Star Citizen – Version 2.0 Now Available, Surpasses $100 Million In Crowdfunding

Cloud Imperium Games announced today that the Star Citizen’s Alpha 2.0 version is now available for all backers to play. As the press release reads, the major milestone comes as Star Citizen nears another milestone — more than $100 million in crowd funding. Star Citizen is recognized by Guinness World Records as the top crowd funded project and top crowd funded game in the world.

Chris Roberts said:

“Alpha 2.0 is a major breakthrough for Stars Citizen. It represents the first true slice of gameplay that includes much of what Star Citizen will bring to our fans: thrilling space combat in a massive play area, first person battles and multi-crew ships where you and your friends can adventure together in a portion of the universe on the same ship. It’s all technology that has never been undertaken to this scale and depth before in our industry.”

Some of the other features in Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 are:

  • EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) – drift out of your ship’s airlock and venture into the void of space and back
  • 20+ random encounters – combat and exploration (lost wrecks and abandoned space stations)
  • Quantum travel – travel in ships through the vastness of space at 0.2 the speed of light
  • New flyable ships including the Constellation, the Retaliator and the Vanguard.
  • Large world tech – explore extremely large expanses of space seamlessly, without loading screens
  • Locations to explore:
    – One planet (Crusader)
    – Three moons
    – Three distinct space stations
    – One repair/restock station
    – Nine comm arrays
  • Wreckage to scavenge and never-ending battles in the Yela asteroid belt

Fans of Star Citizen continue to support the game in record numbers. There are now more than one-million “citizens.” There are more than 32-thousand fan-created organizations, the largest of which numbers more than 11-thousand people. Many players are active participants in forums, fan events, live streams, social media, and other events designed to give backers direct access to the dev team creating the game.

Chris Roberts added:

“We are forever grateful for our backers and fans. They been there from the beginning when we launched Star Citizen’s funding campaign three years ago. And they’ve helped create the most passionate and loyal community in our industry. They are helping us every step along the way in creating the best damn space sim ever.”

Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 Gameplay Trailer

98 thoughts on “Star Citizen – Version 2.0 Now Available, Surpasses $100 Million In Crowdfunding”

    1. No doubt people reward them with money for their good work. but at some point they must stop adding stuff and release it already even as early access.

      1. They aren’t adding new things. We are past that point for over a year now. And a lot of things are for post launch expansions.

        1. To be specific; these days with outsourcing etc. You can get an AAA FPS done in 2 years, flat. 3 years means you’ve had time to do it properly, even without outsourcing. RPG’s generally take between 3-4 years, but after 3 years they’re usually pushed out these days, regardless of what. 5 years is what it takes if you started from scratch, developing an entire Engine from the ground up, & then the Game itself.

          A new IP also takes longer than “normal”, but that’s because you’re starting from scratch with Art Assets etc.

          5 years is really only “normal” in MMO Projects, but that’s also depending on if they’re coding their own Engine, or not. Star Citizen is using CryEngine, but arguably due to the modifications required & its sheer scope, 6 years would be a better overall estimate.

          Regardless, looking forward to it, whenever it does end up getting released.

        2. Hey man if they gonna release the campaign next year and the big thing will come later that makes sense in my book.

        1. He’s talking about Derek Smart. He’s been attacking SC for a while, and then the Escapist article kicked in. Razorfist has citation from both in his video. I don’t know who’s right, but it was fun to watch, and I have a feeling it’ll be even more fun.

      1. Destiny’s money came from Activision, a publisher with no vision, releasing repetitive content every year and making millions, Star Citizens money came from public, no other kickstar campaign earn this amount of money.

        1. so funded is funded.people are just doing what they do in cs go buying ships instead of gun skins.you dont think they would stop that when the game launches do you? its pay to win if you can buy ships.
          they are making a killing now sont think for a second its not going to stay.pay to win.

        2. Destiny disnt cost nowhere near that sum to make, they said so themselves. Perhaps they were talking about how much they were plotting to make on Destiny!

          1. No they did not this is what pisses me off, you dont read, you just hear something someone told you in by a clickbait title. Typical peasant.

          2. If we keep replying to this troll we’re never gonna get rid of him. Stop feeding him, just ignore him.

          1. Perhaps dig a pit big enough for the whole family to fit in. You want to keep them all together, it is Xmas after all.

          2. Good idea. It means that afterwards I could pull up a sun lounger, and admire my handy work, whilst I jerk off.

  1. Its great that Mark Hamill is back as Christopher Blair because I loved Wing Commander series so much! I want to play as him as the Wing Commander again (Or Squadron 42 as it is called here). But why have they put the actors “through the machine” instead for using proper film? Is it cheaper?

    1. Yeah thats exactly what I meant with “through the machine” captured. But seriously actors can now appear more life like then on real film?? Thought they were very life like in Wing Commander 3 -5!

    1. It’s not most expensive. Star Wars: The Old Republic’s budget was 200 million dollars. But that’s another proof that bigger budget =/= better game because Star Citizen is doing more than WOW wannabe that TOR is.

  2. Okay CIG, you’ve finally piqued my interest with ‘abandoned space stations to explore’. Let’s do this.

      1. LOL this is the first mini PU test ver… Its not even a solar system.. just a planet with some moons… If you remember even ELITE had the same on ALPHA 😀

        1. They will all look alike, unless they made each one custom, which wont happen due to how big the game is, or put a story and a twist on each one they will all be the same.

      1. its still the most popular game right now on consoles..lol and it doesnt matter it still cost $500,000,000.people are going to hate Star Citizen since it will be pay to win.

        do you think they are going to take these ship microstansactions out
        when its live?..lol.fyi buying items in game that are better then what someone else has is pay to win.

