7 ms·

Genuine question: Who looks at a video game that has raised hundreds of millions and think “Yeah they need more cash to get this out”

noirbot 2y ago
I don't think that's why people are giving them money at this point. They're paying for stuff in the game that happens to be rewards for "crowdfunding" the game. It's not a "Just 100 more bucks and maybe they'll deliver", it's folks already playing the content that's in the game and buying further ships or such for whatever reason.
- lolinder 2y ago
  Then this isn't crowdfunding any more, it's DLC revenue.
  - popcorncowboy 2y ago
    But nowhere near as clickable a headline
  - eloisant 2y ago
    Yes I don't know why we're still talking about Star Citizen as a crowdfunding project in development. It's a released game that is constantly evolving and getting money from in-game purchases, like Fortnite.
dmix 2y ago
They apparently found every whale gamer on the market willing to buy virtual ships and stuff like that. I think all expenditure towards the game is counted as "crowdfunding"
- mh- 2y ago
  That player database is worth a fortune.
  - oefrha 2y ago
    Yes, gullible, impulsive gamers are worth more than most people would imagine. According to an industry insider who I talked to recently, a casino-like mobile game sold its users for ~$300 a piece, and that’s counting the majority of non-whale users who don’t spend a dime.
NelsonMinar 2y ago
They're exploiting people who are vulnerable to collecting impulses.
- Loughla 2y ago
  Isn't that just most people though?
  - HKH2 2y ago
    It seems like a majority. The people that collect NFTs should be in their own category though.
    - Loughla 2y ago
      I always assumed that people buying nft's fell into three categories: a) fomo with crypto and feeling like this night be the next one, or b) zero critical reasoning skills, or c) wanted to make someone else hold the bag after eating losses on crypto or stocks at some point. Either way, real question; are nft's still being traded?
      - eloisant 2y ago
        I think they are, for money laundering.
  - UltraSane 2y ago
    Most people don't spend thousands of dollars on fake space ships.
    - ikekkdcjkfke 2y ago
      I thnk programmers fall in a trap since we already have deconstructed whats going on. Normal people actually get attached to the pixels on screen
      - 2y ago
usrusr 2y ago
Nobody does. They pay for a unique service, not as a handout. "Finally I can be at the forefront of a gaming community just how I dreamt of when I was a kid. And in this particular gaming community, I don't even have to waste a minute playing!" It's suspension of disbelief pushed ahead one more level, a simulation of a space ship sim game. Think virtual virtual skeeball in Futurama s01e02. Just how kids who dream of risking their lives in a space-Spitfire don't really want to risk their lives in a space-Spitfire, grown ups who dream of sinking countless hours in a game of space-Spitfires don't really want to sink countless hours in a game of space-Spitfires. Both just don't quite know it yet, and profoundly enjoy that.
- vasco 2y ago
  It's sounding a lot like fraud. And your whole stance seems to be "nobody knows what it means but it's provocative".
  - lukan 2y ago
    People feel entertained. And new code and new models get shipped. So maybe underdelivered, but why fraud? That would require a intention to mislead.
  - usrusr 2y ago
    You're assuming that they don't have their own disbelief properly suspended. The illusion works, against all objective signs of failure, because they are believing it themselves. It's like Dafoe's Schreck delivering a very convincing Nosferatu in Shadow of the Vampire.
  - InsideOutSanta 2y ago
    People are playing this game and apparently deriving enjoyment from it, that's why they're paying for things in the game. I don't think it's fraud, it's just kind of weird from the outside.
danpalmer 2y ago
Others have left the likely real answers here, but... $750m is the right order of magnitude for this game. That's "only" ~400 employees for ~10 years. Games are hugely labour intensive, and in mainstream cases also hugely advertising intensive. The company currently have ~60 open roles. Your average Call of Duty game is $100-200m, and they come out with one every year or two, spending at a similar rate. The budget for GTA V was $265m, but has now made $8bn. I don't think we can even say that it's "bad" or "unfinished" and therefore shouldn't cost this much... the game is finished in the truest of senses – it's available to buy and brings in revenue. Whether they are continuing development, whether it currently sucks, etc, are all somewhat irrelevant. I think we can judge it for being a bad game, I think we can judge it for not being cash-flow positive like we would with any other startup, but the amount of money involved is seemingly in the right ballpark for the market.
- rowanG077 2y ago
  I don't think comparing GTA, the most financially successful game of all time, to star citizen does star citizen any favors. Star citizen is a very niche game, even if they will do everything they plan I don't expect they will even approach 500m in sales.
  - wongogue 2y ago
    These players are not investors expecting a return. In a way the game has already got them $750m.
  - yreg 2y ago
    They have already passed 100s of millions in sales. We can consider some of the earlier money inflows 'donations', but what's happening nowadays is de facto sales.
    - arlcode 2y ago
      Buyers in Europe pay full VAT for Star citizen "donations" since that law was introduced many years ago. So at least the EU and UK believe these transactions to be sales.
Hamuko 2y ago
Cyberpunk 2077 needed like $100+ million on top of the original $300+ million budget to get Phantom Liberty out and to patch the game to a point where the general public stopped hating the game. Still, even with all of the money sunk into Cyberpunk 2077, its ~$450 million budget pales in comparison to Star Citizen.
- roygbiv2 2y ago
  And it's still full of bugs (Cyberpunk 2077). I've just bought it on sale, it's annoying close to being bloody amazing but every so often you get someone T posing or just something else that ruins it.
  - gambiting 2y ago
    I've completed the game start to finish 3 times now and I've only really seen any bugs on my first playthrough close to launch. Post DLC I honestly hand on heart don't recall any.
    - lukebitts 2y ago
      I could open my copy of the game right now and find a bug in 5 minutes. That has been a constant for me since the game released and until at least 3 months ago when I last played
- machinekob 2y ago
  Cyberpunk have a massive problems caused by success of Witcher 3 a lot and i mean A LOT of people move to western studios and they were best engineers in the company. They still have people problem as pay in CDPR is pathetic compared to other studios and not much top talent want to work there. Cyberpunk 2077 budget was overblown thanks to that + ~50% of that was spend on marketing I would assume there were also a lot of IP "costs" so overall "production" cost was probably about ~30-40% of the budget.
speckx 2y ago
Not me. I funded them initially on Kickstarter for $35. I won’t fund anymore, I’m only in it for the single player Squadron 42 game.

