The Case for the Star Citizen Crowdfunding Campaign

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Star Citizen is one of the most ambitious crowdfunding efforts that has seen some success to date. It’s a self-published, crowdfunded video game that incorporates many of today’s top gaming elements. It’s part space opera, part spaceship battle simulator, and part first-person shooter. Any time a big project comes along, backers become nervous. This happens even when studios or publishers are backing the project.

Yes. We should be cautious when projects like Star Citizen come along. We should also be encouraged by the fact that these ideas are being brought to the market in the first place.

Skepticism Is Different Than Pessimism

Being skeptical of a large project is part of the due diligence process. We must examine how the project will be implemented, what distribution channels need to be created, and even how long it will take to bring a product to market. The company behind Star Citizen has come under fire recently because of alleged discriminatory hiring practices and other potentially questionable practices.

The only problem is that passion is being confused for facts. Emotions can create high levels of pessimism, especially when there are large sums of money involved. Skepticism provides feedback. Pessimism provides barriers. We need fewer barriers and more facts to see where this project could go.

$90 Million and Counting

Part of the issue surrounding this project is the scale of it. More than $90 million has been raised through crowdfunding and no one really knows where that money is going. There have been complaints from disgruntled employees, but let’s face it: that’s not a reliable source for facts.

The development of a game of this scope is going to take time. It has to be 99.9% right before it comes to the market so people will want to purchase it. When there are too many unknowns in the equation as there are here, then making assumptions based on information provided by frustrated individuals will only stir the pot and make things worse.

Investments pay off over longer periods of time. Star Citizen is definitely an investment. That’s why we must all look at the real facts we are presented instead of making assumptions on information that is questionably sourced in the first place.