Kickstarter is for suckers, apparently.* Everyone should just follow Chris Roberts’ lead and do the independent crowd-funding thing, as Star Citizen, the Wing Commander creator’s spiritual successor to the beloved space combat sim series, has officially crossed the $35 million mark. All of that money amounts to a giant pre-order pledge, as fans have stepped up to purchase content packages for a game that doesn’t exist yet.
It’s coming along though! Roberts gives a “state of the game” address of sorts in his latest post on Star Citizen‘s official website, thanking fans for their record-breaking contributions. As he notes, the $35 million figure has “broken every record there is in crowd-funding – and not just for games – for any type of project!” It’s a tremendous feat.
Star Citizen‘s crowd-funding campaign just over a year ago, in October 2012, with the main initiative hosted on the game’s website while a supplementary Kickstarter was launched. While that was good for a not-inconsequential $2.1 million in funding, Roberts and his Cloud Imperium Games likely launched the Kickstarter with an eye toward helping to spread awareness of Star Citizen as well. The crowdsourced funding platform was a topic of much discussion in late-2012, and “new space sim from the creator of Wing Commander heads to Kickstarter” immediately became a story worth talking about.
Crossing the $35 million marker means that the fan-voted Drake Herald spaceship will be added to the game. Star Citizen is an open-galaxy game with an emphasis on carving out your own story. Some might focus on combat, others on trading, and still others on more esoteric pursuits, such as cultivating a social presence. The Drake Herald offers players to take the role of what Roberts called an “information runner,” ferrying sensitive data around the galaxy to high-paying clients.
The next goal, marked for $37 million, will add the Tanga system to the finished game, a solar system tucked into the heart of a rectangle-shaped nebula. All of these goals are voted on by the fan community. You can find plenty more and help fund the game with a pre-order of your own at the official Star Citizen website.
*No, Kickstarter is not actually for suckers.
