Is Star Citizen a giant scam?

[Corwin111]

Let's put it this way. There exist only three games that I feel I have gotten my money's worth from. Games that I have played past whatever single-player they may or may not have had and then moved on to play the multiplayer on a daily basis for years on end. However incomplete it may be, SC is one of those games. 

 

Also, as Spoon pointed out above, I have gained real actual friends in this community. Not the "hey how about a raid on Saturday" online kind of friends, but the "Hey, I'd like to invite you to my wedding" kind. 

 

So there's that.

[Capt William Troop]

On 2/17/2019 at 6:00 PM, Radium_Angel said:

Not naysaying the game, I could not care less about it, not into star sims, I"m pointing out that's a lot of dosh (and it goes way up from there) for a game that's in alpha. You're paying for the privilege of finding bugs....they should be paying you, not the other way around.

I pre-order games regularly; Some I wait longer than others, but that's pre-ordering for you.

Pre-ordering Star Citizen grants me the privilege to play the pre-alpha builds, I don't have to, but its nice to see the game getting fleshed out before my eyes. When the game (separated into two but no increase in price), is completed The price will increase slightly so I as an additional reward for pre-ordering get a small discount.

 

[Praesi]

8 Years / 300 mio Dollars

Alpha Status / but Real Money Shop with ridicilous Prices.

Countles unfinished Features

1 unfinished Starsystem / 99 to go.

Chris Roberts bought himself a House for 4.7mio Dollars.

 

What  do you think?

[Warin]

No Man’s Sky is an example of what developers should do. They released a game that dramatically under delivered, and instead of throwing their hands up and giving a great big “meh” and moving on, they have instead delivered on pretty much everything they promised and more (VR, for instance.) And all the updates have been free.

 

SC on the other hand has blown through millions of dollars and many years and has very little to actually show for it. I wouldn’t classify it as a scam though. They have released bits as they are available and I fully believe the game will eventually get a 1.0 release. And when it hits an actual release, I will totally buy it.

 

After all, who wouldn’t want to play an expansive space sim, announced in 2012 with an expected 2014 release date? Me! Which is why I play Elite Dangerous!

[Corwin111]

On 5/10/2019 at 8:15 AM, Praesi said:

8 Years / 300 mio Dollars

Alpha Status / but Real Money Shop with ridicilous Prices.

Countles unfinished Features

1 unfinished Starsystem / 99 to go.

Chris Roberts bought himself a House for 4.7mio Dollars.

 

What  do you think?

Well... 7 years and 200 million dollars. The rest is more or less correct. Not sure about the house tho... do you have any documentation on that or did you read it at the same place where you came by the first figures in your post, because it's to be taken with a grain of salt if so.

[Praesi]

1 hour ago, Corwin111 said:

Well... 7 years and 200 million dollars. The rest is more or less correct. Not sure about the house tho... do you have any documentation on that or did you read it at the same place where you came by the first figures in your post, because it's to be taken with a grain of salt if so.

Forbes Magazin.

[Corwin111]

12 hours ago, Praesi said:

Forbes Magazin.

So that's a no, then.

[Guest]

On 2/17/2019 at 9:55 AM, george357 said:

No it is not a scam by any stretch of the imagination. It is still a few years from actual release, I would guess Beta around 2021-2022 if no major blockers arise in that time. There were many issues over the years including having to build the company from the ground up, completely alternating and rewriting a large part of the base game engine and developing new tech to support what they are trying to do. Additionally they are building two games at the same time, Star Citizen the MMO/Space SIM and Squadron 42 a single player game that is going to have something around 28 chapters and have at least two sequels. You don't have to play SQ42 but those that do will have some benefits of that carry over into Star Citizen.

 

As DesolationGod stated all you need is the base game package to play which is $45 USD without Squadron 42 and $65 USD with SQ42. There are some very expensive ships and ship packages available for those that want to put more money into the development process but is in no way necessary. All ships will be earnable in game with ingame currency. 

 

The game is still very much alpha with few gameplay loops and various bugs but it has come along steadily since I started in 2016. Currently most have have more fun when playing with friends. I play both in groups and solo and have well over a hundred hours in-game (probably closer to 500). If you want complete game play and can not handle bugs I would say it is probably too early for you currently. If those things don't bother you there is a lot of fun to be had. I suggest checking out Twitch streams such as TheFew, phantom0killer, Moist_Noodle or DrDronez if you want to see what gameplay looks like first hand. 

well atleast affordable hardware will be up to the task by then (y) 

[Praesi]

On 5/17/2019 at 10:50 AM, Corwin111 said:

So that's a no, then.

