The
creator of classic video games like Wing Commander has entered the Guinness
Book of World Records for Star
Citizen, his upcoming space adventure game. Since kicking off a
Kickstarter campaign nearly two years ago, Roberts and crew have raised more
than $55 million.
That’s not only the largest
crowdfunded game of all time, according to Guinness, it’s the largest amount
raised for any sort of crowdfunded project. Not bad for a game that initially
was seeking just $500,000.
“I
sometimes get asked why [I] continue to raise money,” Roberts said
in a blog post announcing the
news. “Haven’t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star
Citizen isn’t a
normal game. It’s not being developed like a normal game and it’s not being
funded like a normal game.”
And it sure doesn’t look like fans are
slowing down with their donations. Star Citizen has raised $5 million in the past two
months alone. In fact, more than 608,000 backers have put their money behind Star
Citizen so far, an
average of $90.39 each (which is a fair bit more than the $60 price tag of
today’s typical video game).
Many think Star
Citizen got its start
on Kickstarter, but that’s not exactly true. Initially, Roberts planned to
raise funds via the game’s website, but the plug-in he used to collect money
couldn’t keep up with the volume of donations. Roberts turned to Kickstarter as
a backup. Between the two, he raised $6.2 million.
Since then, all fundraising has been
done on the Star Citizen site.
“If we had raised the original amount
and no more, we wouldn’t be able to … continually upgrade the game with
new features,” Roberts said. “Our ability to iterate in Arena Commander, to try
different flight or targeting schemes, or add new game modes that are test beds
for future Persistent Universe gameplay is all due to our increased funding.”
Star
Citizen is
certainly ambitious, and with no firm release date yet, expect it to rake in
even more funds before all is said and done.
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