‘Star Citizen’ 2.0’s Crowdfunding Record Sets The Release Date Stakes High For Chris Roberts’ Video Game

Star Citizen’s crowdfunding record just surpassed the $100 million mark, setting yet another record for Chris Roberts’ video game project. This announcement came just shortly after the Star Citizen 2.0 Alpha was launched, and already some gamers are hoping the Star Citizen release date will bring a game worthy of its high price tag, never mind if it’s a worthy spiritual successor to the Wing Commander series.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, the history of Star Citizen’s crowdfunding efforts started with Kickstarter way back in 2012. The project reached its Kickstarter goal in only six days, and within a month the video game was setting crowdfunding records everywhere.

Eventually, Roberts decided to separate Star Citizen’s crowdfunding system completely from Kickstarter since this allowed the company to eliminate the Kickstarter fees. To put this into perspective, only $2.1 million of the $100 million raised for the Star Citizen video game came from Kickstarter.

According to CNBC, the backers are very serious about this project since the average backer is putting in over $100, which is fairly bold considering that PC video games usually cost $60 at most, never mind if gamers wait for Steam sales. But gamers are willing to invest so much because Roberts is promising to provide a space simulator MMO that combines multiple genres, including first person shooters.

“It’s not just a single-player game or something you’ll finish in a week,” Roberts said. “We’re building a universe you can live inside. People view it as a long-term investment. They’re willing to invest more because of that.”

The $100 million will apparently being going toward making certain the experience is high quality. More than 38 playable missions are planned along with a space map measuring 1 million km by 1 million km by 200,000 kilometers. While obviously not all of that space will be filled, you will be treated to recognizable voices coming over the comms.

The voice cast for the Star Citizen: Squadron 42 single player campaign will include notable actors like Gary Oldman and Star War’s Mark Hamill. Other cast members listed include Sophie Wu (Kick Ass), Sandi Gardiner, Craig Fairbrass (Eastenders), Liam Cunningham (Game Of Thrones), Ben Mendlesohn (Dark Knight Rises), Ian Duncan, Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Rhona Mitra (Shooter), Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones), and Harry Treadway (Control).

Unfortunately, the Star Citizen release date has been such a moving target that it resembles playing Wing Commander with just a keyboard. The Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 is available right now, but so far all we know is that a more finalized version will become available some time in 2016.

In the mean time, check out the video bullet list of features that came with the official announcement.

• 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
• …and much more

There is certainly a lot of Chris Roberts and Cloud Imperium Games to deliver a masterpiece considering how much gamers have invested at this point. Overall, gamers on social media have been satisfied with what they have been given access to so far, although some have noted that the framerate stutters and sometimes the game crashes. But considering this game is only in the alpha stages these type of issues are to be expected.

What do you think about Star Citizen 2.0 so far?

[Images via Star Citizen/Could Imperium Games]