4 ms·

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 st

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.
waste_monk 2y ago
I occasionally check on Star Citizen "development" just to look at the drama, and some of the stuff they're selling is straight-up obscene. There are ship packs that cost literally tens of thousands of USD (IIRC the most expensive one (legatus pack) is ~50k USD), and you have to have already bought thousands of dollars worth before you're allowed to buy it. Chris Roberts might be a huge con artist, but there's no doubt he's mastered the art of milking gullible whales for all of their cash. Also, I always laugh when I see people talking about buying copies of Star Citizen for their kids so they can play together when the kid grows up. Seems pretty unlikely that the game will be out by then, given they've spent 10+ years with no meaningful progress.
Ekaros 2y ago
I think it is idiotic, but I don't think it is outright scam. Just comparable to over funded start-up waste. Burning money on every possible feature or thing or detail sensesly.

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.

waste_monk 2y ago

I occasionally check on Star Citizen "development" just to look at the drama, and some of the stuff they're selling is straight-up obscene. There are ship packs that cost literally tens of thousands of USD (IIRC the most expensive one (legatus pack) is ~50k USD), and you have to have already bought thousands of dollars worth before you're allowed to buy it. Chris Roberts might be a huge con artist, but there's no doubt he's mastered the art of milking gullible whales for all of their cash. Also, I always laugh when I see people talking about buying copies of Star Citizen for their kids so they can play together when the kid grows up. Seems pretty unlikely that the game will be out by then, given they've spent 10+ years with no meaningful progress.

Ekaros 2y ago

I think it is idiotic, but I don't think it is outright scam. Just comparable to over funded start-up waste. Burning money on every possible feature or thing or detail sensesly.