SC will NEVER be released as a finished Game. You will see.

[george357]

5 minutes ago, Praesi said:

SC will NEVER be released as a finished Game. You will see.

That would be because Star Citizen will never be complete, just like any other MMO. The game WILL RELEASE to the public as a release to market (RTM) game at some point. However, that release does not and can not mean that Star Citizen is "finished" as there will be additions and improvements made indefinitely. Anyone, at this stage, that thinks Star Citizen is some kind of scam is either being disingenuous, willfully ignorant, or gullible enough to believe the detractors. 

 

 

[george357]

On 5/11/2019 at 12:04 AM, Warin said:

No Man’s Sky is an example of what developers should do. They released a game that dramatically under delivered, and instead of throwing their hands up and giving a great big “meh” and moving on, they have instead delivered on pretty much everything they promised and more (VR, for instance.) And all the updates have been free.

 

 

I disagree wholeheartedly! What the developers of No Man's Sky did should be illegal and punishable by law. Thought processes like this are the reason why the gaming world is in such a state of crap games that are way overpriced currently. No company should be allowed to get away with dropping such a stinker on the market. I will applaud the developers for actually attempting to finish their mess but to me this is not the way a game should be done.

 

The one caveat I will add to the above is, if a given developer STATES UPFRONT that they are using this approach and the purchaser is fully aware of that then that would fine.

[unsungheroist]

i feel like it is a scam. i cant even play it longer than 2 mins before it crashes. i've barely made it past the your very first door after account creation. just always dies. and when i go to the forms of SC about this common error" that's just SC being itself" 

[JZStudios]

It's not a scam, just horrible mismanagement.

On 2/17/2019 at 1:24 PM, george357 said:

Typical naysayer nitpicking? I plainly wrote it is $45 to play the Alpha but that will also give you full access after release when the entry price will be $60+ just for Star Citizen. The $65 you attempt to misrepresent is the cost of TWO games, Star Citizen and Squadron 42.

I'd love to pay $60 for Battlefield, and then another $15 for the single player campaign.

 

On 2/18/2019 at 3:36 PM, george357 said:

Your opinions on what other people want to spend their money on is of no consequence. As far as the reasoning, it would take a completely moronic company to not give their backers what they want when those backers determine your funding on their whim. 

CIG doesn't know how to run a business. You keep the investors the hell out of your business and they reap the rewards. Let's also not forget that these people aren't investors. They don't see a return. They paid for a product early which has slammed past every deadline. The most logical thing to do in these situations, especially when making an MMO is continuing with the initial plan and deadlines you already set, meet those goals, launch the product, and then add improvements to the base. Not grow your company to over 500 employees. They're going up to GTAV status cost, and the game isn't even close to launching.

And Rockstar doesn't get away with spending money, time, and resources on completely pointless and inane details like shrinking horse balls.

 

Do you realize that CD Projekt Red, in the time from Star Citizens announce till now, has started working on Cyperpunk 2077, put it on hold, made the entirety of the Witcher 3, and then got back to work on Cyberpunk 2077 and will launch that before Star Citizen leaves alpha? With, according to Wikipedia, currently ~800 employees.

 

To bring it into space game terms, in the same period, Rebel Galaxy was released by a team of 2, had another game cancel, and have more than doubled their dev count to 5 and are releasing Rebel Galaxy Outlaw with an insane amount of features, full VO from some major actors, and entirely custom overhauled OGRE game engine.

And Elite Dangerous. That launched too.

[george357]

4 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

It's not a scam, just horrible mismanagement.

I'd love to pay $60 for Battlefield, and then another $15 for the single player campaign.

 

CIG doesn't know how to run a business. You keep the investors the hell out of your business and they reap the rewards. Let's also not forget that these people aren't investors. They don't see a return. They paid for a product early which has slammed past every deadline. The most logical thing to do in these situations, especially when making an MMO is continuing with the initial plan and deadlines you already set, meet those goals, launch the product, and then add improvements to the base. Not grow your company to over 500 employees. They're going up to GTAV status cost, and the game isn't even close to launching.