noirbot 2y ago

I don't think that's why people are giving them money at this point. They're paying for stuff in the game that happens to be rewards for "crowdfunding" the game. It's not a "Just 100 more bucks and maybe they'll deliver", it's folks already playing the content that's in the game and buying further ships or such for whatever reason.

lolinder 2y ago
Then this isn't crowdfunding any more, it's DLC revenue.
- popcorncowboy 2y ago
  But nowhere near as clickable a headline
- eloisant 2y ago
  Yes I don't know why we're still talking about Star Citizen as a crowdfunding project in development. It's a released game that is constantly evolving and getting money from in-game purchases, like Fortnite.

dmix 2y ago

They apparently found every whale gamer on the market willing to buy virtual ships and stuff like that. I think all expenditure towards the game is counted as "crowdfunding"

mh- 2y ago
That player database is worth a fortune.
- oefrha 2y ago
  Yes, gullible, impulsive gamers are worth more than most people would imagine. According to an industry insider who I talked to recently, a casino-like mobile game sold its users for ~$300 a piece, and that’s counting the majority of non-whale users who don’t spend a dime.

NelsonMinar 2y ago

They're exploiting people who are vulnerable to collecting impulses.

Loughla 2y ago
Isn't that just most people though?
- HKH2 2y ago
  It seems like a majority. The people that collect NFTs should be in their own category though.
  - Loughla 2y ago
    I always assumed that people buying nft's fell into three categories: a) fomo with crypto and feeling like this night be the next one, or b) zero critical reasoning skills, or c) wanted to make someone else hold the bag after eating losses on crypto or stocks at some point. Either way, real question; are nft's still being traded?
    - eloisant 2y ago
      I think they are, for money laundering.
- UltraSane 2y ago
  Most people don't spend thousands of dollars on fake space ships.
  - ikekkdcjkfke 2y ago
    I thnk programmers fall in a trap since we already have deconstructed whats going on. Normal people actually get attached to the pixels on screen
    - 2y ago

usrusr 2y ago

Nobody does. They pay for a unique service, not as a handout. "Finally I can be at the forefront of a gaming community just how I dreamt of when I was a kid. And in this particular gaming community, I don't even have to waste a minute playing!" It's suspension of disbelief pushed ahead one more level, a simulation of a space ship sim game. Think virtual virtual skeeball in Futurama s01e02. Just how kids who dream of risking their lives in a space-Spitfire don't really want to risk their lives in a space-Spitfire, grown ups who dream of sinking countless hours in a game of space-Spitfires don't really want to sink countless hours in a game of space-Spitfires. Both just don't quite know it yet, and profoundly enjoy that.

