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Star Citizen Employees Speak Out on Project Woes - Crash and Burn ?
The Escapist has posted an article with insider information from nine former employees of Star Citizen, alleging a hostile work environment, the company has burned through $82 Million of their $90 Million in crowdfunded revenue.
According to several former employees and industry veterans, the reason Star Citizen is so popular is because it's never been done. And, they continue, the reason it has never been done is because it can't be done - at least, not with $90 million.
"$90 million for what he's pitching, even with a competent leadership, you couldn't do," CS1 wrote. "The thing you have to remember about Chris Roberts is that, before this, he hadn't made a game in 12 years. He has no concept of what can and can't be done today with that amount of money, or for a game like this. Chris Roberts hadn't made a game in 12 years, and he was actively ignoring the input of people who have been in and a part of the industry that entire time."
To this, Roberts says: "How do you or they know this? Which employees said this and what makes them qualified to make that judgement? I know it's what Derek Smart loves to say but he couldn't make a good game with $200m so I don't think his opinion matters. Outside of that, no employee beyond me and a few other key people who are leading Star Citizen would have the appropriate information and overview to make any judgement about the cost of the total project. Secondly, the company uses additional sources of funding such as tax incentives, marketing and product partnerships, but we do not discuss these issues in public for obvious reasons. We always keep a healthy cash reserve and operate our business prudently based on the incoming revenue. It should tell you something that we are actually increasing our global headcount not decreasing it."
Over concerns that he is not responding to advice from workers, Roberts writes "I have a very strong vision for Star Citizen, which is why I believe we have been backed to the level we have. I have no doubt what we can achieve. Now that most of the base technology is in place we will be able to get with the Large World and MultiCrew milestone a game experience that will allow you to seamlessly go from foot, to boarding a fully realized spaceship with your friends, take off, fly thousands or millions of km in space, exit your ship in EVA and explore derelict space stations or wrecks, engage in FPS combat, return to your ship, engage in space combat and return to your home base to share the tales of your adventures with your other friends. All with no leading screens, all at AAA first person fidelity that you can't even get on a next gen console. This is the core of the Squadron 42 and Star Citizen experience that we will continue to iterate on and add content to, but even the first release will be more "game" than most commercially released space games. In terms of not listening to the advice of people that have worked in the industry that is not true. I have a very strong executive management and design team with huge experience in AAA titles that all contribute to the decision making of the company. I listen to everyone - from our top level all the way through to our QA testers and community giving feedback on gameplay and features. I care and want to build the best game possible. Now that doesn't mean I agree with everyone's opinions and feedback as a project director I owe it to the community to stay true to my vision and pick the things that I think will make the game better which can occasionally lead to people feeling disgruntled, which I suspect is the root of this "concern"."
The popular consensus among most of the people who reached out is that Chris Roberts is not intentionally a con man. "He doesn't set out in the morning to screw anybody over. He's just incredibly arrogant," CS2 stated.
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gUNN1993
Senior Member
Posts: 280
Joined: 2013-11-21
Senior Member
Posts: 280
Joined: 2013-11-21
#5167275 Posted on: 10/02/2015 12:37 PM
@ddelamare
@Fox2232
Do you guys realise the game has been in development for four years now? It's still not close to being finished. Yes, the modules are being worked on, but they don't have that much for the time and money already invested in the game.
Take a look at Elite: Dangerous for example. Development started a year after Star Citizen, it was released last year, and they didn't even came close to having a budget of $80+ million.
And I'm sorry, but having a fu***** $18,450.00 "completionist package" is everything that is wrong with gaming today and makes Star Citizen a piece of s***. I don't even understand how people can't see how much of an easy money grab the game has become.
Having a monthly subscription for a game that got massive funding and isn't even finished yet should at least make you raise an eyebrow.
And before you bring the flames, my problem is not just with Star Citizen, I hate Steam's early access and crappy expensive DLC just as much.
I'll eat my shorts if Star Citizen is 100% completed before EVERSPACE.
Well elite dangerous is a boring and empty so they certainly got what they paid for, if people are paying so much for a complication package that's their hangup doesn't effect me in the smallest way.
The game industry has changed ... forever, you will never see it change back this is how things are going to go, you have to decide where to put YOUR money, not where others put theirs.
