I wouldn't be surprised if WoW has spent more money by now than Star Citizen has, but WoW was announced in 2001 and shipped a release version in 2004. The added

I wouldn't be surprised if WoW has spent more money by now than Star Citizen has, but WoW was announced in 2001 and shipped a release version in 2004. The added expenditures are all game updates, new campaigns, and general recurring expenses from running arguably the most successful MMO of all time. Star Citizen, by contrast, was announced over a decade later in 2012, and has gone through its hundreds of million dollars without shipping a release version, or even a beta version (they dub what's currently shipping an alpha). So it seems reasonable to hold them to a different standard. (Granted, it's not impossible Star Citizen is also profitable, all things considered, but that just raises more questions.)