Star Citizen Passes Half A Billion Dollars In Funding, Still In Alpha

thegamer.com:

Star Citizen became the most expensive game a long time ago. Even when adjusted for inflation, its current 500 million dollars in funding puts it about 170 million above the runner-up, Cyberpunk 2077. Some players backed the Kickstarter campaign ten years ago, and the game is still only in alpha.

So far, over four million players have dipped their toes into the sci-fi world, but not all of them are paid backers. The game often has free trial periods to try and entice more backers.

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If you're unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it seems like a combination of EVE Online and Elite Dangerous. It's a multiplayer space trading and combat simulation game, but despite the enormous amount of funding and development time, the final launch is still nowhere in sight.

Fans of the game on Reddit seem to be getting tired of the long wait. "I backed the kickstarter almost 10 years ago to the day," one user wrote. Another replied, "Same. $50 (iirc). Installed the first Alpha version, laughed out loud, uninstalled and completely forgot about it. That was 9 years ago."

The game is obviously in a much better state now than it was nine years ago, but it's still concerning for people who have paid the price of a full game to still not have access to it years later.

Others are fascinated by the entire process, writing "I have to say it is a very interesting case study of open game development and crowdfunding."

Another person mentioned despite hearing about the game quite a bit, they have no idea how it actually plays or feels, they just know about the money. "It's always interesting to me because the only thing I ever hear about Star Citizen is how much money it has made, and how it