Normally I would be with you to a point on the price of all the ships, but it has been stated many time by the devs that you're essentially throwing your money at them, the 80 quid I spent on a freelancer 2 years ago was instantly written off, by the time the game releases those packages wont be worth that much .
Also what Roberts is trying to do is above and beyond what anyone else has ever done, this is both his possibly fatal weakness and biggest strength, people are willing to risk their money for the possibility of greatness.
@ddelamare
@Fox2232
Do you guys realise the game has been in development for four years now? It's still not close to being finished. Yes, the modules are being worked on, but they don't have that much for the time and money already invested in the game.
Take a look at Elite: Dangerous for example. Development started a year after Star Citizen, it was released last year, and they didn't even came close to having a budget of $80+ million.
And I'm sorry, but having a fu***** $18,450.00 "completionist package" is everything that is wrong with gaming today and makes Star Citizen a piece of s***. I don't even understand how people can't see how much of an easy money grab the game has become.
Having a monthly subscription for a game that got massive funding and isn't even finished yet should at least make you raise an eyebrow.
And before you bring the flames, my problem is not just with Star Citizen, I hate Steam's early access and crappy expensive DLC just as much.
I'll eat my shorts if Star Citizen is 100% completed before EVERSPACE.
Well elite dangerous is a boring and empty so they certainly got what they paid for, if people are paying so much for a complication package that's their hangup doesn't effect me in the smallest way.
The game industry has changed ... forever, you will never see it change back this is how things are going to go, you have to decide where to put YOUR money, not where others put theirs.
Normally I would be with you to a point on the price of all the ships, but it has been stated many time by the devs that you're essentially throwing your money at them, the 80 quid I spent on a freelancer 2 years ago was instantly written off, by the time the game releases those packages wont be worth that much .
Also what Roberts is trying to do is above and beyond what anyone else has ever done, this is both his possibly fatal weakness and biggest strength, people are willing to risk their money for the possibility of greatness.
vg24a3
Member
Posts: 94
Joined: 2013-09-23
Member
Posts: 94
Joined: 2013-09-23
#5167316 Posted on: 10/02/2015 01:58 PM
I've bought into this game and even if it won't ever be released I have no regrets because this is the boldest game idea ever and this is how I always wanted to see space sim to look like.
What makes a game great? is that they try to create something much more than ever before was done.
4 years may be enough for normal limited games but they didn't have all this money from the beginning so real development started much later.
I honestly see this project as constantly evolving, it will never be finished, once they release PU and FPS modules, they will be tweaking them constantly adding more content missions ships and so on, it will be living thing!
I've bought into this game and even if it won't ever be released I have no regrets because this is the boldest game idea ever and this is how I always wanted to see space sim to look like.
What makes a game great? is that they try to create something much more than ever before was done.
4 years may be enough for normal limited games but they didn't have all this money from the beginning so real development started much later.
I honestly see this project as constantly evolving, it will never be finished, once they release PU and FPS modules, they will be tweaking them constantly adding more content missions ships and so on, it will be living thing!
Loobyluggs
Senior Member
Posts: 4769
Joined: 2008-09-07
Senior Member
Posts: 4769
Joined: 2008-09-07
#5167329 Posted on: 10/02/2015 02:42 PM
Called it first.
I told you so - two years ago.
Anyone who says I was wrong or takes umbrage, it's just cognitive dissonance and I'll let it slide for the sake of forum neticate.
What I didn't know until I read this article was that he assigned his wife to the head of sales and marketing. Then, she did what any alpha-female would do and has done will shall continue to do until the end of time: she only allowed the hiring of young men by: forbidding the hiring of pretty women (regardless of ethnicity) and men potentially over the age of 40.
In addition to this, she then became the company witch and showed her age by not having any grace and attacking other members of staff as her looks are obviously a key concern for her. She can't get attention by any other means in her own pathetic and miserable self-induced projection of reality.
I pity her, I pity the employees but more importantly, I pity CR, as this miserable SOB has to climb on board and frack her ugly, wrinkly ass every-night.
Forget about SC ever being released: this game needed a CEO and business manager from day one - it doesn't and hasn't meaning the game will never live upto the 'vision' that CR has placed upon it.
There will be those members of staff who will happily be the 'yes man' and there are those who will just want to do to CR and his 'wife' what the rest of rational and sane people want to do:
Punch them both in the face and knock their teeth out.