vasco 2y ago
It's sounding a lot like fraud. And your whole stance seems to be "nobody knows what it means but it's provocative".
- lukan 2y ago
  People feel entertained. And new code and new models get shipped. So maybe underdelivered, but why fraud? That would require a intention to mislead.
- usrusr 2y ago
  You're assuming that they don't have their own disbelief properly suspended. The illusion works, against all objective signs of failure, because they are believing it themselves. It's like Dafoe's Schreck delivering a very convincing Nosferatu in Shadow of the Vampire.
- InsideOutSanta 2y ago
  People are playing this game and apparently deriving enjoyment from it, that's why they're paying for things in the game. I don't think it's fraud, it's just kind of weird from the outside.

danpalmer 2y ago

Others have left the likely real answers here, but... $750m is the right order of magnitude for this game. That's "only" ~400 employees for ~10 years. Games are hugely labour intensive, and in mainstream cases also hugely advertising intensive. The company currently have ~60 open roles. Your average Call of Duty game is $100-200m, and they come out with one every year or two, spending at a similar rate. The budget for GTA V was $265m, but has now made $8bn. I don't think we can even say that it's "bad" or "unfinished" and therefore shouldn't cost this much... the game is finished in the truest of senses – it's available to buy and brings in revenue. Whether they are continuing development, whether it currently sucks, etc, are all somewhat irrelevant. I think we can judge it for being a bad game, I think we can judge it for not being cash-flow positive like we would with any other startup, but the amount of money involved is seemingly in the right ballpark for the market.

rowanG077 2y ago
I don't think comparing GTA, the most financially successful game of all time, to star citizen does star citizen any favors. Star citizen is a very niche game, even if they will do everything they plan I don't expect they will even approach 500m in sales.
- wongogue 2y ago
  These players are not investors expecting a return. In a way the game has already got them $750m.
- yreg 2y ago
  They have already passed 100s of millions in sales. We can consider some of the earlier money inflows 'donations', but what's happening nowadays is de facto sales.
  - arlcode 2y ago
    Buyers in Europe pay full VAT for Star citizen "donations" since that law was introduced many years ago. So at least the EU and UK believe these transactions to be sales.

Hamuko 2y ago

Cyberpunk 2077 needed like $100+ million on top of the original $300+ million budget to get Phantom Liberty out and to patch the game to a point where the general public stopped hating the game. Still, even with all of the money sunk into Cyberpunk 2077, its ~$450 million budget pales in comparison to Star Citizen.

roygbiv2 2y ago
And it's still full of bugs (Cyberpunk 2077). I've just bought it on sale, it's annoying close to being bloody amazing but every so often you get someone T posing or just something else that ruins it.
- gambiting 2y ago
  I've completed the game start to finish 3 times now and I've only really seen any bugs on my first playthrough close to launch. Post DLC I honestly hand on heart don't recall any.
  - lukebitts 2y ago
    I could open my copy of the game right now and find a bug in 5 minutes. That has been a constant for me since the game released and until at least 3 months ago when I last played
machinekob 2y ago
Cyberpunk have a massive problems caused by success of Witcher 3 a lot and i mean A LOT of people move to western studios and they were best engineers in the company. They still have people problem as pay in CDPR is pathetic compared to other studios and not much top talent want to work there. Cyberpunk 2077 budget was overblown thanks to that + ~50% of that was spend on marketing I would assume there were also a lot of IP "costs" so overall "production" cost was probably about ~30-40% of the budget.

speckx 2y ago

Not me. I funded them initially on Kickstarter for $35. I won’t fund anymore, I’m only in it for the single player Squadron 42 game.