time and they need an adult to tell them to come inside, get cleaned up and finish their homework. The management must clearly be gifted artists but they aren’t business adults. Chris needs to step down and they need to put someone in place who turns the ship around and heads it towards the completion of at least the campaign. Otherwise it will not “end up being” anything except what it is now. An endless proving ground for the most cutting edge systems in the world and a playpen for the man-children who make it.
As much as I might dislike how often games get rushed out for release too early, I have to admit that there IS a need for someone to be there to make sure that things stay on schedule. Otherwise you end up with a situation where the game just doesn't get released because the devs get lost in continuing to chase down the different ideas that they have.
Nah dude, they aren't having fun. It's a hellish process. I remember when they picked an engine which didn't have good networking in it. So they tried coding it in and it was super messy, didn't work with the event system. So they had to change engines. How much of a muppet do you have to be to pick an engine without networking? The leadership of this project are on drugs, worse amateurs than most junior devs. Their job is fixing nonsensical garbage of the previous devs, it's a horrible job.
Software developer speaking: The LEGO analogy is the problem. Software isn't a LEGO kit. There is no manual. Try this modification: You and your friend would build sand castles, bigger and bigger. Sometimes they crumble. Sometimes someone kicks it over. Sometimes a design doesn't come out right so you rebuild a part. When will you be done? The answer is... There is no "done". You have to mutually agree to a finish line. Chris doesn't have a finish line. The finish line is when he's dead so he doesn't have to pay bills anymore.
Schrödinger's game, as long as you don't see an update, the project is both alive and dead. I wish I gave a shit. I’ll give the game this, I’m excited to watch an eight hour UA-cam retrospective on the constant delays and money laundering.
...you cant count all their Stretchgoals and compare them to those already implemented somehow, to check how many % is already done of the game and how long it will still take... You get that, right? 😅
If cig was a bakery they could bake 4 pies in 2 hours, but by the time the recipe is finalized 5 years will have passed, and no pies. Just custard and pie crust samples.
True. Star Citizen is in reality a money print for Roberts, millions keep coming in day after day, all he needs to do is to maintain the illusion of "the greatest game ever". Star Citizen will only come out once the money dries up, and then it most certainly will NOT be the game promised.
Money doesn't magically make it possible to hit all deadlines. Obviously the player experience isn't that bad, since so many people are playing and continue to play.
"We don't have scope creep, it's just that old mechanics increase in scope as they're tied in with other features." Hey, I hate to be the guy to tell you this but that's the definition of scope creep lol
I have literally given up on this game. After spending four grand I never play it, watch any media about it or visit their website. This is honestly the first video I've watched about it in a very long time. I'll come back in 20 years when they're 9 billion dollars in is still haven't finished.
@@kybalionking9966 how do you think CIG able to sustain their development with 1000 people working? It's because their "players" are spending thousands of dollars buying "pledges."
As a mostly-outside observer who's hugely interested in this game becoming a reality.... Or at least I was like 10-12 years ago, even the more realistic folks in this community really sound like battered wives. It's pretty amazing how many people still hold out hope for this... tech demo? Art project? I don't even know what to call it at this point. I think the best thing that could happen is they run out of money and have to sell all their work to a real studio.
Yeah. tomato here is the kind who would even manage to give a "balanced" take on the sinking of the Titanic. The creativity in bs-ing is admirable, in a way.
Imagine a game, two actually, being in developement for over a decade and not even having a feature complete working engine, because the technical demands for its core features are so avantgarde, over-ambitious and keep constantly climbing. And imagine people keeping paying big money for it all for naught but concepts and promises despite having nothing to show for but a slowly expanding glorified Alpha tech demo. And the single player campaign of Squadron 42, lacking most of the advanced online components, should also have been ready and released years ago already by any reasonable standards, yet it isn't with no definitive date given. No other AAA developer, under any circumstances, could have pulled something similar off. If that isn't the biggest red flag, i don't know what is.
@@contris1 not adding new stuff would mean we wouldn't have the abitility to give certain players access to our ship, it would mean we couldn't allow our friends to sell our cargo, it would mean there'd be no way to repair your ship without going back to a space station, there'd be no easy way to stack items in the inventory, space ships would have no way of getting disabled they would just be destroyed, and on and on. The features they are adding are what is supposed to make the game, which sucks cause it HAS taken so long. But Mark is right, beta is a ways away, cause they have a lot of work ahead of them.
This game has been in development for a decade or more. No one who purchased ships for $20K or just paid for the game will ever see the game and items they bought. Star Citizen is a scam. You can see the exact same thing in scam real-estate projects. Massive buildings, yes they start to build, yes some progress is made. But eventually when people stop investing, so does the work. Anyone who paid money for something digital in this mess has lost that money. Forever. We now see Starfield about to go live. Will it have all the features of what Star Citizen will supposedly have? Hell no, but HELLO!!! It's a real game, where you can spend hundreds of hours for $70.00. I prefer to play a real game that can be added to over time by the developers and modders than a $20K digital spaceship that you'll never see. Wake up, if it looks like a scam, smells like a scam and sucks in money like a scam, it's a scam.
I've been telling ppl that ship naming will eventually expand to all ships but is currently only available for few as it's one of those things that CIG wanted to test out and expand later, only to get laughed at and told that doesn't make any sense... Excellent content as always. Keep it up buddy 🤝
People also don't understand, why features can be broken again and again, when they worked in the past; or why features would be needed to be removed in one build, just to get implemented again in the future. You can only understand this, if you have any interest of learing a tiny bit of the software, code, game engine topic. If you're thinking in terms of: "LOL i have milk butter eggs sugar flour baking powder and salt it shouldnt be too hard to make pancakes LOL", you will have a hard time to say the least ;)
750mil later you cant name a ship... I would start wondering, it's all honesty not that complicated and if that can break your code you are fucked, but you guys keep dreaming. Maybe after another 750mil and 10y you get the last laugh.
Even though I might not completley agree on some of your points, your presentation is very well put together, Intellegent and fair. I’m very impressed with this episode.
This gets said often, but I really, truly, wholeheartedly believe this game will never actually release. In 20 years, this will somehow still be "in development."
I mean, we’re about to be halfway there already. I’ll give them the first 3 years of ramp up, but 2014 was patch 1.0 and a fair benchmark for the true “beginning”. I don’t see this being done in another 10 years.
Some of the other creators talk about being frustrated with the state of the game as it is and don't care about the development as much. But I really vibe with your approach of being really interested in the story of the development, in how things turned out and the twists and turns in the journey. It really fascinates me too. Thanks for your continued deep dives.
One of the best aspects of it, of people were able to see something like this for a major Hollywood feature film, it would be seen as unprecedented. Here we have it with the equivalent in another industry. It's a cool real-time study!
Wow, the message at the end gave me goosebumps, as I did not expect to hear it. To basically stop forcing yourself to play it, and rather wait for the state of the game you wish for. Most people these days, buy have a look, drop it and never look back because it was a bad experience relativ to the expectations, loosing the sight for that one moment you are talking about, that people should focus on. Great video! Thanks
@@SpaceTomato The average GTA fan is 15 to 20 years younger than the average Wing Commander fan though, I dare to assume. Also, there is GTA V, for the time being.. And people haven't made payments into GTA IV 12 years ago
@@catriona_drummond but once GTA 5 was done, many folks only wanted to play GTA 6. Once the first Avatar came out, many folks only wanted to see Avatar 2. Same goes for Elder Scrolls 6. A ton of people die waiting for these games.
Good point: they add systems and mechanics just to have them in in some way, not spend time to polish them since they require large rework later anyhow.
“Optimistic advertising from devs” what an unbelievably polite way of describing lying about a products progress to sell images of ships for real money and copy’s of the game.
1000+ people but can't fix a single fucking bug in like 3 years but have plenty of forum warriors that make sure you get timed out if you question them.
I must say this is an honest and candid take on SC which really will resonate with newer players and long-time veterans alike. Thanks for being real with us! 21896
I like this direction you’ve taken. The more reporting, analytical, bigger picture, cadence and different perspectives presented in a calm and intriguing tone is making this channel standout and your work shine
This is like watching someone cover the pros and cons of heroin. Everyone who’s NOT a heroin addict knows that there ARE NO pros to heroin. The same can be said for people who haven’t put any money into Star Citizen. If you’re on the outside looking in, this game is a blatant scam meant to take in as much money as possible before it’s inevitably abandoned. If you’re one of the unfortunate souls who’s put money into this game, it’s very likely that the sunk cost fallacy has its hooks too deep into you for you to ever come out of it alive. Watching people still defend this game is EXACTLY the same as watching an interview with one of those elderly people who’s fallen for a Nigerian romance scam. The person they’ve fallen in love with doesn’t exist, and they aren’t trapped overseas. They’re a business meant to take advantage of unsuspecting people’s hope, by constantly stringing them along with “just a little more money” before they’re finally able to meet them. Of course that day never comes, but it doesn’t matter to the scammer because they’ve already drained their entire bank account. I used to think Star Citizen fans were just morons, but I’ve come to realize this game preys on the same psychological vulnerabilities as hard drugs and gambling. Just know that if you’re someone who’s still on board with this game, you’re indistinguishable from a mumbling, insane crack head on the side of the road screaming nonsense at everyone who passes by. Everyone in the word except for YOU can see the obvious truth. I would wish you the best of luck breaking free from your addiction, but I already know that you’ll defend this scam until you’re completely broke and you have nothing left for it to take from you.
