In October 2012, Cloud Imperium Games started a crowdfunding campaign on their own website for Star Citizen. The Original Site showcased a trailer for Star Citizen with lore and an original goal of $2,000,000 USD for development.
$216,994,711 USD later (As of February 11, 2019 [1]), Star Citizen is one of the largest crowdfunded projects in the world and it continues to steadily grow.[2] Additional Stretch Goals were developed beyond the original $2 million with expanded systems, ships, mechanics, and other features. Kickstarter was used in parallel with early crowdfunding, with all current funding managed through the RSI Website Funding page
Crowdfunding Timeline
- Original Site
- Kickstarter
- Continued RSI site funding
Why Crowdfunding?
There are many benefits to crowdfunding. First of all it allows Cloud Imperium Games to break any ties with the standard triple-A developers and publishers. This means that Star Citizen has no deadlines or constrains, the stretch goals can be increased and most importantly, there are no shareholders expecting to earn a big cut of profits.
Also important, is the fact that backers expect to be given constant updates about the game's development state. Star Citizen accomplishes this through their Comm-Links and the Youtube page.
Crowdfunding Rewards
- Stretch Goals
- Early backer rewards
Current Funding
- Basic ship packages [3]
- Ship Sales [4]
- Squadron 42
- Monthly Subscription [5]
- Merchandise [6]
- Extras (Skins, Hangars, UEC, add ons) [7]
References
- ↑ https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals
- ↑ Wikipedia - List of highest funded crowdfunding projects
- ↑ https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/game-packages
- ↑ https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/ships
- ↑ https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/subscriptions
- ↑ https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/merchandise
- ↑ https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/extras
This article is a stub.