They literally built their engine from scratch. How much do you all think that costs? Wasn’t Starfields improved engine like 8 years and $1bn in the making?
And look at THAT game.
When 4.0 releases I am sure it will be solid. The game as it is right now is visually amazing. It’s a dream to be able to take your ship from port to planet. Mining is enjoyable. Pirating is fun. Flying is great, combat is cool. Spacewalking is cool, and also salvage. It’s just like being in space as I would imagine it.
It’s not finished for sure but I can see where it’s going and I like it.
I contest The idea that it takes 700mil or 1bil to make a game engine.
I’m not saying I can do it. I’m saying a competent team does not need that.
GTA 5 used an in-house engine (used previously, sure, but StarEngine is also modified from a pre-existing engine). The combined development and marketing budget is US$265 million. Development started in 2008 and released in 2013.
Cyberpunk 2077 also used an in-house engine, budget (not sure if marketing is included or not) is US$316 million. Development started in 2012 and released in 2020.
Scam Citizen more like it
The biggest cult/scam in gaming.
To put it to perspective Star Citizen’s Kickstarter started on 2012. GTA 5 released on 2013, and GTA 6 is supposed to be out in 2025. If it doesn’t get delayed too significantly we will get 2 full GTA games before SC is released.
To be fair, CIG is also developing 2 games at once in SC and Squadron 42, the latter of which will actually be released first. The reasons for this are a whole other thing though.
To put it to perspective Star Citizen’s Kickstarter started on 2012. GTA 5 released on 2013, and GTA 6 is supposed to be out in 2025. If it doesn’t get delayed too significantly we will get 2 full GTA games before SC is released.
To put that in perspective, you just pretty much shower how developing GTA 6 has taken just as long, pretty much.
The release full games, so going from one release to the next measures basically the timeline of developing one game.
That was an enlightening article. It seems like CIG has serious problems with leadership and budget expenditure. I can’t call the game a scam since they at least have something tangible in the works, but they don’t inspire confidence as to when or if they’ll fully deliver.
I’m glad I never got on this ship. I’m not a big fan of buying into unfinished games with grandiose promises.
They have something tangible now, not just in the works. I know it comes with a lot of pain for those on the team, but seeing this company finally fall on financial strain after 12 years of development shows that they did not find an infinite money glitch and that the laws of the universe still apply.