Hey, the ride is the game. Nothing feels sweeter then actually completing a mission in spite of the growing pains. Not falling through a planet ✔️ Not getting killed by a lift ✔️ Not hitting an invisible asteroid✔️ Box delivery goes smoothly✔️ Not getting a 30k until after your mission is complete or resources transferred✔️ And my personal favorite, Not having your helmet glitch and suffocate in space🤐✔️ I love this Alpha of an Alpha👍
I have not played the game for a while but I still daydream about my fav ships flying about exploring the games potential. Perhaps as I discover the secret to eternal life I will get to see it all at the tender age of 21896
When a game charged thousands to buy a ship for a game with real money that was years away from completion, I knew it was a scam. And that was six years ago. I have had mostly passing interest since.
Very thankful for your updates! I stopped playing about four years ago. I decided back in 2019 to jump back in when the game comes out of beta. Sadly, that has not happened and doesn't look like it will anytime soon. I'm convinced that SC would have benefited with a publisher forcing the game to a schedule. A completed game lacking features is better than a feature sandbox with no game (IMHO).
I've backed SC since it was announced in 2012 and this is a pretty good primer for people who aren't in-the-loop. I don't think the game is a total scam or perfect sim but it is somewhere in between. The fact that we are still in alpha and only in the first out of 100 star systems a decade into development is a real smack in the face but the gameplay we currently have along with what's in development is very impressive. I really recommend having another game or games to play and then periodically checking in on SC when big patches come out. Trying to make SC your main game is just too frustrating at the moment.
Honestly, I still think the 100 systems is reachable. However a process has to be made and a template created to get there. If Pyro works then every subsequent system will follow that same method of creation cutting down processing time by half.
You know, when you have to state your sentence as "I do not think the game is a total scam...", that is huge red flag about state of the game development
@@iglidor That's the thing, they don't realize it even now haha. To most backers or people somewhat invested in this, this timeframe is completely normal, I mean if they cant see how scammy these people have been by now, they never will. They force themselves into believing that this is normal.
I don’t plan on playing this “game” again until/if it reaches beta. Not a Tarkov style “beta” but a feature complete package where they’re ironing out issues and game balance. At that point I feel like my feedback is valuable and the experience prior to release will actually be useful. Bless you for your dedication.
Had some friends interested on SC. "Wait for a free week, then we can do some shit around the verse, then you decide whether or not you pledge into it. And by the way, even if it goes good there's nothing keeping a bad update to make it unplayable". This is more or less what I tell my friends.
I tried SC not to long ago and i *really* wanted to love it. When they finally added hull scraping i jumped into the game and found it was just as fun as i wanted it to be.... when it worked. My issue withe the game is the "when it works" is so rare that it borders on insanity that CIG is even legally allowed to sell it as a game. You'd think after 10 years they'd have so much experience working on the game it would run buttery smooth but instead it's actually getting worse over time. The number of times my vulture blew up exiting a hanger made me walk away from the game and not bother ever wanting to go back.
It doesn't work a lot, that's why I generally tell folks not to play it. Legally they are allowed to sell it because it's still in active development as opposed to something like Cyberpunk which was legally required to be removed from stores being sold as a finished product. It's a slippery slope, but generally the true test will be when it's time to optimize the game for mass adoption.
I'm totally new to this, but doesn't the level of progress recently announced about Squadron 42 also mean that many of the Star Citizen systems are near workable completion?
Original backer here after 11 years what we got is pretty disgraceful. New buyers beware this game will probably get feature creeped for at least another 10 years
I've followed Star Citizen for 11 years now, having obtained my Golden Ticket, Colonel package and even the metal badge back in 2012. Seeing the game still in alpha, barely playable, and Squadron 42 nowhere in sight after over a decade is appalling. I get that development is hard, but it can't be an excuse at this point. As long as feature creep (or feature scope creep) and terrible project management are in the picture, Star Citizen will remain stuck in development for the foreseeable future. But one could even say the "forever in development" concept is practically the business model at this point: as long as funding continues, the game provides jobs and makes money. And thanks to ToS legalese changes over the years, RSI owes its patrons effectively nothing. Ultimately, the cold hard truth is that there's no motivation, no obligation to actually reach the finish line. Certainly not financially. As long as the cash cow keeps on giving, the game could be another 10 years in alpha, 10 more in beta, still a mess, but still making money. And if the cow ever shows signs of drying up, which I predict happening in less than a decade, RSI can cut their losses, pretend whatever they dump on the public is 1.0, shut everything down, and get away with it scot free. Who knows, I may be wrong. But it'll be my yet-unborn children the ones to tell me, via holo-call from their space college dorm quarters.
Great video! I remember hearing about Star Citizen like 5 years ago. Great to hear there is still so much passion and the details of everything look very exciting! I'll check back every couple years on this game xD
Great video (as always). Haven't played but 2 times in 10 years for about 2 months each. It keeps me excited, wowed, and hopeful without the extreme frustrations that frequent play brings. Sort of feel sorry for the folks playing regularly. I would imagine it's like watching countless trailers to a movie. Seeing the movie later would be such a shoulder shrug. So, good advice you're giving!
Loved the pacing, balance of information and subtle humor & blend of relevant facts with how realistic you were on how optimistic they are. After having pledged in 2020 and a wee bit over $1k in, I know when to play for fun with friends, relax on my own, or stay away for the dreaded 21896 or 30000 errors, or even worse-back to back event and ship sales to try and make up for their tech debt. Keep it up, Tomato!
I was just thinking about this the other day. I backed the game in 2014, since then i have grown up and my life situation has completly changed--i have completly changed . I dont even know if i will still be intereseted in or have the same amount of excitement and time to even play the game when it finally releases.
I love the game and tell all my friends about it. I play regularly and have invested a lot. That being said, I have been a part of 2 startups, and served as the head of product and head of technology. Building a company is hard - but not *that* hard. CIG makes it harder than it has to be.
I backed in 2012, a lot has changed since then, but they keep plodding along. The new videos released this week put things back in to perspective as to what they've achieved. I guess some people in these comments just need to hate something to feel like their life is valid. Hate all you want, the proof is out there. US$45 isn't a lot of money, I've spent more on games and gotten less, the PU is quite amazing already and SQ42 isn't that far out. Roblox is free, so I guess that's why a lot of people are slagging this game off!
They seem to have a lot of good ideas, but their ideas never seem to work as intended. Instead of focusing on a fix, they seem to beg for more money and move on to the next idea. 10+ years of development. Hundreds of millions of unearned money raked in from backers. Thats unacceptable. Star citizen feels like nothing more than a cash grab. Feels like a huge FAILURE
I love Star Citizen. Maybe the secret is that- I have never expected Star Citizen to be completed. Ever. I see Star Citizen as a cathedral. It takes multiple generations to complete a cathedral: they are generational projects. What I do is check in with the game every now and then, to see how it is doing. I am always impressed with what they are doing. Carry on, Star Citizen!
I appreciate the content you put out Tomato, you keep us up to date on a weekly basis. I backed the project in 2013 and have been following the development on a weekly/monthly basis and I can say your channel is the most concise and has the best put together videos out there. Keep up the good work!!
This Video really shows the problem. You make it seem that this is normal game development hell but actually its just unfocused. They try to develop everything simultaniously but they should just make a focussed efford step by step. Make a list of priorities and work on it point by point. Instead they made a feature list and put 1100 people on 70% of the features they want. Imagine if every Git project would be managed like this its just asking for bugs and problems and slow pace.
Similar to tarkov I don't understand how people aren't already sick of this game by the time it's hit 1.0 stringing people along for years is a recipe for angry disillusioned gamers.
People have to understand that 2012 pitch was just a cobbled together tech demo made buy a handful of guys. Real development took off in 2014. That's a mere 9 years which is nothing for a project of this magnitude. I have been around since 2013 and boy, it was a ride. Arena Commander was literally unplayable for a couple of years, but we still had fun in the PU and Jumptown 1.0 was a blast. We did Levski bloackdes and had pilots pay via beacons since moneytransfer wasn't in yet. And yesterday we were holding a bridge of a boarded Constellation against its crew , who were protecting their cargo and i realized once more: i already got everything i pledged for back in the day. Star Citizen forever.
Chris Roberts is like Peter Molyneux, without someone there with the willingness AND the ability to tell him "NO," the chances of a project reaching completion on time, within budget, and without scope creep are slim to none. With Chris in charge of everything, it was a foregone conclusion that chances of failure were almost certain. What I didn't expect was the nostalgic power of Wing Commander to attract so many whales to keep Chris swimming in money for so long.
