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Star Citizen
Developer(s)Cloud Imperium Games
Publisher(s)Cloud Imperium Games
Director(s)Chris Roberts
Writer(s)
  • Dave Haddock[1]
  • Will Weissbaum
  • Adam Wieser
  • Cherie Heiberg
Composer(s)
EngineAmazon Lumberyard
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)Space trading and combat, first-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Star Citizen is an upcoming multiplayer space trading and combat simulator developed and published by Cloud Imperium Games for Microsoft Windows. A spiritual successor to 2003's Freelancer, Star Citizen is being led by director Chris Roberts and has become highly controversial during its production. Development of the game began in 2011 and was announced in 2013 through a successful Kickstarter campaign which drew in over US$2 million. While its launch was originally anticipated for 2014, significant expansion of gameplay features and scope have led to repeated delays. In 2013, Cloud Imperium Games began releasing parts of the game, known as "modules", to provide players with the opportunity to experience gameplay features prior to release. The latest of these modules, known as the "Persistent Universe", was released in 2015 and continues to receive updates.

Promised gameplay features for the game are extensive, including space and atmospheric flight, first person combat, trading, mining, bounty hunting, and exploration. The Persistent Universe module takes place over 900 years in the future, after Earth has become an interstellar empire with numerous star systems under its control. While over 100 star systems have been promised, a single system, called Stanton, has been made available for players to explore.

The game is noted for being the highest crowdfunded video game and one of the highest-funded crowdfunding projects overall. Cloud Imperium Games' methods of generating crowdfunded revenue has led to criticisms and legal issues surrounding the project, though the company still actively campaigns for funding through the sale of ships, land claims, and other in-game items.

Squadron 42, a single-player game set in the same universe, was initially announced as an included campaign in Star Citizen's Kickstarter announcement, but has since been separated into a standalone release.

Story

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Premise

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The game will be set in a 30th-century Milky Way, centered on the fictional United Empire of Earth (UEE).[3] A central theme of the game is citizenship – or lack thereof – in the UEE, which developers claim must be earned through player actions such as completing a period of military service.[4][5]

Squadron 42

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Squadron 42 is a story-based single-player game set in the Star Citizen fictional universe described by the developers as a "spiritual successor to Wing Commander". It was originally announced as an included mode to be released alongside Star Citizen in 2014 during the Kickstarter campaign, but significant expansion of gameplay features have led to postponement. After missing both its 2014 and 2015 projected release dates, the game was separated into a standalone release in 2016.[6] In mid-2019 CIG stated that a beta release was planned for Q3 2020.

In addition to space combat simulation and first-person shooter elements, reported features include a conversation system that affects relationships with non-player pilots.[7][8] An optional co-operative mode was initially proposed in the Kickstarter, but later changed to be a separate mode added after release. The game is planned to be released in multiple episodes, and according to the developers will be offering an estimated of 20 hours of gameplay for SQ42 Episode 1 with about 70 missions worth of game play, "Squadron 42 Episode Two: Behind Enemy Lines" and "Episode 3," will launch later.[9]

Cast
[edit]

In the initial Star Citizen Kickstarter campaign, a goal was met to include celebrity voice acting for its Squadron 42 mode.[10] In 2015, it was announced that Mark Hamill would feature in the game as "Old Man" Colton.[11] Additional cast members include Gary Oldman as Admiral Bishop, Ben Mendelsohn as Julian Wexler, Liam Cunningham as Commander Noah White, and other characters voiced by Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, and Jack Huston.[12][13][14] Motion capture performances for Squadron 42 were captured at The Imaginarium.[15]

Reception

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[a] Pre-Release

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[a] Reactions from the press

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In a Polygon opinion article, Charlie Hall compared Star Citizen to No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous, writing that "Last time I checked, Star Citizen writ large was a hope wrapped inside a dream buried inside a few layers of controversy", while stating that each game has something different to offer within the space sim genre.[16] PC Gamer writer Luke Winkie also compared Star Citizen to No Man's Sky, describing Star Citizen as "the other super ambitious, controversial space sim on the horizon", and indicating that fans of the genre, disappointed in No Man's Sky were turning to the as-yet-unfinished Star Citizen, while sometimes expressing concerns should the latter fail to deliver.[17]