And Rockstar doesn't get away with spending money, time, and resources on completely pointless and inane details like shrinking horse balls.

 

Do you realize that CD Projekt Red, in the time from Star Citizens announce till now, has started working on Cyperpunk 2077, put it on hold, made the entirety of the Witcher 3, and then got back to work on Cyberpunk 2077 and will launch that before Star Citizen leaves alpha? With, according to Wikipedia, currently ~800 employees.

 

To bring it into space game terms, in the same period, Rebel Galaxy was released by a team of 2, had another game cancel, and have more than doubled their dev count to 5 and are releasing Rebel Galaxy Outlaw with an insane amount of features, full VO from some major actors, and entirely custom overhauled OGRE game engine.

And Elite Dangerous. That launched too.

Those games are not direct comparisons. Witcher had previous iterations so it was not a start from zero. Cyperpunk 2077 is one city not an entire universe. CIG is also working on two games, Star Citizen the MMO and Squadron 42 the single player campaign. Additionally CD Projekt Red also already a fully functioning company at the start and did not have to build the company as they received funding. I have played Elite and it has nothing compared to what Star Citizen will have and I have already gotten more enjoyment from the Alpha build than what time I tried Elite. Rebel Galaxy is not in the same universe.

 

CIG are doing this project very well, the idea of putting out an unfinished product and iterating later is not the correct way to go and the reason I backed to begin with. To many times companies put out crap and try to make it better. I do not want Star Citizen released until the major pillars are in and working correctly so that further iteration goes to adding content, not basic functionality.  There have been many changes as development has progressed and changes cause delays. It will come out when its done and not before, personally I wouldn't have it any other way.

[JZStudios]

On 5/20/2019 at 12:10 PM, george357 said:

That would be because Star Citizen will never be complete, just like any other MMO. The game WILL RELEASE to the public as a release to market (RTM) game at some point. However, that release does not and can not mean that Star Citizen is "finished" as there will be additions and improvements made indefinitely. Anyone, at this stage, that thinks Star Citizen is some kind of scam is either being disingenuous, willfully ignorant, or gullible enough to believe the detractors. 

 

 

Well actually Star Citizen in it's initial kickstarter/fundraising campaign had set deadlines and goals. Which they haven't reached yet, and have now added more things on top of it.

When they achieve the goals even just set in the crowd fund campaign it will "finished."

[george357]

5 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

Well actually Star Citizen in it's initial kickstarter/fundraising campaign had set deadlines and goals. Which they haven't reached yet, and have now added more things on top of it.

When they achieve the goals even just set in the crowd fund campaign it will "finished."

Ehh, as I said in a previous post here, Star Citizen will never be "finished". It will release to market once all the main parts of the gameplay are in and working correctly across the network. I figure we will have up to 5 systems in game, maybe less, at that market release. The other stuff in the goal list will come and probably rather quickly at that point but they will alway be iterating on the content and adding things as time goes on IMO.

[JZStudios]

3 minutes ago, george357 said:

Those games are not direct comparisons. Witcher had previous iterations so it was not a start from zero. Cyperpunk 2077 is one city not an entire universe. CIG is also working on two games, Star Citizen the MMO and Squadron 42 the single player campaign. Additionally CD Projekt Red also already a fully functioning company at the start and did not have to build the company as they received funding. I have played Elite and it has nothing compared to what Star Citizen will have and I have already gotten more enjoyment from the Alpha build than what time I tried Elite. Rebel Galaxy is not in the same universe.

 

CIG are doing this project very well, the idea of putting out an unfinished product and iterating later is not the correct way to go and the reason I backed to begin with. To many times companies put out crap and try to make it better. I do not want Star Citizen released until the major pillars are in and working correctly so that further iteration goes to adding content, not basic functionality.  There have been many changes as development has progressed and changes cause delays. It will come out when its done and not before, personally I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Witcher 3 had past lore. Everything else about it is different. A new engine, new assets, new story, their first open world game, new characters, new writing, new dialogue and VO, new gameplay mechanics, etc...

Cyberpunk 2077 will be a large, very detailed city. I can't comment too much about it's world and interactions since I haven't played it, but I would be immensely surprised if it was less than the Witcher 3.