          1. or buy them instantly.that pay to win in my boook.i know i wont be playing this game.spend 100 hrs to grind for this ship or $500 to get it now.that is still pay to win.

          2. Not when that ship purchase, gives no real advantage.
            You have many ships bought, yet know how to fly none of them, very well.
            The player with in game original ship or one obtained later, does know how to fly that ship and what tactics will work against your shiny bought one.
            The player will run rings round the buyer, who think it’s “Pay to Win”, because they bought a ship.

            On top of that how a ship is equipped will change the capabilities.
            The player can spot the enemies load out and still run rings around your supposed “Better” model.

            The second point is there’s no winners and losers, you can’t beat the game. It’s a persistant world where the clocks always ticking.

            It’s not an MMO and has no “End Game”, every day is just another day in the universe. Ther’s no main quest, just a huge world where most interaction is player based, resources must be found out in the verse, then moved to where required.

          3. if i want a $000 and spend a month grinding for it and someone buys one and attacks me with it when i dont have it pay to win try again.

          1. it usually in the top ten on twitch.only cod is higher.and cod is multiplatform not just console

          2. and guess how many people play cod on pc? Not that many, twitch is mostly about mp competitive gaming, so what you think it will be about?

        1. 1. Most popular game is COD.
          2. 500 million budget was for entire franchise, not Destiny.
          3. The game sucks, so who cares?

    1. Actually it didnt. That figure is an all inclusive cost for the marketing and production for several games in the planned Destiny franchise. Destiny its self did not cost anywhere near half a billion to make and that is including the money spent on its marketing.

      This was confirmed via a statement from Bungie as well as Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg.

      1. its a total cost of everything the game cost $250,000,000 to make then $250,000,000 for advertising in all $500,000,000 to everything.

        1. No it did not.

          The 500 Million was an investment in the franchise and most of that has been put aside for future Destiny content. It may in time accumulate to 500 million in development and marketing costs but the initial game that was released did not cost anywhere near 500 million to make; This is confirmed by the people responsible for its funding AND the people who made the game.

    2. shut up already moron, jeez you are such an idiot. You fail to grasp the basic things, that is an investment plan for 10 years and it all goes to marketing.

      1. so what? you say all im saying is its the most expensive game ever made and its on console.and look at the pc hate.its to be expected tho.

          1. lol enjoy you crappy ports..lulz master race cant even play ports good..batman and acunity..lulz..any way destiny $500m to make

          2. even those broken ports runs better than your normal games, they are crappy by PC standards re*ard. did you played ACU on consoles ? it was worst idiot.

            anyway, destiny was a $500m s**t that you peasant deserve.

          3. you mom is the most expensive milf out there, it that related to the topic ? cuz one is an independent game with $100m crowdfunding money and the other one is a game with $500m budget for it’s ten years and it’s not crowdfunded and has a big publisher behind it, how is this related ? most of AAA games are over $100m. re*ard

  3. Kinda curious about something. I understand that there are different entry tiers to this games at the moment, with different ships. If one was to buy one of these, when the game finishes, would you be able to get all the other ships in game with in-game money? Or you will have to get ships as DLC with real money? Would you also get the campaign?

    1. No campaign version, only the Persitant universe. The single player game is not for bought ships.

      Basically after release (Same for backers but it’s a reward for backers, not a purchase) you must buy the starter ship package. Anyone can buy ships, but contrary to the “Buy to win” comments, owning ships give you no real advantage, if you don’t have time to learn how to use each ships abilities. All have advantages and disadvantages and can be obtained in game.
      Basic idea is those who haven’t the time to earn them in game, can buy and support future development.

      Only ships will be optionally sold, all content updates and expansions are intended to be funded by sales of ships. This game is planned to go on for decades, with only the initial ship required to be bought.
      Squadron 42 is included for backers, that will be at least 1 Single Player game, maybe 3 games. They will be sold separately.

      All the profits can be reinvested in the game, with no publisher demanding profit, all that profit can be used for future development.

  4. So just because some game rags, regurgitate publisher propaganda.
    You think it makes it suddenly true.

    As others have said, that’s the planned budget for over 10 years of planned content. Not what was initially released.

    I mean come on, does what was originally released, look like it cost half a billion dollars. Use your brain for once. If the initial game cost that much and made so little compared to that, it would have already been canned prior to the release.

  5. Yes they are wrong. Some almost get it right (if you read them you would know) but all of them are going off of what Kotick said and that has since been refuted by Bungie and Activision.

    Whats more, none of them seem to know what that 500 million is for, they are exaggerating a single comment made by Bobby Kotick.

    1. Important distinction coming up for the Console Peasant/PC Master Hater: “Report: Destiny costs Activision $500 million to develop and promote.”

      In other words, it cost $500M to both develop & market. Not quite there yet? Then let’s break it down, based on actual factual evidence, not random claims; Destiny development cost $140M, ergo by applying simple subtraction to that, we come to the inevitable conclusion that Destiny marketing cost $360M.

      Likewise, here’s another example; People say “GTAV cost $265M.” It did not. Development cost $137M, marketing cost $128M. Big difference.

      The “Most Expensive Game Ever Made”, if we include both PC & Console Titles, is still, to this day, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which still holds the crown with a gloriously over-inflated development budget of $200M. Which by-the-by is still a PC-Exclusive Title……. So, is this where I put the “lol at consoles”?

  6. Great news indeed. It’s really amazing just to see how much passion and effort can be put into a new IP that happens to be a AAA title, which is pretty rare. But that’s part of the benefit of being crowdfunded. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this title.

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