The game's developers have attracted criticism for continuing to raise funds enthusiastically while failing to meet project deadlines, as well as the technical feasibility and the ability of the developers to finish the game.[18][19][20]

Between September and October 2015, The Escapist magazine wrote a pair of highly controversial articles citing various sources who claimed that the project was in trouble.[21][22][23] After Roberts wrote a scathing response to the articles,[24] Cloud Imperium Games threatened the site and its owners with legal action which never materialized.[25][26] In March 2017, Smart wrote that both parties had settled the matter out of court. The statement from Defy Media reads "In response to your request for comment, I can share that CIG and The Escapist have mutually agreed to delete their comments about each other. We wish each other well and look forward to better relations in 2017".[27] The article later came in third (tied) for an award by the Society of Professional Journalists.[28]

In September 2016, Kotaku wrote a five-part series about the various controversies surrounding the project.[29] One article in the series was related to a long-rumored feud between Smart and Roberts.[30] In December 2016, Star Citizen was the recipient of Wired's 2016 Vaporware Awards.[31] Massively OP awarded the game its "Most Likely to Flop" award for both 2016 and 2017.[32][33]

[a] Reactions from the public

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Ongoing online disputes exist over the scope of the project, the project's funding, as well as the project's ability to eventually deliver on promises. Some writers have been the subject of e-mail attacks for their coverage of the project.[34] At least one popular YouTube personality was allegedly sent death threats by a fan of the game.[35] Various articles[who?] regarding the controversy surrounding the project also focus on both sides of the argument.[clarification needed][36][37]

In July 2015, independent game designer Derek Smart, one of the original early backers of the project in 2012, wrote a blog in which he claimed that due to the project's increased scope and lack of adequate technology, that it could never be completed as pitched.[38] Following the publishing of the blog and widespread news coverage, Cloud Imperium Games refunded him and canceled his account.[39][40][41] In August 2015 via his attorneys, Smart sent a demand letter to Cloud Imperium Games asking for the promised accounting records for backer money, a release date, and a refund option for all backers no longer willing to support the game.[19][42][43] CIG's co-founder and general counsel Ortwin Freyermuth characterized Smart's claims as "defamatory" and "entirely without merit".[44][45] Smart has continued to be critical of the project following his refund.[46]

Virtual land claims, a feature that had not yet been implemented in the game, were announced for sale in 2017, which attracted criticism from both the press and the public. Concerns regarding the mechanic's lack of availability and potential pay-to-win advantages were raised. In response, Cloud Imperium Games wrote, "People that own claim licenses now, during the anniversary sale to support development, and people that earn the money in-game to buy one will be on equal footing assuming they have enough UEC, especially as there will be millions of locations for people to explore and claim within the Universe over the lifetime of the game."[47]

In August 2018, Cloud Imperium Games attempted to monetize the live stream broadcast of the project's annual CitizenCon event, eventually backing down due to online protestations.[48][49][50] Later on, they removed a cap on in-game currency, resulting in renewed criticism over the game's pay-to-win mechanics.[51][52][53]

[r] Early Access reactions

[edit]

Discuss reception following the release of the Persistent Universe as these involve decent coverage

To incorporate: https://www.pcinvasion.com/star-citizen-star-marine-impressions/

To incorporate: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/12/17/star-citizen-2-0-review/

Other material

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Future plans

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Cloud Imperium Games has stated that Star Citizen will continue to develop after commercial release via a combination of emergent gameplay generated by players and new content which will be developed by Cloud Imperium Games on an ongoing basis.[54]

The developers state that players will not be separated by different game servers. A matchmaking and instancing mechanic will handle how players connect to each other.[55] Due to the expansive nature of the game, traditional methods of combining player instances wasn't feasible, but the developers have claimed that a technology called "server meshing" will allow them to achieve this result.[56] The developers plan to allow players to determine their own level of exposure to other players.[57]