No Mans Sky made an entire universe. From what I understand CIG is making 100 star systems, not galaxies, so they're only doing a small portion of a single galaxy. And based on what I've seen with their techno-city and other barren space objects, sorry, but I'm not impressed. If it's not done procedurally, then the base planet is "sculpted" and the buildings are randomly placed, and most of them do absolutely nothing. It's a serious case of "Why is this even in the game?" What's the point of landing aerodynamically atrocious spaceships on a planet surface if it's just a small hub with 3000 square miles of nothing else?

 

Don't even begin to argue that the single player is a separate game. It was initially funded and sold as being the same game. That's like... I made UAV's and then telling the customer (or backer) "Oh, you wanted wings on this? That'll be another purchase." That shit doesn't fly. Hey, that's almost a pun.

CIG shouldn't have 500 employees. They should've stuck to their original goals and deadlines and improved from there. The entire issue is that Chris Roberts has no clue how to run a business.

 

Releasing a product in a state that was originally marketed and sold as what the finished product would resemble is not "unfinished." It is by definition finished. Due to mismanagement and letting the wrong people decide things leads to being 6 years past your release date with no clear finish line.

[JZStudios]

20 minutes ago, george357 said:

Ehh, as I said in a previous post here, Star Citizen will never be "finished". It will release to market once all the main parts of the gameplay are in and working correctly across the network. I figure we will have up to 5 systems in game, maybe less, at that market release. The other stuff in the goal list will come and probably rather quickly at that point but they will alway be iterating on the content and adding things as time goes on IMO.

Yet again, I'll restate that they had initial deadlines, goals, and features stated that would be the "finished" game in 2014. Finished. Finished and met goals does not equal unfinished in any stretch of the imagination.

 

Going back to making UAVs, you get the customer to tell you what applications they need it for, you ask for a certain amount of money to complete the project by a deadline, then they stay the hell away from R&D and you do your job. You match the deadline and ship to the customer.

As long as you meet or exceed the needs both parties initially agreed upon, it is 100% finished. Any further improvements or development are extra and come after that, not before. You don't let your customer come in and say "Well if it can fly 10 pounds, then surely it can fly 20 right? I want it to fly 20 pounds. For 7 hours."

No. It doesn't work that way. That's a complete redesign and scrap of all your previous work, and then when you get it set to carry 20 pounds they come in asking for 30.

 

6 years past your deadline and you've never gotten off the ground because you didn't stick to your initial goals because your customer is a dipshit. And you're both probably out of money. But hey, at least there's constant progress so your customer isn't absolutely infuriated because he's the cause of every single delay.

 

 

You seem to not like Forbes, but based on this article in reference to an article on the Escapist, that's exactly what's happening at CIG;

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/01/report-star-citizen-is-almost-out-of-cash-and-chris-roberts-insatiable-ambition-is-to-blame/#2517ca5d5eed

The original article on Escapist has been pulled because CIG threatened to sue Escapist, demanded a public apology, and a third party investigation into the articles. The article itself has apparently been reinforced as to it's sources.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/04/star-citizen-developer-threatens-lawsuit-against-the-escapist-demands-apology-and-retraction/#79c956c817b1

 

And that was 2015.

[george357]

It was changed at backer request. You analogy to the UAV is completely without merit simple because they are definitely separate games, you can play one without the other (hint you can't fly a UAV without wings). You can go on the site right now and buy one without the other. They are tied to the same universe but that is all. The two games came from what backers wanted after it got going, we wanted two separate games and that's what CIG is doing. No man's sky has nothing unique but the same thing repeated over and over. The planets in Star Citizen are going to be procedural, that's what they are finalizing now in Stanton, their procedural generation tech for planets. They need the 500 employees or they wouldn't have them, they also have like 100 openings or something like that, this is what happens when you make something this large. 

 

You keep referencing the original plan that was scheduled for 2014 but as said before that plan changed drastically as those that funded the game wanted more and pushed to extend the timeframe for the increased additions to the game. So the whole "it was supposed to be out x" means absolutely nothing. As I said previously it will be out when it's ready and not before.

[george357]

6 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

Yet again, I'll restate that they had initial deadlines, goals, and features stated that would be the "finished" game in 2014. Finished. Finished and met goals does not equal unfinished in any stretch of the imagination.

 

Going back to making UAVs, you get the customer to tell you what applications they need it for, you ask for a certain amount of money to complete the project by a deadline, then they stay the hell away from R&D and you do your job. You match the deadline and ship to the customer.