It’s a tech demo because Chris Roberts is a poor leader. A good leader would have directed the project to the point of single system completion, added a few more systems, and then kept working from there. We all know they’ve had enough time and money. But Roberts doesn’t direct the project into a skillfully narrowed beam. He does 10-30% of all things then abandons them. It’s an unfocused, poorly managed mess. And that’s because of him.
@@johnryan3622 A capable leader would have focused on finishing Squadron 42 as a proof of concept years ago, to showcase both the technology and ambition, to get something tangible out there for the consumers from which to build further. Even if that would have meant making compromises concerning features or scope. Pushing the boundaries of what is possible is fine, Roberts has done it throughout his career as a game developer, always was avantgarde. But one can also push ambitions too far. And Roberts obviously doesn't know when to stop and reel in those lofty ambitions of his. He doesn't know how to limit himself to what's actually achievable with what's available and focus. And the fools that uncritically keep supporting him with their money only stoke those critical flaws and help him keep his head above the clouds so he can keep stargazing.
That's a really unintelligent take. This is his career, in what universe is the last 4 years of his life a waste? You only think it's a digital cash grab because you got your opinion from the Internet at large which is way more of a waste.
I played this game on and off since 2015 and it has never stopped to amaze and hype me , I had my lot of frustration ofc but I never really complained because I understood that we were on the road and I was grateful to be part of it , i just too, break that in truth was mainly hardware struggles . But recently I played almost everyday , and through the hurdles it can bring I never lost sigh of the end goal , this affabulation , the utter mad and fantastic dream that could be put into reality . Such and goal that I compare it to the reach toward space to colonise Mars in our world . An hard and colossal prospect / task but that needed to be undertake and tried whatever the result because of the scale and implication of something so great it cold lead to new frontiers and meanings . Star Citizen to me is The Game , it’s not just a space sim it’s much more . It has such potential . The awe , wonder and interactions it consistently gives a person like me never cease and will grow more stronger and diverse . Ultimately , even if it fails (witch I don’t think it will) It’ll be worth it for the things it gave me along the way as well as that I was a part of that gamble / attempt !
It has potential in your mind but does it in practice given the technology they have; an engine can only do so much. The project has been treading water for at least 7 years now.
11-12 years and 500-600 million dollars. The “road” is irrelevant, the resources spent should have produced 100x more than what we’ve received, period.
I've been with the project since late December of 2013. Im here for the project to go for the best damn universe sim never before seen, with an intent to give me the game of my life. I've seen massive progress since 2013, but when it comes to portions of the community...well, I dont know; most of the time - really, the vast majority of the time - I enjoy both the gameplay and the journey. When SC doesnt work well enough to test/play, I move over to other things. I would robustly recommend doing that to content creators and testers/supporters of the project. I hope that the project accommodates zero compromise to the fullest, most complete vision reflected somewhat in the stretch goals.
Personally, I started playing the game for what it is NOW, not the promises made. But I also cannot deny that often dreaming about imagined future gameplay is more fun than actually playing the game. But that imagining wouldnt be possible without the work that has already been put into the game and continues to be on a daily basis. 21896
Or: Why preproduction is so important - don't produce content if your (core) systems are (mostly) not done yet. The fact that they can F up this bad and still keep running is a testament of how much money they got. Really the result of their business model. If the industry was working correctly they wouldn't have to produce content to sell to you way in advance.
I discovered your channel while browsing for Starfield lol! while I don't think I'll ever play SC, I still enjoy watching the content you put out. I hope you can cover SF as well as you've covered SC even if it's just for a little while after the game releases. Thanks for the content!
This is a Chris Roberts problem, he's always been like that and quite a few years ago it became impossible toever actually being released because the second it gets released RSI effectively states "this is what you got for your money" and people crash from their hype, hopes and dreams. And then the lawsuits start.
the thing i find baffling is how they managed to raise over half a billion in funding but are still such a small team of developers. They should have bolstered their roster tenfold - there should be legal clauses to ensure teams expand according to funding to ensure deadlines are fulfilled.
@@johnty505 it's a common criticism. The team has grown over the last decade but at this point it's pretty large. Most of the work goes into Squadron 42, though, a different single player game.
What a wonderfully balanced review of the trials and tribulations of being both a backer and a developer (I'm sure) of Star Citizen. Great work Tomato! 👍
The engine was complete when they purchased the rights to use it. All they did was make tools it's no different then any other company to license an engine
Your take on the game is very objective. I have long viewed this game as the Apollo Space Program or SpaceX Starship as far as high risk programs. It is a true mega project that will take well over a decade to finish. There will be major failures and setbacks along the way but in the end, we will get the game of our dreams. It's going to be one really wild, thrilling ride of a lifetime
I learned that CIG is not truthful and occasionally lies about development. Their goal is to build a tech studio to sell to the highest bidder later. Secondary goal is to make a game.
Thank you. I do try and use my mind regularly. Much better than feeding into one's addiction and believing something that is painfully obvious. Hint hint...the money train is slowly coming to a stop...this won't last much longer.
SC has to stop implementing new features and start polishing the existing ones. It's way ahead of anything on the market. Then maybe in 5-6 years, we could end up with a beta.
"We're along for the ride." Dude, you're so right about that. We're being taken for a ride; just not in the optimistic way you're describing. At this point, they just want people engaged and keep buying their ships. This is a scam, plain and simple. They KNOW they're better off NOT releasing the game at all.
Oh? So all the tech/content being developed and implemented is just to keep people engaged and wanting to support the project? Isn't that how game development works? What makes this a scam?
@@Synthmilk Yeah, if they put in half the effort in actually finishing the game than what they're putting in making new ships....c'mon, man, it's pretty obvious.
@@Blackwingk No, it's not obvious at all, since only about 50 employees company wide are dedicated to making ships, and that leaves 550+ working on everything else. So, how would putting half the effort of making ships towards finishing the game, help significantly? That's only adding 25 people to the 550+, and you're assuming those people would be inherently useful to 100% of their talents in a different role.
It's crazy that star citizen is going to take so long to come out, that in comparison, it's graphics will look like trash next to everything else by the time it "releases".
They don’t tell you it’ll never be released. Sorry man, I’ve been following this slow moving train-wreck for 11 years… I’m done. You’re an amazing content creator…would love to see you expand into more viable projects. In the end, you’re not going to wanna be solely-attached to this when it all comes crashing down. 5 years ago, I would have read what I just wrote and argued with myself…I was a fanboy. Today? I’m awake. SC is the impossible dream…we dared to dream it, but now it’s time to wake up. Because like you said man, “the game isn’t going anywhere.”
Honestly, I don't think it's ambitious as much as it's always been designed to be a perpetual project with moving goalposts. The fact they charged so much for ships and focused on those right out of the gate was a huge red flag. Also the fact that game depends on technology that doesn't exist and might never exist was another huge red flag. A third big red flag was the engine. They focused on making those ships look pretty but didn't use an engine that was conducive to online multiplayer. These are just the big ones. There's so many red flags it's wild people ignore them. I'm sure there's some true believers on staff but I highly doubt all of them are. Too many of the changes to the game seem cynically motivated at best. But honestly there's more than enough information available to know this project will never get done regardless of if it was intended to be completed. It honestly makes me sad people still apologize for this game to this day, especially since I'm a huge fan of the genre it's in. The fact people are still spending money on this game that will never get completed when so many other games in this genre struggle to get funding is gross to me.
Star Citizen delays can be summed up as: - making MONEY by NOT finishing it - feature creep If you know enough about the game, you realize that they have MAJOR changes such as the graphics overhaul that's coming or certain network changes that you can point to and say "well, that's not going to be sorted for a minimum of two years." Chris Roberts, as the money piled up, expanded the scope of the game more and more such that it wasn't even feasible within a realistic time to get it to "gold/playable" status. And now we've got a game that needs a good CPU just to maintain above 30FPS that's not going to be close to an acceptable state for what will be over FIFTEEN YEARS from the start of the Kickstarter. I literally won't be alive to see it.
I often think how good it must be on developers CV's to have worked at CIG. Not often do many people have the chance to build systems from the ground up at this level. This game is training our up & comers to problem solve at new heights. When they move on they'll definitely have some new skills, even if its a case of knowing what NOT to do. Im holding my breath to see what S42's got in store for us. Hopefully (unlikely) itll be a case of just porting all those polished systems (star map, flight mechanics, hud, etc)... hopefully.
This might be the most important Star Citizen video to watch. For people thinking about getting into it, as well as for current players. It gives what almost no other videos or articles can... a fair and mostly objective perspective on the game and its progress.
I definitely inject some of my own opinion ;) but I hope this helps folks get a good perspective of where we are with Star Citizen right now.
Thanks!
"The game is not going anywhere" is a perfect description of the games development progress ... albeit an unintentional one.