If he was having a mid-life crisis - why didn't he do what other men with a small penis do and buy a red sports car, or a football team, or take up golf; why did he think he could create a game when he has no recent experience?
It's not even the 5th of November...
/shrugs and goes to fetch popcorn and tunes into youtube for the fireworks.
Called it first.
I told you so - two years ago.
Anyone who says I was wrong or takes umbrage, it's just cognitive dissonance and I'll let it slide for the sake of forum neticate.
What I didn't know until I read this article was that he assigned his wife to the head of sales and marketing. Then, she did what any alpha-female would do and has done will shall continue to do until the end of time: she only allowed the hiring of young men by: forbidding the hiring of pretty women (regardless of ethnicity) and men potentially over the age of 40.
In addition to this, she then became the company witch and showed her age by not having any grace and attacking other members of staff as her looks are obviously a key concern for her. She can't get attention by any other means in her own pathetic and miserable self-induced projection of reality.
I pity her, I pity the employees but more importantly, I pity CR, as this miserable SOB has to climb on board and frack her ugly, wrinkly ass every-night.
Forget about SC ever being released: this game needed a CEO and business manager from day one - it doesn't and hasn't meaning the game will never live upto the 'vision' that CR has placed upon it.
There will be those members of staff who will happily be the 'yes man' and there are those who will just want to do to CR and his 'wife' what the rest of rational and sane people want to do:
Punch them both in the face and knock their teeth out.
If he was having a mid-life crisis - why didn't he do what other men with a small penis do and buy a red sports car, or a football team, or take up golf; why did he think he could create a game when he has no recent experience?
It's not even the 5th of November...
/shrugs and goes to fetch popcorn and tunes into youtube for the fireworks.
CDJay
Senior Member
Posts: 135
Joined: 2009-08-22
Senior Member
Posts: 135
Joined: 2009-08-22
#5167331 Posted on: 10/02/2015 02:54 PM
"Do you guys realise the game has been in development for four years now? It's still not close to being finished"
Errrm... no. Up until the crowdfunding was completed, it was literally a pitch project/video. After that, hiring and development was gradually scaled up to the point where the first *development* offices were sorted out and further staffing could happen. Which was..... about Feb 2013.
As more funding has come in, more staff have been hired and offices opened. There wasn't a massive ready built team and infrastructure to just start developing a game.
Which essentially means we are merely two and a half years into development and the scale of the game and company working on it have been expanding during that entire time. I'd expect at LEAST another 1 1/2 years of dev before we see anything approaching the "release" of the entire thing proper. Which is 2016. IE when pretty much everyone expects it to be, even if that is in a late beta state with lots of content and functionality.
S'fine with me. *shrugs*.
Oh, and anyone bleating on about Chris Roberts hiring his unqualified wife clearly needs their head examined. SHE HAS RAISED 90 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE WORLDS LARGEST CROWD FUNDING CAMPAIGN EVER. Hardly dropped the ball, eh? It's ironic that she's getting the negativity she is entirely as a result of wildly overperforming. LoL
CDJay
"Do you guys realise the game has been in development for four years now? It's still not close to being finished"
Errrm... no. Up until the crowdfunding was completed, it was literally a pitch project/video. After that, hiring and development was gradually scaled up to the point where the first *development* offices were sorted out and further staffing could happen. Which was..... about Feb 2013.
As more funding has come in, more staff have been hired and offices opened. There wasn't a massive ready built team and infrastructure to just start developing a game.
Which essentially means we are merely two and a half years into development and the scale of the game and company working on it have been expanding during that entire time. I'd expect at LEAST another 1 1/2 years of dev before we see anything approaching the "release" of the entire thing proper. Which is 2016. IE when pretty much everyone expects it to be, even if that is in a late beta state with lots of content and functionality.
S'fine with me. *shrugs*.
Oh, and anyone bleating on about Chris Roberts hiring his unqualified wife clearly needs their head examined. SHE HAS RAISED 90 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE WORLDS LARGEST CROWD FUNDING CAMPAIGN EVER. Hardly dropped the ball, eh? It's ironic that she's getting the negativity she is entirely as a result of wildly overperforming. LoL
CDJay
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Senior Member
Posts: 537
Joined: 2005-02-23
May be it's good that he ignores people that have been in industry. In other way we would have donates, dlcs, childish nfs-like customizations etc etc.