5 ms·

It's not a typo, it's 750 million. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-funded_crowdfunding_projects https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest

by aeonik 2y ago

It's not a typo, it's 750 million. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-funded_crowdfunding_projects https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-funded_crowd...

vunderba 2y ago
There's not a lot of transparency around their funding - and the only indication that they've raised $700+ million is... their own website. They also claim around 5 million backers which puts the average donation at around 150 dollars. That seems really high. From the wikipedia article, the next highest game is Prison Architect at a comparatively paltry 20 million. It's still possible. On the other hand, it could all be completely PR bull crap since there's no way to audit them.
- anomaly_ 2y ago
  They have to file accurate statements with the UK government re some R&D tax incentives they claim; you can have a look at those filings on companies house. They lag the website but broadly align. + the $750m only includes ship sales. If you include other revenue (subscriptions) and investors, they are likely at $900m+ now.
  - vunderba 2y ago
    The only thing I could find in their filing history was from 2022 for their full accounts - revenue at that time as hovering around 50mil USD. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08882924/filing-history https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/c... EDIT: From Companies House Next accounts made up to 31 December 2023 due by 31 December 2024. So I guess we'll find out in roughly a month.
- MisterBiggs 2y ago
  > average donation at around 150 dollars. That seems really high. Check out the store, its absurd what they are able to charge for completely digital assets that don't even exist in game yet
  - aeonik 2y ago
    DCS has the same model, and I think it's a fair price considering how much work goes into these assets.
- yungporko 2y ago
  they sell virtual spaceships for thousands of dollars, i know a guy who bought several of them like 8 years ago. if he represents the average star citizen supporter (in the sense of being willing and eager to pay more money into a game you've already paid for, for rewards that don't actually exist, in a game that shows absolutely zero promise of ever actually releasing), i believe it.
  - acdha 2y ago
    I think this really illustrates how the scale of the gaming community is hard to reason about. $750 million sounds like a lot but when there are individuals willing to spend thousands of dollars apiece that only needs a core community measured in the hundreds of thousands, whereas AAA games sell tens of millions of copies in a given quarter. That’s still far from easy to do, but it suggests that we’ll see this happen periodically when someone hits the right combination for an underserved niche.
  - vunderba 2y ago
    I guess never underestimate the whales of a game. Reminds me of how virtual real estate in Linden Labs metaverse game of Second Life has sold for tens of thousands of dollars. Just absurd.
aucisson_masque 2y ago
Holy duck. That can’t be true, it said 65 millions on the website but I must have read it wrong. 10 years of development, 750 millions budget and people are still not convinced it’s a scam ? They want it so much, damn.
- edm0nd 2y ago
  It walks the line of a scam imo. They have developed and released enough of a "game" to keep stringing people along and pulling the correct heart strings to keep getting new funds.
  - smcin 2y ago
    "Term limits" for Kickstarter games...? On the other hand we have the Asmodee Digital business model: release an (initially) broken game somewhat on schedule with tons of bugs (Terraforming Mars) and only start fixing a few of the bugs if you sell enough copies [0]. But don't fix enough of them to the level where the digital version is as playable as the physical version, not for 5 years at least... in all sincerity I don't know why it's not acceptable to call something a beta release, price it and set expectations accordingly - but with a defined timeline (or revenue goal) to when it should become fully playable. I'm also reminded of the failed Mycroft AI voice assistant [1]. [0]: https://videogamegeek.com/thread/2206151/cthulhu-reviews-terraforming-mars-comparing-the-di https://videogamegeek.com/thread/2206151/cthulhu-reviews-ter... [1]: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=mycroft+ai https://hn.algolia.com/?q=mycroft+ai
  - yungporko 2y ago
    yeah i believe that it isn't an intentional scam, but from the POV of a customer, it would be totally indistinguishable from one and the end result is the same: taking money from gullible people for a promise that will never be fulfilled. i think it's just a poorly managed pipe dream product that won't ever get out of development hell. if the people involved in the management were half decent at their jobs they would have stopped expanding the scope and shipped the originally promised game 5 years ago, and then carried on releasing expansions like elite does.
- 2y ago

by aeonik 2y ago

It's not a typo, it's 750 million. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-funded_crowdfunding_projects https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-funded_crowd...