You know, you pointing out that you have been covering it every day for 4 YEARS really makes me empathize with the few times you really show frustration with it all. How you maintain the positivity is commendable
It's a balance. I have plenty of gripes and frustrations I talk more about on the Livestreams and podcasts, but there are plenty interesting things to cover as well.
And now consider the creators who have been covering for ten years! Like saltemike, disco, or astropub!
@@hephaestion12 that's why I got those exact folks together to talk about it last week on the podcast! Interesting perspectives.
@@SpaceTomato haha yep I should have been up front and said listened to that the other day and it was really good!
I think Tomato opinion is perfectly balanced!
"The game isn't going anywhere" that's the perfect way to describe this game.
It has some real lasting power
Until ppl stop wasting thousands of dollars on blueprints of ships and the cash runs out and everything crumbles
The game isn't going anywhere and will probably NEVER go anywhere. Massive waste of time and money.
@@GlennRRB What makes you think people will suddenly decide to stop spending money on the game with year after year of record breaking income? I think some people won't ever stop giving them money short of the company outright dissolving.
@@nologin5375 Its a lot easier to a company stop receiving money than to receive money forever. Maybe they ll keep fooling around with ppls cash, but everything changes. A lot of good companies die. Imagine the bad ones.
"For now most people should not be playing it"
I couldn't agree more. When people ask me how SC is doing I tell them to not get involved unless they're the most hardcore space simmers (and at that point they most likely already have a pledge). I can't wait to do all the cool activities this game will have with my friends but we're not there yet.
There's plenty more to do of you want a more stable experience right now n
I advise everybody not to play, as a long term backer. I want to spare them the frustration and leave them to enjoy it some day if it ever releases.
Yea for some of us the real dream is hoping we will still be alive when that final release game does finally come! I started thinking I found a game I could play with my son and now we are at the state where I am hoping it will be done so I can play with my grandson and I doubt I will give two shits if it takes so long I would dream about playing with my great grand son!
Yep.
I have absolutely stopped talking about it.
There are two people I know who are great candidates for SC but have been completely turned off.
So no more recomendations from me, until the state of the game gets MUCH better.
Nah, I started playing in 3.18 and u definitely recommend people to play it
I loved Wing Commander, so when this was pitched, I was an early crowdfunder.
It's 11 years later, and yeah, I'm REALLY tired of waiting. I'm also tired of the excuses that come out about their really crappy customer service. So I'm not playing, but I'm also really angry that I gave them money a decade ago and am still waiting.
They can make all the excuses they want, but a decade is still a decade and they've taken in hundreds of millions without really delivering.
💯 this project is looking at another 10 years…easily.
@@Vandetta333 A thank you for "expanding virtual sciences", and a farewell to "all the backers" for making such a "fun and fulfilling ride with friends" a possibility. Yours truly, Chris Roberts and suckers co.
It's already the most expensive piece of software of all time. There isn't money for marketing, bar the money they may get in the future out of those too invested.
Obviously, deleting progress and talking over points of development isn't as precise and return friendly as quality informed intuition of the best in the industry, or letting AI handle the matrices the so much struggled with, and are probably culling through, over and over, until nothing of value is left. Anything they've worked for for so long, could have been done in 10 months today. The verbal bullshittery of Roberts is the most "vitriolous" part of the same failings that plague Phil Spencer, but he has deadlines that come to pass, and there is progress that stands test of time, unlike Chris who dominates everyone with a shred of money with shitlaced honey, and "Listen! If we do it such.. and SUCH..!" "..blahblah, please let me staaaay..!". Freelancer 2.0 guys- there is nothing in the engine, that would excuse anything like what has come to pass, bar the world being ready for tremendous AI, grand scale compute revolution implementation, results of which, would be on sale already. Get away right now, the sooner it will stop beoing re, and, de-constructed.. the sooner it will release, and be able to build upon itself.
*Not attacking you Vandetta333, or anything, just putting things down "on paper"
How much money did you donate?
@@UA-camDictatorship2024 more than it would take to buy a finished game in 2013 dollars. What's your point?
@@Vandetta333 Its not the time, its 750mil to build a company, buy studios hire people etc. if money starts drying up it will lead to more delays, more money dries up
and eventually fail, it all depends on if they are going to have money coming in, they can afford development going far in the future that would require 42 to come out
and be a huge hit.
Money was supposed to be used to develop Star Citizen, but it's been used to develop an entire company. Fancy headquarters studio buildings, elaborate constructions at the studios including custom sliding doors and corporate art, rather than pinching pennies they've been spending like it's a never ending stream of cash coming in. Then they're going to sell the final product and and we will have financed the creation of an entire company. All the assets gained using our cash will be theirs to keep and use for further products. Pretty genius actually.
Ill say another thing. If I remember correctly, the original pitch of the kickstarter was the single player campaign wasnt it, it was why i backed. Online took over as the kickstarter got bigger.
PRETTY GENIUS AND UNETHICAL - NOT MY KIND OF COMPANY - AWESOME GAME OR NOT
@@elfensky Makes me wonder whether that could be used to make a complaint to Kickstarter?
Pretty genius way to make everyone hate you and never want to buy anything from you again
Whoooo you are smoking that good copium. Tell me did you get your gold leaf boudoir photo of Cris for being a good simp?
I remember buying a ship for this thing in 2013 or so. I also remember that my nephew was just a newborn then. He is now 10, almost 11. I have only touched this 2 or 3 times since then, cause it became obvious what this was turning into. Again, take the time to understand and think about the timespan of a person being born and to being close to becoming a teenager lol, and this hasn't been released yet lol... I feel bad for people that have been invested in this and can't see how absurd it is anymore. Their denial has created this alternate reality that they force themselves into apparently.
Conversely, I bought a Mustang Alpha starter pack three years ago and have at points spent months playing it every day. No other game I own about flying spaceships comes anywhere close in the "actually flying your spaceship" department.
Sure. It's just most backers expected a full / relatively polished experience in less than 6 years because that's what they were promised. Most game studios in that situation get the backlash + get to do the patches for free if they care about making another game ever.
@@ackbooh9032 I sincerely doubt CIG will be making another game. Again they may not even finish this one. And I mean even after all these years, they're still working on trying to get certain things to work.
It'd hard personally to fault them for not finishing their game after all these years when the games you see DO get completed in this genre have only a fraction of the potential features
There were people who backed this, excited for a new game from the creator of Wing commander and Privateer, after the 2012 trailer. They had tears in their eyes and spent hundreds of dollars. It would just take 3 or 4 years Roberts said.
They have since died, never getting anything playable for or it.
@@catriona_drummond The Persistent Universe has been running since 2015. I first tried the game in 2016, but my GPU at the time couldn't handle it. I don't think they should have promised any timeframe, and even when they did, I don't think anyone should have believed them. I don't think anyone, themselves included, had any idea how complicated making this game was going to be. But they're still working on it! They could have taken their ball and their hundreds of millions of dollars and gone home, but they're still plugging away at this monstrosity, trying to get it to be the thing they've been dreaming about for decades.
"Test it, don't play it" - that's what I always tell people who want to try it.
Good philosophy
Agreed. That's the language I use entirely when inviting people. "Interested in the coolest testable yet entirely unfinished alpha I've ever seen?"
I'm a 2014 backer and have long given up on any hope. It's been 9 years for me. Is 10 years a reasonable time to develop a game? 15 years? While the stuttering progress and dev issues may just be representative of how other large scale AAA budget games are developed, they're operating on the assumption that they can switch tack at any time (which they seem to be doing quite often) and that they will continue to receive funding from the public in a never-ending dev cycle. What happens when the interest and the money dies out?
Will it ever run out, though? They seem to have figured out a way to keep this ball rolling indefinitely. There's some serious skill involved in pulling that off, I must admit. No game, just endless development, paying for the lives of a sizeable team, seemingly forever.
A really quick note. Some great games like factorio, rimworld, oxygen not included, etc. etc. went for quite some time in early access (5+ years) so to come to citizen's defense for just a second (even though I have no hopes for it) they oversold what they were trying to do but the "early access for about a decade thing" isn't a solid line in the ever more common early access dev cycle. The only way No Man's Sky differs is that it released every update for free which made the game redeemable but the reason I include it here is because rather than go the EA route they released the game 1.0 from the get go. Fast forward to 2023 and it's still getting developed.
Star Citizen clearly is a turd that is probably akin to Mass Effect Andromeda. Overly ambitious, has a few redeemable qualities, but overall has no positives for the parent company to >ever< release the game because that only means they'll get roasted akin to cyberpunk or other similar games with day1 patches and continue to fix it... only now in the open. Sad too afaik, Starfield is pretty much what star citizen promised to be, only without all the BS at least according to what my coworkers say about it.
When the interest dies, the game dies. They've got the difficult task of balancing the cost of development with the interest in playing the game
10+ years seems reasonable considering that yet no game, even those that took 10 years have achieved what Star Citizens has already to offer. If CIG seems greedy, remember that this studio needs money and that it is a crowdfunded model. If people stop investing, the project just dies instantly. You don't pay for a jpeg or some useless paint. In fact, you are financing a project and get in return goodies as a reward. You don't buy a paint, ship or a jpeg for itself.
