Feature creep could be killing Star Citizen, and a new report contains troubling accusations about the game's development, work atmosphere, and dwindling resources.
At some point in a game's development you have to cast aside your personal hopes and gleeful hype, peer through the PR wall, and evaluate the reality that's in front of you. For months I've been concerned about Chris Roberts' insanely ambitious space sim Star Citizen, with the alarm of red flags reaching a crescendo about the time that Cloud Imperium Games started charging $400 for a virtual spaceship to fly inside of an unfinished game. Or selling packages that cost an absurd $15,000. Call me jaded, but I call myself a realist. I didn't back Star Citizen, but I did subscribe to the dream of Roberts' "one space sim to rule them all." At some point though, you grow weary of watching well produced commercials and the endless stream of convention appearances, and just want to play the game. Not modules. A GAME.
Chris Roberts now finds himself on the defensive after nine people, representing former and current employees of Cloud Imperium Games, have spoken out via The Escapist against the developer, the game itself, and the work environment. To say their claims are damning is an understatement. There are detailed statements suggesting that Chris Roberts and his wife bought their Pacific Palisades mansion using company funds. There are multiple allegations of racial discrimination in the workplace. But perhaps the most concerning -- at least to the backers who've helped Star Citizen become the most crowdfunded project in history -- is that Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has already bled through $82 million of their $90 million development funds.
The Escapist writes that "several different sources" (who were asked independently) insist the developer only has $8 million remaining, and that that fact is common knowledge inside CIG. "They've spent $82 million dollars, and what is there to show for that? There's a demo, a racing demo, a single first person shooter level, and an area where you can walk around. For $82 million," said one of the informants, who did not request to remain anonymous but whose identity is being protected by the outlet. Further, these multiple sources suggest this is why Roberts and company continue to take pledges via their website. And what about so many of those digital products being sold with grossly high price tags? They claim the majority of them don't exist.
READ MORE: 'Star Citizen' Developer Threatens Lawsuit Against The Escapist, Demands Apology And Retraction
Yet another source says that Chris Roberts is being overly ambitious and succumbing to feature creep -- pointing to the hiring of a linguist to create 3 alien languages as just one example -- explaining that "he's making this entire project impossible." The source, likely a former employee based on the following quote, added that "It was all about making pretty spaceships and brochures and commercials and hiring big name Hollywood actors to do voice-overs for the commercials. We were never working on a game."
To be fair, that seems like an exaggeration, but my gut tells me it's at least rooted in some truth. Roberts and his team seem to spend an enormous amount of time and resources preparing new ads for successful convention appearances, which seems to result in an uptick in pre-orders or pledge amounts. But ask any developer who's been around the block and they'll tell you that at some point, you have to stop spending time on demos and advertising, and just finish the damn game.
"He wants the game to be everything to everybody. And now it's nothing to nobody," another source told The Escapist.
The most common sentiment throughout the article seems to be that all the dissenters do agree that Roberts has a vision. The problem is that he can't deliver on it. "Games are made like houses. You want to make the foundation first and the wallpaper last. With Chris Roberts, everything is the wallpaper," said one source. "I think there will be a game. But it will be a shell of what was promised."
For his part, Chris Roberts took the time to categorically deny or defend against every allegation in the article, and believe me what I've covered here barely scratches the surface. You should absolutely read it and judge for yourself, but I think it's impossible to deny that development on Star Citizen is troubled, and that with the amount of funding and time Cloud Imperium Games has had at their disposal, we should be much, much closer to a finalized game. Seeing stuff like this surface this deep into the development cycle is troubling, and for my part I believe some of these claims are factual. But judge for yourself and let me know.
In the meantime, I think it's time to revisit Elite: Dangerous, a great space sim that's actually finished.
[UPDATE 1: Chris Roberts has issued a statement concerning this rash of allegations here. Please read it.]
[UPDATE 2: An army of Star Citizen fans have predictably started attacking me for writing this article. Bear in mind that I'm simply reporting on a report, and liberally using words like "allegations" and "claims." However, many of you seem content to discard these allegations as false simply because Roberts says they're false, which is more disturbing than any claims contained in this article.]
[UPDATE 3: It has been revealed that some -- certainly not all -- of the quotes contained in The Escapist's article were taken from Glassdoor Australia, a website that allows anonymous reviews of employers. The concern here is that these individuals couldn't have been verified as current or former employees. At least not via Glassdoor which doesn't have an employee verification process. However, The Escapist (via author Lizzy Finnegan) says that all individuals interviewed for their article were vetted through their legal department. It's not a stretch that these employees reached out to during the same window of time that they posted their negative reviews. You don't have to take the comments and allegations as fact, obviously, but I find no reason to believe this was some elaborate fabrication, either.]
[UPDATE 4: The Escapist's Managing Editor John Keefer has published a detailed post outlining not only the outlet's position on their original story, but also further information on their sources. This includes when they spoke, how they communicated with author Lizzy Finnegan, and how they were individually vetted by The Escapist's legal department (employee IDs, visually matching photos with LinkedIn profiles, etc). The Escapist also claims that the anonymous reviews on Glassdoor Australia (see Update 3) were posted after speaking to Ms. Finnegan. Additionally, The Escapist reiterated that none of the sources were Derek Smart. If you still believe this story was fabricated, you owe it to yourself to read the post.]
[UPDATE 5: The plot has most certainly thickened. CIG isn't taking these accusations lying down, and has issued a demand letter to The Escapist, requesting a public apology, independent investigation, and retraction of their original article. I cover it here.]