As long as you meet or exceed the needs both parties initially agreed upon, it is 100% finished. Any further improvements or development are extra and come after that, not before. You don't let your customer come in and say "Well if it can fly 10 pounds, then surely it can fly 20 right? I want it to fly 20 pounds. For 7 hours."

No. It doesn't work that way. That's a complete redesign and scrap of all your previous work, and then when you get it set to carry 20 pounds they come in asking for 30.

 

6 years past your deadline and you've never gotten off the ground because you didn't stick to your initial goals because your customer is a dipshit. And you're both probably out of money. But hey, at least there's constant progress so your customer isn't absolutely infuriated because he's the cause of every single delay.

 

 

You seem to not like Forbes, but based on this article in reference to an article on the Escapist, that's exactly what's happening at CIG;

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/01/report-star-citizen-is-almost-out-of-cash-and-chris-roberts-insatiable-ambition-is-to-blame/#2517ca5d5eed

The original article on Escapist has been pulled because CIG threatened to sue Escapist, demanded a public apology, and a third party investigation into the articles. The article itself has apparently been reinforced as to it's sources.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/04/star-citizen-developer-threatens-lawsuit-against-the-escapist-demands-apology-and-retraction/#79c956c817b1

That article was a crap hit piece that gave out of date info and tried to use personal attacks as information about the game. It is drivel written for the clicks and nothing more. They couldn't even get the numbers straight, the game has raised 227 million to date through backer pledges, they took on an investor for 46 million that is going to the marketing of SQ42 not game development. They spend most of what is taken in year by year on development as the financials they release shows.

[JZStudios]

7 minutes ago, george357 said:

It was changed at backer request. You analogy to the UAV is completely without merit simple because they are definitely separate games, you can play one without the other (hint you can't fly a UAV without wings). You can go on the site right now and buy one without the other. They are tied to the same universe but that is all. The two games came from what backers wanted after it got going, we wanted two separate games and that's what CIG is doing. No man's sky has nothing unique but the same thing repeated over and over. The planets in Star Citizen are going to be procedural, that's what they are finalizing now in Stanton, their procedural generation tech for planets. They need the 500 employees or they wouldn't have them, they also have like 100 openings or something like that, this is what happens when you make something this large. 

 

You keep referencing the original plan that was scheduled for 2014 but as said before that plan changed drastically as those that funded the game wanted more and pushed to extend the timeframe for the increased additions to the game. So the whole "it was supposed to be out x" means absolutely nothing. As I said previously it will be out when it's ready and not before.

No, it's completely on point, because CIG is letting backers make it's decisions which is fucking retarded. It was initially sold as one and should be treated as such. And again, a VAST majority of games that have single player and multi player initially sold as a single package, are sold as a single package. Again, I'd love to buy Battlefield multiplayer for $60 and another $15 on the single player.

 

You do realize that No Mans Sky has procedural planets right? That's its entire selling point. Do you even know what procedural generation is? It's the embodiment of empty. Shit, even random generation is better. At least there's structure.

 

I don't know. Whatever. I'm done with this conversation. I don't understand how people think this method of "running" a business is a good idea. Deadlines, rules, regulations, and guidelines all exist to keep shit in check, on track, and on time. But whatever. Just complain about how I linked an old article. Completely ignore the rest of it. At this point Chris Roberts could come out as a serial child rapist and the fans would still back him and attack anyone who doesn't suck his nuts.

[JB780]

DayZ, but IN SPACE.

[Helly]

On 5/27/2019 at 12:04 AM, JZStudios said:

No Mans Sky made an entire universe. From what I understand CIG is making 100 star systems, not galaxies, so they're only doing a small portion of a single galaxy. And based on what I've seen with their techno-city and other barren space objects, sorry, but I'm not impressed. If it's not done procedurally, then the base planet is "sculpted" and the buildings are randomly placed, and most of them do absolutely nothing. It's a serious case of "Why is this even in the game?" What's the point of landing aerodynamically atrocious spaceships on a planet surface if it's just a small hub with 3000 square miles of nothing else?

sorry to burst your bubble, most of the city in cyberpunk will also do absolutely nothing. Its how games work, most of it does nothing cuz making it all takes 1. way to much time to make. 2. Way to much system resources to properly render at a decent framerate. It's just to fill the empty void of nothing so you have something to look at.

Also, the buildings on the planets in SC are just there for testing, that's what they do in alpha builds, testing.