@@citizenoftheverse4653 So you're saying that raising $600 million for this project and not having a released product after 9 years is not greedy?
“The game’s not going anywhere”. Aunt that the truth! The promises about delivery dates for content (“SQ42 in 2 years!”) have slipped so many times that CiG has lost all respectability. Scope creep masquerading as stretch goals. If I didn’t know it’d only serve to line a lawyer’s pockets, I’d suggest a class action suit
I'm curious what the foundation of the suit would be, hurt feelings don't quite cut it.
@@Synthmilk Unreasonable delay for the delivery of a bought product? As Mike said above, they've blown past the promised delivery date with not too much more reasoning than "we found out we had more money so we decided we'd add more bells and whistles" which kept pushing that date further and further back. I'd imagine it would come down to needing to prove intent to scam before a payout would be possible in that situation. This is all hypothetical though.
Personally, I think CIG has the money and that's it. No one will see a penny back even if nothing comes out.
@@daggern15 You would have to make the argument that the delay is unreasonable, nobody has made that argument for more than from their own personal perspective, and as is obvious, most people do not agree it's unreasonable.
What's been added is far more than bells and whistles.
Not to mention, for the PU, none of the features added have had any negative impact on the development of their server tech. Server tech that isn't finished yet. So even if they had finished only the bare minimum of features promised, the game still wouldn't be released, as the server tech is one of those original features.
As for SQ42, getting more money than expected and thus expanding the scope and depth of the game is perfectly reasonable for a project of this kind, meaning one that is a dream moon shot. Again, the vast majority are fine with this.
It would be hard for nothing to come of the project when we have had something come of it for over a decade. Not to mention CIG doesn't have most of the money anymore, it's mostly gone to salaries. So obviously if there was an end to the project that resulted in refunds, people would not get close to what they paid. That's not a scam, that's simple math.
"The game is not going anywhere"
That sums it up really
If only 734 other people didn't make this comment you could've been on to something
Yeah, I gave up worrying about it years ago. I was there at the very beginning and it became clear nothing was going to happen fast.
Back then I was super frustrated but over the last decade I've grown more to realize that everything worth doing takes a long ass time. I let it go and I'm totally at peace with it.
I come back every now and then and I always see meaningful progress. It's plainly not a scam so all I have to do is keep busy until it looks like its ready for me. Pretty easy really, I got a son I should be playing lego with anyway. When he's tired of that then maybe we'll look up to the stars together.
That's the way to do it! Waiting until it's ready is less stressful!
I remember building lego with my best friend and building a toy train line with him and building in his sandpit. We would get in to a groove and these projects were all we wanted to do and we’d even hide from our Mums when they’d call us for dinner or when it was time to go home.
These guys are living the dream. Endlessly building systems together day after day, months after month for years.
Why would they want to stop that?
But they WOULD have to stop that.
To do the extremely stressful and incredibly difficult task of actually boxing and finishing a game they need to fix goals and stop endlessly building.
What and incredibly hard job that’s going to be but how joyous it is to just keep playing together forever.
But it’s time and they need an adult to tell them to come inside, get cleaned up and finish their homework.
The management must clearly be gifted artists but they aren’t business adults.
Chris needs to step down and they need to put someone in place who turns the ship around and heads it towards the completion of at least the campaign.
Otherwise it will not “end up being” anything except what it is now. An endless proving ground for the most cutting edge systems in the world and a playpen for the man-children who make it.
living the dream and getting handsomely paid for it...SC subs are mugs!
As much as I might dislike how often games get rushed out for release too early, I have to admit that there IS a need for someone to be there to make sure that things stay on schedule. Otherwise you end up with a situation where the game just doesn't get released because the devs get lost in continuing to chase down the different ideas that they have.
Nah dude, they aren't having fun. It's a hellish process. I remember when they picked an engine which didn't have good networking in it. So they tried coding it in and it was super messy, didn't work with the event system. So they had to change engines. How much of a muppet do you have to be to pick an engine without networking? The leadership of this project are on drugs, worse amateurs than most junior devs. Their job is fixing nonsensical garbage of the previous devs, it's a horrible job.
@@ekstrajohn Food for thought
Software developer speaking: The LEGO analogy is the problem. Software isn't a LEGO kit. There is no manual. Try this modification: You and your friend would build sand castles, bigger and bigger. Sometimes they crumble. Sometimes someone kicks it over. Sometimes a design doesn't come out right so you rebuild a part. When will you be done? The answer is... There is no "done". You have to mutually agree to a finish line. Chris doesn't have a finish line. The finish line is when he's dead so he doesn't have to pay bills anymore.
Schrödinger's game, as long as you don't see an update, the project is both alive and dead.
I wish I gave a shit. I’ll give the game this, I’m excited to watch an eight hour UA-cam retrospective on the constant delays and money laundering.
Whoa, such philosophically advanced logic!!
The key for money laundering, for sure it is to become the worldwide aim of a whole sector.... xD
Game is like at 20% complete (official charts) in its 12 years of development. At that pace it will be done in 48 years... I mean come on.
Mmmhmm, and if it takes 2 hours to bake 4 pies, then obviously it will take 8 hours to bake 16 pies.
There's more to it than you're seeing.
...you cant count all their Stretchgoals and compare them to those already implemented somehow, to check how many % is already done of the game and how long it will still take... You get that, right? 😅
Sounds about right, they are trying to cram about 6 game genres into one
If cig was a bakery they could bake 4 pies in 2 hours, but by the time the recipe is finalized 5 years will have passed, and no pies. Just custard and pie crust samples.
True. Star Citizen is in reality a money print for Roberts, millions keep coming in day after day, all he needs to do is to maintain the illusion of "the greatest game ever". Star Citizen will only come out once the money dries up, and then it most certainly will NOT be the game promised.
A decade of development & 600 million in funding = no excuses for the non stop failed deadlines and very poor player experience.
Money doesn't magically make it possible to hit all deadlines. Obviously the player experience isn't that bad, since so many people are playing and continue to play.
"We don't have scope creep, it's just that old mechanics increase in scope as they're tied in with other features."
Hey, I hate to be the guy to tell you this but that's the definition of scope creep lol
I have literally given up on this game. After spending four grand I never play it, watch any media about it or visit their website. This is honestly the first video I've watched about it in a very long time. I'll come back in 20 years when they're 9 billion dollars in is still haven't finished.
😂😂😂four grand?????why?
@@kybalionking9966 I thought it was going to be great and I wanted to get a bunch of ships with lifetime insurance. Boy did they scam me.
@@kybalionking9966 how do you think CIG able to sustain their development with 1000 people working? It's because their "players" are spending thousands of dollars buying "pledges."
@@kybalionking9966 The same reason people put 40 grand in shit like Clash of Clans. Mental illness. Or its just pocket money for them
@@bltzcstrnx I asked him "why" he spent four grand on a picture of a space ship in a video game?can you not read?😂😂
As a mostly-outside observer who's hugely interested in this game becoming a reality.... Or at least I was like 10-12 years ago, even the more realistic folks in this community really sound like battered wives. It's pretty amazing how many people still hold out hope for this... tech demo? Art project? I don't even know what to call it at this point. I think the best thing that could happen is they run out of money and have to sell all their work to a real studio.
I would call It "scam"
You're certainly one of the more balanced creators reporting on SCs development.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Agreed, this is an admirably 'realist' take.
Development ? LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
@@virtualworldsbyloff weird comment, but you do you, boo.
Yeah. tomato here is the kind who would even manage to give a "balanced" take on the sinking of the Titanic. The creativity in bs-ing is admirable, in a way.
Imagine a game, two actually, being in developement for over a decade and not even having a feature complete working engine, because the technical demands for its core features are so avantgarde, over-ambitious and keep constantly climbing. And imagine people keeping paying big money for it all for naught but concepts and promises despite having nothing to show for but a slowly expanding glorified Alpha tech demo.
And the single player campaign of Squadron 42, lacking most of the advanced online components, should also have been ready and released years ago already by any reasonable standards, yet it isn't with no definitive date given. No other AAA developer, under any circumstances, could have pulled something similar off.
If that isn't the biggest red flag, i don't know what is.
Star Citizen is One mans Vision. No concern is given to keeping players happy.
I predicted 5 years ago that 10 years of development was not enough time to reach Beta stage... and yeah.
By my estimation from progress so far, we're still almost 10 years from beta... _from today._
@@randomuserameyeah by that time I will either find my way in life or be a decoration on a tree for Logan fucking Paul to make a video about.
what about not adding new stuff and start fixing bugs for 2 years so we can play this game in 2026
@@contris1 not adding new stuff would mean we wouldn't have the abitility to give certain players access to our ship, it would mean we couldn't allow our friends to sell our cargo, it would mean there'd be no way to repair your ship without going back to a space station, there'd be no easy way to stack items in the inventory, space ships would have no way of getting disabled they would just be destroyed, and on and on.