In 2013, Chris Roberts described a non-player character-driven economy, where players could gradually take on a greater role over time.[58] In accordance with the $50 million stretch goal of the game's crowdfunding campaign, developers partnered with linguists to create distinctive fictional languages for the three most prominent alien races, the Banu, the Vanduul and the Xi'An.[59]


  1. ^ Lesnick, Ben; Haddock, Dave (September 2, 2013). "Dragon Con 2013: Star Citizen's Lesnick and Haddock on player feedback, CitizenCon, and more" (Interview). Interviewed by Jef Reahard. Atlanta. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. ^ Reahard, Jef (November 27, 2013). "CIG releases Star Citizen livestream vids, tops $33 million". Massively. AOL. Archived from the original on December 1, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  3. ^ Fogel, Stefanie; Fogel, Stefanie (October 11, 2018). "'Squadron 42' Gets a Star-Studded New Trailer". Variety. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  4. ^ Hutchinson, Lee (August 3, 2014). "Star Citizen and the triumphant, record-smashing return of Chris Roberts". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  5. ^ "Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts returns to gaming with Star Citizen online game universe". VentureBeat. October 10, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  6. ^ Makuch, Eddie (February 1, 2016). "Star Citizen and Single-Player Mode Squadron 42 Won't Be Bundled Together for Much Longer". GameSpot. Retrieved March 9, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Horti, Samuel (January 30, 2020). "Squadron 42: Everything we know about Star Citizen's singleplayer campaign". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference RPS_2013-11-08 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Clapham, Matthew (2014). Mott, Tony; et al. (eds.). "Space Craft". Edge (274). Bath: Future Publishing: 58–65. ISSN 1350-1593. OCLC 77560936.
  10. ^ "Star Citizen". Kickstarter. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  11. ^ Hilliard, Kyle. "Star Citizen Offers Up A Very Brief Introduction To Mark Hamill's "Old Man" Colton". Game Informer. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  12. ^ Kain, Erik. "Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill Join The Amazing 'Star Citizen' Cast". Forbes. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  13. ^ Horti, Samuel (December 23, 2017). "Watch an hour of Squadron 42 gameplay, complete with dogfights and spacewalking". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  14. ^ Shea, Brian. "Star Citizen's Squadron 42 Features Ensemble Cast Headlined By Gary Oldman". Game Informer. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  15. ^ Thursten, Chris (December 31, 2015). "Meeting the stars of Star Citizen". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  16. ^ Hall, Charlie (August 12, 2016). "No Man's Sky, Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous are allies, not enemies". Polygon.com.
  17. ^ Winkie, Luke (January 9, 2016). "These disappointed No Man's Sky players are turning to Star Citizen". PC Gamer.
  18. ^ Baker, Chris. "Fans Have Dropped $77M on This Guy's Buggy, Half-Built Game". WIRED. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  19. ^ a b Chalk, Andy (August 24, 2015). "Derek Smart threatens legal action against Cloud Imperium Games over Star Citizen". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  20. ^ "Stop Funding Star Citizen". Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  21. ^ "Eject! Eject! Is Star Citizen Going to Crash and Burn?". September 25, 2015. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017.
  22. ^ "Star Citizen Employees Speak Out on Project Woes". October 5, 2015. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017.
  23. ^ "Report Claims 'Star Citizen' Is Almost Out Of Cash, Chris Roberts' Insatiable Ambition Is To Blame". October 1, 2015.
  24. ^ "Chairman's response to the Escapist". October 1, 2015. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015.
  25. ^ "In Space, No One Can Hear You Threaten Lawsuits". October 4, 2018.
  26. ^ "'Star Citizen' Developer Threatens Lawsuit Against The Escapist, Demands Apology And Retraction". October 4, 2015.
  27. ^ "Defy Media Settles Matter". March 28, 2017.