vunderba 2y ago

There's not a lot of transparency around their funding - and the only indication that they've raised $700+ million is... their own website. They also claim around 5 million backers which puts the average donation at around 150 dollars. That seems really high. From the wikipedia article, the next highest game is Prison Architect at a comparatively paltry 20 million. It's still possible. On the other hand, it could all be completely PR bull crap since there's no way to audit them.

anomaly_ 2y ago
They have to file accurate statements with the UK government re some R&D tax incentives they claim; you can have a look at those filings on companies house. They lag the website but broadly align. + the $750m only includes ship sales. If you include other revenue (subscriptions) and investors, they are likely at $900m+ now.
- vunderba 2y ago
  The only thing I could find in their filing history was from 2022 for their full accounts - revenue at that time as hovering around 50mil USD. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08882924/filing-history https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/c... EDIT: From Companies House Next accounts made up to 31 December 2023 due by 31 December 2024. So I guess we'll find out in roughly a month.
MisterBiggs 2y ago
> average donation at around 150 dollars. That seems really high. Check out the store, its absurd what they are able to charge for completely digital assets that don't even exist in game yet
- aeonik 2y ago
  DCS has the same model, and I think it's a fair price considering how much work goes into these assets.
yungporko 2y ago
they sell virtual spaceships for thousands of dollars, i know a guy who bought several of them like 8 years ago. if he represents the average star citizen supporter (in the sense of being willing and eager to pay more money into a game you've already paid for, for rewards that don't actually exist, in a game that shows absolutely zero promise of ever actually releasing), i believe it.
- acdha 2y ago
  I think this really illustrates how the scale of the gaming community is hard to reason about. $750 million sounds like a lot but when there are individuals willing to spend thousands of dollars apiece that only needs a core community measured in the hundreds of thousands, whereas AAA games sell tens of millions of copies in a given quarter. That’s still far from easy to do, but it suggests that we’ll see this happen periodically when someone hits the right combination for an underserved niche.
- vunderba 2y ago
  I guess never underestimate the whales of a game. Reminds me of how virtual real estate in Linden Labs metaverse game of Second Life has sold for tens of thousands of dollars. Just absurd.

aucisson_masque 2y ago

Holy duck. That can’t be true, it said 65 millions on the website but I must have read it wrong. 10 years of development, 750 millions budget and people are still not convinced it’s a scam ? They want it so much, damn.

edm0nd 2y ago
It walks the line of a scam imo. They have developed and released enough of a "game" to keep stringing people along and pulling the correct heart strings to keep getting new funds.
- smcin 2y ago
  "Term limits" for Kickstarter games...? On the other hand we have the Asmodee Digital business model: release an (initially) broken game somewhat on schedule with tons of bugs (Terraforming Mars) and only start fixing a few of the bugs if you sell enough copies [0]. But don't fix enough of them to the level where the digital version is as playable as the physical version, not for 5 years at least... in all sincerity I don't know why it's not acceptable to call something a beta release, price it and set expectations accordingly - but with a defined timeline (or revenue goal) to when it should become fully playable. I'm also reminded of the failed Mycroft AI voice assistant [1]. [0]: https://videogamegeek.com/thread/2206151/cthulhu-reviews-terraforming-mars-comparing-the-di https://videogamegeek.com/thread/2206151/cthulhu-reviews-ter... [1]: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=mycroft+ai https://hn.algolia.com/?q=mycroft+ai
- yungporko 2y ago
  yeah i believe that it isn't an intentional scam, but from the POV of a customer, it would be totally indistinguishable from one and the end result is the same: taking money from gullible people for a promise that will never be fulfilled. i think it's just a poorly managed pipe dream product that won't ever get out of development hell. if the people involved in the management were half decent at their jobs they would have stopped expanding the scope and shipped the originally promised game 5 years ago, and then carried on releasing expansions like elite does.
2y ago