The features they are adding are what is supposed to make the game, which sucks cause it HAS taken so long. But Mark is right, beta is a ways away, cause they have a lot of work ahead of them.
@@SpaceTomatothat!
This game has been in development for a decade or more. No one who purchased ships for $20K or just paid for the game will ever see the game and items they bought.
Star Citizen is a scam.
You can see the exact same thing in scam real-estate projects. Massive buildings, yes they start to build, yes some progress is made. But eventually when people stop investing, so does the work.
Anyone who paid money for something digital in this mess has lost that money. Forever.
We now see Starfield about to go live. Will it have all the features of what Star Citizen will supposedly have? Hell no, but HELLO!!! It's a real game, where you can spend hundreds of hours for $70.00.
I prefer to play a real game that can be added to over time by the developers and modders than a $20K digital spaceship that you'll never see.
Wake up, if it looks like a scam, smells like a scam and sucks in money like a scam, it's a scam.
I've been telling ppl that ship naming will eventually expand to all ships but is currently only available for few as it's one of those things that CIG wanted to test out and expand later, only to get laughed at and told that doesn't make any sense...
Excellent content as always. Keep it up buddy 🤝
That would be pretty wild if they just decided to say 95% of ships can't be named!
@@SpaceTomato exactly!
Remember the people laughing are themselves wrong about everything, their opinions are irrelevant
People also don't understand, why features can be broken again and again, when they worked in the past; or why features would be needed to be removed in one build, just to get implemented again in the future. You can only understand this, if you have any interest of learing a tiny bit of the software, code, game engine topic. If you're thinking in terms of: "LOL i have milk butter eggs sugar flour baking powder and salt it shouldnt be too hard to make pancakes LOL", you will have a hard time to say the least ;)
750mil later you cant name a ship... I would start wondering, it's all honesty not that complicated and if that can break your code you are fucked, but you guys keep dreaming.
Maybe after another 750mil and 10y you get the last laugh.
I just want my 60 dollars back...
Even though I might not completley agree on some of your points, your presentation is very well put together, Intellegent and fair. I’m very impressed with this episode.
Thank you! There's plenty of opinion in here, so I expect folks will have very different views!
This gets said often, but I really, truly, wholeheartedly believe this game will never actually release. In 20 years, this will somehow still be "in development."
I mean, we’re about to be halfway there already. I’ll give them the first 3 years of ramp up, but 2014 was patch 1.0 and a fair benchmark for the true “beginning”. I don’t see this being done in another 10 years.
Why do you really truly wholeheartedly believe that?
Some of the other creators talk about being frustrated with the state of the game as it is and don't care about the development as much. But I really vibe with your approach of being really interested in the story of the development, in how things turned out and the twists and turns in the journey. It really fascinates me too.
Thanks for your continued deep dives.
One of the best aspects of it, of people were able to see something like this for a major Hollywood feature film, it would be seen as unprecedented. Here we have it with the equivalent in another industry. It's a cool real-time study!
Wow, the message at the end gave me goosebumps, as I did not expect to hear it. To basically stop forcing yourself to play it, and rather wait for the state of the game you wish for. Most people these days, buy have a look, drop it and never look back because it was a bad experience relativ to the expectations, loosing the sight for that one moment you are talking about, that people should focus on.
Great video! Thanks
Many have died waiting, since 2012.
@@catriona_drummondthis can be said about a lot of things. People been waiting for GTA 6 about just as long.
@@SpaceTomato The average GTA fan is 15 to 20 years younger than the average Wing Commander fan though, I dare to assume.
Also, there is GTA V, for the time being..
And people haven't made payments into GTA IV 12 years ago
@@catriona_drummond but once GTA 5 was done, many folks only wanted to play GTA 6. Once the first Avatar came out, many folks only wanted to see Avatar 2. Same goes for Elder Scrolls 6. A ton of people die waiting for these games.
Good point: they add systems and mechanics just to have them in in some way, not spend time to polish them since they require large rework later anyhow.
“Optimistic advertising from devs” what an unbelievably polite way of describing lying about a products progress to sell images of ships for real money and copy’s of the game.
Keyboard Warriors who spam SC videos be like
@@Uncanny_Mountain bots be like ..
@@Uncanny_Mountain😂😂😂douche bag
1000+ people but can't fix a single fucking bug in like 3 years but have plenty of forum warriors that make sure you get timed out if you question them.
''The game's not going anywhere." That about sums it up.
I tried to get a refund a couple months ago...no dice.
BG3 came out and Starfield came out and had what...less time than Star Citizen
I must say this is an honest and candid take on SC which really will resonate with newer players and long-time veterans alike. Thanks for being real with us! 21896
I think it sets the stage reasonably!
I like this direction you’ve taken. The more reporting, analytical, bigger picture, cadence and different perspectives presented in a calm and intriguing tone is making this channel standout and your work shine
This is like watching someone cover the pros and cons of heroin. Everyone who’s NOT a heroin addict knows that there ARE NO pros to heroin. The same can be said for people who haven’t put any money into Star Citizen.
If you’re on the outside looking in, this game is a blatant scam meant to take in as much money as possible before it’s inevitably abandoned. If you’re one of the unfortunate souls who’s put money into this game, it’s very likely that the sunk cost fallacy has its hooks too deep into you for you to ever come out of it alive.
Watching people still defend this game is EXACTLY the same as watching an interview with one of those elderly people who’s fallen for a Nigerian romance scam. The person they’ve fallen in love with doesn’t exist, and they aren’t trapped overseas. They’re a business meant to take advantage of unsuspecting people’s hope, by constantly stringing them along with “just a little more money” before they’re finally able to meet them. Of course that day never comes, but it doesn’t matter to the scammer because they’ve already drained their entire bank account.
I used to think Star Citizen fans were just morons, but I’ve come to realize this game preys on the same psychological vulnerabilities as hard drugs and gambling. Just know that if you’re someone who’s still on board with this game, you’re indistinguishable from a mumbling, insane crack head on the side of the road screaming nonsense at everyone who passes by. Everyone in the word except for YOU can see the obvious truth. I would wish you the best of luck breaking free from your addiction, but I already know that you’ll defend this scam until you’re completely broke and you have nothing left for it to take from you.
Comparing people who are excited for a game to... heroin addicts... nice.
Yikes, man.
Hey, the ride is the game. Nothing feels sweeter then actually completing a mission in spite of the growing pains. Not falling through a planet ✔️ Not getting killed by a lift ✔️ Not hitting an invisible asteroid✔️
Box delivery goes smoothly✔️ Not getting a 30k until after your mission is complete or resources transferred✔️
And my personal favorite, Not having your helmet glitch and suffocate in space🤐✔️
I love this Alpha of an Alpha👍
Your production value is incredibly high, very enjoyable to watch it videos. Ty
10 years is unreasonable, how many backers have died waiting?
I have not played the game for a while but I still daydream about my fav ships flying about exploring the games potential. Perhaps as I discover the secret to eternal life I will get to see it all at the tender age of 21896
When a game charged thousands to buy a ship for a game with real money that was years away from completion, I knew it was a scam. And that was six years ago. I have had mostly passing interest since.
Very thankful for your updates!
I stopped playing about four years ago. I decided back in 2019 to jump back in when the game comes out of beta. Sadly, that has not happened and doesn't look like it will anytime soon.
I'm convinced that SC would have benefited with a publisher forcing the game to a schedule. A completed game lacking features is better than a feature sandbox with no game (IMHO).
Sounds still so overprotective about CIG and SC. It's just a commercial product, you don't owe it anything.
I've backed SC since it was announced in 2012 and this is a pretty good primer for people who aren't in-the-loop.
I don't think the game is a total scam or perfect sim but it is somewhere in between. The fact that we are still in alpha and only in the first out of 100 star systems a decade into development is a real smack in the face but the gameplay we currently have along with what's in development is very impressive.
I really recommend having another game or games to play and then periodically checking in on SC when big patches come out. Trying to make SC your main game is just too frustrating at the moment.
Honestly, I still think the 100 systems is reachable. However a process has to be made and a template created to get there. If Pyro works then every subsequent system will follow that same method of creation cutting down processing time by half.
You know, when you have to state your sentence as "I do not think the game is a total scam...", that is huge red flag about state of the game development
@@iglidor That's the thing, they don't realize it even now haha. To most backers or people somewhat invested in this, this timeframe is completely normal, I mean if they cant see how scammy these people have been by now, they never will. They force themselves into believing that this is normal.
That is exactly what most of the folk I know do. Hop in and out - we have other ‘primary’ & ‘secondary’ titles to enjoy as well.
@@grygaming5519Isn’t procedural generation coming in once the core systems are completed?
I don’t plan on playing this “game” again until/if it reaches beta. Not a Tarkov style “beta” but a feature complete package where they’re ironing out issues and game balance. At that point I feel like my feedback is valuable and the experience prior to release will actually be useful. Bless you for your dedication.
Had some friends interested on SC.
"Wait for a free week, then we can do some shit around the verse, then you decide whether or not you pledge into it.