 

On 5/27/2019 at 12:14 AM, JZStudios said:

6 years past your deadline and you've never gotten off the ground because you didn't stick to your initial goals because your customer is a dipshit. And you're both probably out of money. But hey, at least there's constant progress so your customer isn't absolutely infuriated because he's the cause of every single delay.

You seem to not like Forbes, but based on this article in reference to an article on the Escapist, that's exactly what's happening at CIG;

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/01/report-star-citizen-is-almost-out-of-cash-and-chris-roberts-insatiable-ambition-is-to-blame/#2517ca5d5eed

The original article on Escapist has been pulled because CIG threatened to sue Escapist, demanded a public apology, and a third party investigation into the articles. The article itself has apparently been reinforced as to it's sources.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/04/star-citizen-developer-threatens-lawsuit-against-the-escapist-demands-apology-and-retraction/#79c956c817b1

 

And that was 2015.

2 Paragraphs getting absolutely rekt by the 3 words and number coming after it. I just gotta say, that's damn impressive of you.

For a company (almost) out of money it is really impressive to keep going for 3 years. Chris has got to be doing something right if people keep working for him for 3 years without getting paid.

 

On 5/27/2019 at 12:34 AM, JZStudios said:

No, it's completely on point, because CIG is letting backers make it's decisions which is fucking retarded.

This game was and still mostly is completely made for and backed by random people all over the world. CIG is not letting the backers make decisions, they are listening to the people who are going to play their game. They are smart to listen to the people who care as much about their game and they do. Quite honestly, it's what all game companies should do.

 

On 5/27/2019 at 12:34 AM, JZStudios said:

You do realize that No Mans Sky has procedural planets right? That's its entire selling point. Do you even know what procedural generation is? It's the embodiment of empty. Shit, even random generation is better. At least there's structure.

You do realize you just described No Mans Sky as empty shit right? Everything you've said so far only shows you know nothing of SC and its development.

 

SC is or will be using procedural generation to create random planets and the cities on them. After that is done they will go over them and put the finishing touches on it such as adding specific details and such so the whole place comes alive and is not empty shit. They are only using procedural generation to save a whole shit ton of time on developing all the planets/system themselves by hand. That is the right way of using procedural generation.

 

You also either know nothing about running a company or you work for EA. Because this whole time you're saying they should have released and empty shell of shit and fixed it afterward, exactly like EA would have done. If you would have done the same, you should look to yourself for horrible mismanagement.

[Rosss]

I've never played Star Citizen, but taking money and opening the game at all is pretty BS (unless they were SERIOUSLY strapped for cash), if they didn't at least have like 50 hours of enjoyable (QA tested) content. I'd just think of it like WoW or Runescape, where they have updates that expand the game at a frequent pace. In both of those games, it would have been possible to have at least a playable game that can kill some hours with only around 10% of the quests.

[george357]

2 hours ago, Rosss said:

I've never played Star Citizen, but taking money and opening the game at all is pretty BS (unless they were SERIOUSLY strapped for cash), if they didn't at least have like 50 hours of enjoyable (QA tested) content. I'd just think of it like WoW or Runescape, where they have updates that expand the game at a frequent pace. In both of those games, it would have been possible to have at least a playable game that can kill some hours with only around 10% of the quests.

They opened Star Citizen as an Alpha for those that are interested in backing to have an opportunity to playtest each iteration of content as it is being developed. At the start of the project there was very little to do, walk around a hangar and look at your ships. Then as they built the game, the first system was added and still with little to actually do because it is a development process. Now we have that system roughly 2/3 complete with 2 planets, 11 moons, 6 rest stops and a Protoplanet. Currently there is enough content to tinker around here an there but of course there are still bugs and such that are inherent to an alpha build. I have been a part of the project since November 2016 and have over a thousand hours in game. There are other people that backed at the Original Kickstarter and have never played yet. 

 

This is not like a typical game that is worked on for years before players see anything about it, this game has had backer participation since the hangar modules I mentioned. This is not the early access crap on steam, it is a true Alpha build that will iterate and add stuff over time.  Here is a link to the Roadmap of what they hope to add in the coming ~year

 

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/roadmap/board/1-Star-Citizen

 

Here is a copy of their financials through 2017

 

https://cloudimperiumgames.com/blog/corporate/cfo-comment-2012-2017-financials