  28. ^ "Society Of Professional Journalists Awards 2015". December 17, 2015.
  29. ^ "Five Part Star Citizen Series". September 23, 2016.
  30. ^ "The 24-Year Feud That Has Dogged Star Citizen". September 26, 2016.
  31. ^ Kohler, Chris (December 27, 2016). "Thanks for Nothing, Videogames: The 2016 Vaporware Awards". WIRED. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  32. ^ Royce, Bree (December 18, 2016). "Most Likely to Flop in 2017 or Beyond".
  33. ^ Royce, Bree (December 3, 2016). "Most Likely to Flop in 2018 or Beyond".
  34. ^ "With $100M In Crowdfunding, 'Star Citizen' May Not Be A Scam, But It Feels Like A Cult". December 14, 2015.
  35. ^ "Let's talk about the Star Citizen fan that threatened my family". YouTube. June 6, 2018.
  36. ^ "The Excess Of 'Star Citizen' Is The Price Gaming Pays For Upholding The Great Man Myth". October 2, 2015.
  37. ^ "Everybody Needs To Calm Down About 'Star Citizen'". October 7, 2015.
  38. ^ "Interstellar Citizens". July 6, 2015.
  39. ^ "Here's what's going on with Derek Smart and Star Citizen". July 15, 2015.
  40. ^ "Derek Smart says Star Citizen, 'as has been pitched, will never get made'". July 8, 2015.
  41. ^ "Star Citizen will "never get made" as it's been pitched says Derek Smart". July 5, 2015.
  42. ^ "Derek Smart Threatens To Sue Star Citizen Developers Unless They Meet His Demands". Kotaku Australia. August 25, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  43. ^ "Derek Smart calls for FTC investigation of Star Citizen's finances, presents Chris Roberts with list of demands". July 14, 2018.
  44. ^ "Why has Derek Smart picked a fight with Star Citizen?". PCGamesN. September 26, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  45. ^ "RSI respond to Derek Smart's Star Citizen demands". PC Invasion. September 4, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  46. ^ https://www.pcgamesn.com/star-citizen/derek-smart-is-refusing-to-take-his-refunded-250-star-citizen-pledge-lying-down
  47. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (November 29, 2017). "Star Citizen is selling virtual plots of land for up to £96 a pop". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  48. ^ "And Your Monthly Star Citizen Controversy Is...A $20 Paywall To Watch CitizenCon". Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  49. ^ "Star Citizen studio backs away from plan to charge fans to stream convention". Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  50. ^ "Outraged Star Citizen fans refuse to buy digital passes for streamed CitizenCon event". Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  51. ^ "Star Citizen fans raise pay-to-win objections over removal of in-game currency stockpiling cap". Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  52. ^ "Chris Roberts responds to Star Citizen 'pay-to-win' concerns after removal of in-game currency cap". Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  53. ^ "Star Citizen prompts pay-to-win concerns after removing in-game currency cap". Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  54. ^ Hutchinson, Lee (August 3, 2014). "Star Citizen and the triumphant, record-smashing return of Chris Roberts". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. OCLC 52157687. Archived from the original on August 7, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  55. ^ Orland, Kyle (November 3, 2012). "Star Citizen's Chris Roberts discusses upping the ante on PC gaming". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  56. ^ Takahashi, Dean (June 28, 2018). "Star Citizen adds mining with its ambitious Alpha 3.2 quarterly patch". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 10, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  57. ^ "Stick and Rudder Extra: Chris Roberts on Star Citizen's persistent world PvE, PvP, and more" (Interview). Interviewed by Jef Reahard. July 19, 2013. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  58. ^ Kain, Erik (May 20, 2013). "Star Citizen: An Interview With Chris Roberts On His Ambitious Space Simulation Game". Forbes. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
  59. ^ Craft, Scott (July 15, 2014). "Star Citizen News: Arena Commander And Aegis Dynamics Gladius Push Crowdfunding Campaign Past $48 Million". iDigitalTimes. IBT Media. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
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