And by the way, even if it goes good there's nothing keeping a bad update to make it unplayable".
This is more or less what I tell my friends.
I tried SC not to long ago and i *really* wanted to love it. When they finally added hull scraping i jumped into the game and found it was just as fun as i wanted it to be.... when it worked.
My issue withe the game is the "when it works" is so rare that it borders on insanity that CIG is even legally allowed to sell it as a game.
You'd think after 10 years they'd have so much experience working on the game it would run buttery smooth but instead it's actually getting worse over time.
The number of times my vulture blew up exiting a hanger made me walk away from the game and not bother ever wanting to go back.
It doesn't work a lot, that's why I generally tell folks not to play it.
Legally they are allowed to sell it because it's still in active development as opposed to something like Cyberpunk which was legally required to be removed from stores being sold as a finished product. It's a slippery slope, but generally the true test will be when it's time to optimize the game for mass adoption.
I'm totally new to this, but doesn't the level of progress recently announced about Squadron 42 also mean that many of the Star Citizen systems are near workable completion?
Yes it does. They've been working, and things are really coming together now.
Original backer here after 11 years what we got is pretty disgraceful. New buyers beware this game will probably get feature creeped for at least another 10 years
I've followed Star Citizen for 11 years now, having obtained my Golden Ticket, Colonel package and even the metal badge back in 2012.
Seeing the game still in alpha, barely playable, and Squadron 42 nowhere in sight after over a decade is appalling. I get that development is hard, but it can't be an excuse at this point.
As long as feature creep (or feature scope creep) and terrible project management are in the picture, Star Citizen will remain stuck in development for the foreseeable future. But one could even say the "forever in development" concept is practically the business model at this point: as long as funding continues, the game provides jobs and makes money. And thanks to ToS legalese changes over the years, RSI owes its patrons effectively nothing.
Ultimately, the cold hard truth is that there's no motivation, no obligation to actually reach the finish line. Certainly not financially. As long as the cash cow keeps on giving, the game could be another 10 years in alpha, 10 more in beta, still a mess, but still making money. And if the cow ever shows signs of drying up, which I predict happening in less than a decade, RSI can cut their losses, pretend whatever they dump on the public is 1.0, shut everything down, and get away with it scot free.
Who knows, I may be wrong. But it'll be my yet-unborn children the ones to tell me, via holo-call from their space college dorm quarters.
Great video! I remember hearing about Star Citizen like 5 years ago. Great to hear there is still so much passion and the details of everything look very exciting! I'll check back every couple years on this game xD
It's a long journey lol
But an exciting one!
It's a perfect cash extortion machine, give somewhat microscophic progress, work on 1000$ dollars ships and cash in on the circle.
Great video (as always). Haven't played but 2 times in 10 years for about 2 months each. It keeps me excited, wowed, and hopeful without the extreme frustrations that frequent play brings. Sort of feel sorry for the folks playing regularly. I would imagine it's like watching countless trailers to a movie. Seeing the movie later would be such a shoulder shrug. So, good advice you're giving!
Loved the pacing, balance of information and subtle humor & blend of relevant facts with how realistic you were on how optimistic they are.
After having pledged in 2020 and a wee bit over $1k in, I know when to play for fun with friends, relax on my own, or stay away for the dreaded 21896 or 30000 errors, or even worse-back to back event and ship sales to try and make up for their tech debt. Keep it up, Tomato!
I was just thinking about this the other day. I backed the game in 2014, since then i have grown up and my life situation has completly changed--i have completly changed . I dont even know if i will still be intereseted in or have the same amount of excitement and time to even play the game when it finally releases.
And all you can think about since 2014 is star citizen?
I love the game and tell all my friends about it. I play regularly and have invested a lot.
That being said, I have been a part of 2 startups, and served as the head of product and head of technology. Building a company is hard - but not *that* hard. CIG makes it harder than it has to be.
Oh they've definitely made mistakes that have slowed down progress, but I do believe their situation makes this a.... Spectacular task
you did not invest. you threw money at a dream that will never be reality. The only dream that became reality is Chris Robert's Bank account.
I backed in 2012, a lot has changed since then, but they keep plodding along. The new videos released this week put things back in to perspective as to what they've achieved. I guess some people in these comments just need to hate something to feel like their life is valid. Hate all you want, the proof is out there. US$45 isn't a lot of money, I've spent more on games and gotten less, the PU is quite amazing already and SQ42 isn't that far out. Roblox is free, so I guess that's why a lot of people are slagging this game off!
They seem to have a lot of good ideas, but their ideas never seem to work as intended. Instead of focusing on a fix, they seem to beg for more money and move on to the next idea.
10+ years of development. Hundreds of millions of unearned money raked in from backers. Thats unacceptable. Star citizen feels like nothing more than a cash grab. Feels like a huge FAILURE
I love Star Citizen. Maybe the secret is that- I have never expected Star Citizen to be completed. Ever. I see Star Citizen as a cathedral. It takes multiple generations to complete a cathedral: they are generational projects. What I do is check in with the game every now and then, to see how it is doing. I am always impressed with what they are doing. Carry on, Star Citizen!
Love this, couldn't agree more.
Starfield still cant even scratch the surface when it comes to SC
I appreciate the content you put out Tomato, you keep us up to date on a weekly basis. I backed the project in 2013 and have been following the development on a weekly/monthly basis and I can say your channel is the most concise and has the best put together videos out there. Keep up the good work!!
Thank you! It's a blast, I'm glad you like them.
This Video really shows the problem. You make it seem that this is normal game development hell but actually its just unfocused. They try to develop everything simultaniously but they should just make a focussed efford step by step. Make a list of priorities and work on it point by point. Instead they made a feature list and put 1100 people on 70% of the features they want. Imagine if every Git project would be managed like this its just asking for bugs and problems and slow pace.
Your videos are the best bro love your content and dedication to your craft.
Thank you! Glad you enjoy them.
Bruh is Starfield turns out 75% as well as we think it will, Star Citizen is gonna look real bad optics wise
This whole game sounds like a nightmare. I’d be very pISSED to essentially be a beta tester for YEARS
No
Similar to tarkov I don't understand how people aren't already sick of this game by the time it's hit 1.0 stringing people along for years is a recipe for angry disillusioned gamers.
People have to understand that 2012 pitch was just a cobbled together tech demo made buy a handful of guys. Real development took off in 2014. That's a mere 9 years which is nothing for a project of this magnitude. I have been around since 2013 and boy, it was a ride. Arena Commander was literally unplayable for a couple of years, but we still had fun in the PU and Jumptown 1.0 was a blast. We did Levski bloackdes and had pilots pay via beacons since moneytransfer wasn't in yet. And yesterday we were holding a bridge of a boarded Constellation against its crew , who were protecting their cargo and i realized once more: i already got everything i pledged for back in the day. Star Citizen forever.
Chris Roberts is like Peter Molyneux, without someone there with the willingness AND the ability to tell him "NO," the chances of a project reaching completion on time, within budget, and without scope creep are slim to none. With Chris in charge of everything, it was a foregone conclusion that chances of failure were almost certain. What I didn't expect was the nostalgic power of Wing Commander to attract so many whales to keep Chris swimming in money for so long.
It's not a game... it's a glorified tech demo
It’s a tech demo because Chris Roberts is a poor leader. A good leader would have directed the project to the point of single system completion, added a few more systems, and then kept working from there. We all know they’ve had enough time and money.
But Roberts doesn’t direct the project into a skillfully narrowed beam. He does 10-30% of all things then abandons them. It’s an unfocused, poorly managed mess. And that’s because of him.
@@johnryan3622 A capable leader would have focused on finishing Squadron 42 as a proof of concept years ago, to showcase both the technology and ambition, to get something tangible out there for the consumers from which to build further. Even if that would have meant making compromises concerning features or scope.
Pushing the boundaries of what is possible is fine, Roberts has done it throughout his career as a game developer, always was avantgarde. But one can also push ambitions too far. And Roberts obviously doesn't know when to stop and reel in those lofty ambitions of his. He doesn't know how to limit himself to what's actually achievable with what's available and focus. And the fools that uncritically keep supporting him with their money only stoke those critical flaws and help him keep his head above the clouds so he can keep stargazing.
they dont want it to end,theres too many people on the gravy train...
@@johnryan3622 sadly I agree. It's a cool and beautiful game but goddamn CIG needs to get their shit together.
Facts.@@johnryan3622
They did not have enough money, they had way to much money, hence why they don't deliver.
Your positive view and optimism give me hope for this game.
I can't believe you dedicated 4 years of your life to a digital cash grab.
That's a really unintelligent take. This is his career, in what universe is the last 4 years of his life a waste?
You only think it's a digital cash grab because you got your opinion from the Internet at large which is way more of a waste.
