{"id":57641,"date":"2018-12-22T03:09:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T10:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/crowdfunded-developer-of-space-sim-star-citizen-takes-on-46m-in-funding-at-nearly-500m-valuation\/"},"modified":"2018-12-22T03:09:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-22T10:09:22","slug":"crowdfunded-developer-of-space-sim-star-citizen-takes-on-46m-in-funding-at-nearly-500m-valuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/crowdfunded-developer-of-space-sim-star-citizen-takes-on-46m-in-funding-at-nearly-500m-valuation\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdfunded developer of space sim Star Citizen takes on $46M in funding at nearly $500M valuation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story of the game Star Citizen and Cloud Imperium, the company developing it, is almost too ludicrous to believe: a crowdfunding effort to create a space sim of unparalleled size and realism, raising hundreds of millions<\/em>, with backers paying thousands for ships and gear in a game that\u2019s years from release. Yet it\u2019s real enough that it just pulled in $42 million in private funding to help bring it closer to release.<\/p>\n

Star Citizen began as the brainchild of Chris Roberts, architect of the Wing Commander series and other well-received space games. His idea was to crowdfund the team\u2019s next game, and did so in 2012; the money started rolling in, and it never really stopped. Nor has the game ceased to grow in its ambitions, adding things like entire planets to the lineup that seem, on their face, somewhat insane.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shortage of histories of the game and its developers out there, so for our purposes let it suffice to say that over the last six years the company has raised $211 million, the vast majority of which comes from gamers \u201cpledging\u201d anywhere from a few bucks to thousands of dollars for all manner of things related to the title. Early access to builds, exclusive ships, testing new content, etc.<\/p>\n

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A huge amount of work has been done on the game, so this isn\u2019t just a colossal con, though there are plenty who think the game, and its first-person shooter counterpart Squadron 42, can\u2019t possibly ever fulfill its ambitions and justify the money people have put into it.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t seem to be the opinion of Clive Calder, founder of Zomba and producer in a variety of entertainment formats, whom Roberts met during a clandestine campaign to solicit funding.<\/p>\n

Roberts, who writes the story in one of his candid messages to the project\u2019s fanbase, had decided a while back that he didn\u2019t want to use pledged funds for marketing purposes \u2014 at least not the kind of marketing blitz AAA games tend to require for a successful global release. So he went looking for investment, and found Calder, with whom he \u201cgot on like a house on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Calder\u2019s family office agreed to invest $46 million for a 10 percent stake in Cloud Imperium, which all told puts it near a half-billion valuation. One may very well question the sanity of such a valuation for a company that has not yet shipped an actual product \u2014 working prototypes, sure, but not a completed game \u2014 but hell, at least they\u2019re making something people are excited about. That\u2019s got to be worth a couple bucks.<\/p>\n

Cloud Imperium gains two new board members from outside, though Roberts, who commands the kind of loyalty that only decades in an industry can create, was quick to point out that \u201ccontrol of the company and the board still firmly stays with myself as chairman, CEO and majority shareholder.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another act of not exactly radical but not legally required transparency, the company also posted an outline of the company\u2019s financials over the last six years<\/a>. Unsurprisingly, the company has been investing most of its cash into game development in the form of salaries, contracts and overhead; a non-trivial amount has gone toward \u201cpublishing operations, community, events and marketing,\u201d which with a game as community-focused as Star Citizen is not surprising.<\/p>\n

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The company has grown steadily, adding a hundred people a year or so to a present size of 464 \u2014 which is the kind of size you\u2019d expect on a AAA game like Assassin\u2019s Creed or Red Dead Redemption. Even more would be added on as temporary artists, actors and so on.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it has escaped no one that pledges appear to have peaked, though if they remain steady the company clearly will have enough to continue operations if it doesn\u2019t expand. But one does also see perhaps a secondary motive in seeking investment from outside the community. At some point people are going to want a game.<\/p>\n

To that end, Squadron 42, at least, is scheduled for release in Q2 2020 \u2014 though backers and critics will both chuckle a little at the idea that Cloud Imperium will be able to hit those goals. The games, infamously, were originally slated for release long ago. But the scope of the project has grown since its conception and although some no doubt would rather be playing the completed game today, they may very well find that good things come to those who wait. And wait. And wait\u2026<\/p>\n

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The story of the game Star Citizen and Cloud Imperium, the company developing it, is almost too ludicrous to believe: a crowdfunding effort to create a space sim of unparalleled size and realism, raising hundreds of millions, with backers paying thousands for ships and gear in a game that\u2019s years from release. Yet it\u2019s real… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":57642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games-media","category-gaming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t