I played this game on and off since 2015 and it has never stopped to amaze and hype me , I had my lot of frustration ofc but I never really complained because I understood that we were on the road and I was grateful to be part of it , i just too, break that in truth was mainly hardware struggles . But recently I played almost everyday , and through the hurdles it can bring I never lost sigh of the end goal , this affabulation , the utter mad and fantastic dream that could be put into reality . Such and goal that I compare it to the reach toward space to colonise Mars in our world . An hard and colossal prospect / task but that needed to be undertake and tried whatever the result because of the scale and implication of something so great it cold lead to new frontiers and meanings . Star Citizen to me is The Game , it’s not just a space sim it’s much more . It has such potential . The awe , wonder and interactions it consistently gives a person like me never cease and will grow more stronger and diverse .
Ultimately , even if it fails (witch I don’t think it will) It’ll be worth it for the things it gave me along the way as well as that I was a part of that gamble / attempt !
It has potential in your mind but does it in practice given the technology they have; an engine can only do so much. The project has been treading water for at least 7 years now.
11-12 years and 500-600 million dollars. The “road” is irrelevant, the resources spent should have produced 100x more than what we’ve received, period.
@@JonCampo91 k
@@nighttrain1236 it has realize much more than I initially thought possible it's a game like none else , if it's not for you ok , cool bye :)
@@Azariel-Horfald That's ok for me if you make a good argument with specifics. A general claim of 'amazing progress' means nothing.
I've been with the project since late December of 2013. Im here for the project to go for the best damn universe sim never before seen, with an intent to give me the game of my life.
I've seen massive progress since 2013, but when it comes to portions of the community...well, I dont know; most of the time - really, the vast majority of the time - I enjoy both the gameplay and the journey. When SC doesnt work well enough to test/play, I move over to other things. I would robustly recommend doing that to content creators and testers/supporters of the project. I hope that the project accommodates zero compromise to the fullest, most complete vision reflected somewhat in the stretch goals.
"The game's not going anywhere" Well said, well said!
Personally, I started playing the game for what it is NOW, not the promises made. But I also cannot deny that often dreaming about imagined future gameplay is more fun than actually playing the game. But that imagining wouldnt be possible without the work that has already been put into the game and continues to be on a daily basis. 21896
Or: Why preproduction is so important - don't produce content if your (core) systems are (mostly) not done yet. The fact that they can F up this bad and still keep running is a testament of how much money they got. Really the result of their business model. If the industry was working correctly they wouldn't have to produce content to sell to you way in advance.
I discovered your channel while browsing for Starfield lol! while I don't think I'll ever play SC, I still enjoy watching the content you put out.
I hope you can cover SF as well as you've covered SC even if it's just for a little while after the game releases.
Thanks for the content!
This is a Chris Roberts problem, he's always been like that and quite a few years ago it became impossible toever actually being released because the second it gets released RSI effectively states "this is what you got for your money" and people crash from their hype, hopes and dreams. And then the lawsuits start.
I have backed since 2017, this is the greatest level of frustration I have had.
Focus is on SQ42, something I did not spend money for CIG to develop.
That's ok, this project isn't about your feelings
the thing i find baffling is how they managed to raise over half a billion in funding but are still such a small team of developers. They should have bolstered their roster tenfold - there should be legal clauses to ensure teams expand according to funding to ensure deadlines are fulfilled.
They have over 1000 employees. They've expanded quite a bit
@@SpaceTomato I had no idea - I just assumed it was still a tiny team considering the pace of progress
@@johnty505 it's a common criticism. The team has grown over the last decade but at this point it's pretty large. Most of the work goes into Squadron 42, though, a different single player game.
What a wonderfully balanced review of the trials and tribulations of being both a backer and a developer (I'm sure) of Star Citizen.
Great work Tomato! 👍
Thank you! It's a really interesting topic. This is such a unique situation.
Thank you. I wasn't able to find up to date information about the status of the game.
The engine was complete when they purchased the rights to use it. All they did was make tools it's no different then any other company to license an engine
No, they completely reconfigured the engine, to the point they can license it as their own, hence Star Engine
Your take on the game is very objective. I have long viewed this game as the Apollo Space Program or SpaceX Starship as far as high risk programs. It is a true mega project that will take well over a decade to finish. There will be major failures and setbacks along the way but in the end, we will get the game of our dreams. It's going to be one really wild, thrilling ride of a lifetime
It's so wild! I hope the destination is as exciting. Thanks for watching :)
Biggest risk for SC is that it becomes obsolete before even reaches Beta let alone Release.
That's a horrible take. They're building tech that doesn't exist yet in any other game, how the hell could they become obsolete? Nonsense
I learned that CIG is not truthful and occasionally lies about development. Their goal is to build a tech studio to sell to the highest bidder later. Secondary goal is to make a game.
I learned keyboard warriors like to pretend their opinions are facts, and run away with all kinds of made up bullshit
Quantum Computing will make this games idea real one day. Just never from CIG
Thank you. I do try and use my mind regularly. Much better than feeding into one's addiction and believing something that is painfully obvious. Hint hint...the money train is slowly coming to a stop...this won't last much longer.
You started making videos the same month I found the game. Inspirational content.
Well said.
I see it as such; if you want the best game to ever exist, it's going to take a lot of time to make.
True, and thankfully it's releasing in a few weeks and we no longer have to hope for SC.
@@OldManShoutsAtClouds Enjoy your load screens...
@atomicwrath5824 oooooh good one lol. Enjoy your complete lack of content since 2016 ✌️
@@atomicwrath5824 Enjoy the kool-aid.
SC has to stop implementing new features and start polishing the existing ones. It's way ahead of anything on the market. Then maybe in 5-6 years, we could end up with a beta.
"We're along for the ride." Dude, you're so right about that. We're being taken for a ride; just not in the optimistic way you're describing. At this point, they just want people engaged and keep buying their ships. This is a scam, plain and simple. They KNOW they're better off NOT releasing the game at all.
Oh? So all the tech/content being developed and implemented is just to keep people engaged and wanting to support the project?
Isn't that how game development works? What makes this a scam?
@@Synthmilk Yeah, if they put in half the effort in actually finishing the game than what they're putting in making new ships....c'mon, man, it's pretty obvious.
@@Blackwingk No, it's not obvious at all, since only about 50 employees company wide are dedicated to making ships, and that leaves 550+ working on everything else.
So, how would putting half the effort of making ships towards finishing the game, help significantly? That's only adding 25 people to the 550+, and you're assuming those people would be inherently useful to 100% of their talents in a different role.
@@Synthmilk Right, and what have those considerable number of employees done over these considerable number of years with the considerable resources?
Fantastic video. I wish this explanation existed from the beginning. I have a new outlook. Thanks.
It is a major scam. But, nobody will prosecute them.
It's crazy that star citizen is going to take so long to come out, that in comparison, it's graphics will look like trash next to everything else by the time it "releases".
They don’t tell you it’ll never be released. Sorry man, I’ve been following this slow moving train-wreck for 11 years…
I’m done.
You’re an amazing content creator…would love to see you expand into more viable projects. In the end, you’re not going to wanna be solely-attached to this when it all comes crashing down.
5 years ago, I would have read what I just wrote and argued with myself…I was a fanboy. Today? I’m awake.
SC is the impossible dream…we dared to dream it, but now it’s time to wake up. Because like you said man, “the game isn’t going anywhere.”
Honestly, I don't think it's ambitious as much as it's always been designed to be a perpetual project with moving goalposts. The fact they charged so much for ships and focused on those right out of the gate was a huge red flag. Also the fact that game depends on technology that doesn't exist and might never exist was another huge red flag. A third big red flag was the engine. They focused on making those ships look pretty but didn't use an engine that was conducive to online multiplayer. These are just the big ones. There's so many red flags it's wild people ignore them.
I'm sure there's some true believers on staff but I highly doubt all of them are. Too many of the changes to the game seem cynically motivated at best. But honestly there's more than enough information available to know this project will never get done regardless of if it was intended to be completed.
It honestly makes me sad people still apologize for this game to this day, especially since I'm a huge fan of the genre it's in. The fact people are still spending money on this game that will never get completed when so many other games in this genre struggle to get funding is gross to me.
Star Citizen delays can be summed up as:
- making MONEY by NOT finishing it
- feature creep
If you know enough about the game, you realize that they have MAJOR changes such as the graphics overhaul that's coming or certain network changes that you can point to and say "well, that's not going to be sorted for a minimum of two years." Chris Roberts, as the money piled up, expanded the scope of the game more and more such that it wasn't even feasible within a realistic time to get it to "gold/playable" status. And now we've got a game that needs a good CPU just to maintain above 30FPS that's not going to be close to an acceptable state for what will be over FIFTEEN YEARS from the start of the Kickstarter. I literally won't be alive to see it.
Wordsalad nonsense
I often think how good it must be on developers CV's to have worked at CIG. Not often do many people have the chance to build systems from the ground up at this level. This game is training our up & comers to problem solve at new heights. When they move on they'll definitely have some new skills, even if its a case of knowing what NOT to do. Im holding my breath to see what S42's got in store for us. Hopefully (unlikely) itll be a case of just porting all those polished systems (star map, flight mechanics, hud, etc)... hopefully.