Wing Commander creator asks fans if he should put his new space sim on Kickstarter
As Star Citizen crowd funding effort hits 40% of its goal with 24 days left.
Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts has asked his fans if he should put his new space sim on Kickstarter.
Last week Roberts announced Star Citizen, a hardcore PC exclusive space sim due out in 2014, and launched his own crowd funding effort on his website robertsspaceindustries.com.
At the time of publication $814,335 had been raised from 8849 backers - just over 40 per cent of the $2 million target. 24 days are left.
Shortly after the website launched it crashed under the weight of its popularity, and this, combined with the decision to go it alone, has caused some fans to ask Roberts to reconsider and use Kickstarter, which has proved an enormous success for the likes of Obsidian, Double Fine and inXile.
"The opinion of you all as a community is paramount to us and we are listening," reads a post on the Star Citizen Facebook page. "Please click to like this post if you would like to see 'Star Citizen' on Kickstarter."
At the time of publication, the post has 620 likes.
Roberts' crowd funding effort is unique in that he wants to raise between two and four million dollars to validate his private investors' valuation of the project and thus spark further investment. The game itself will cost between 12 million and 14 million dollars to create.
"I can make it for this price because I'm not making it inside the system," he told Eurogamer. "If I did it inside the system that would be $20+ million."
Roberts decided not to use Kickstarter to raise the money because "it's an extra step between the developer and the community".
But what if Roberts fails to raise enough money?
"We are encouraged by the overwhelming response to our 'underground' launch site with over 20,000 registered users that we will reach, and hopefully exceed our minimum goal," reads a FAQ on the RSI website.
"We also believe that the response to our crowd funding campaign will cause certain fans and investors to step up with additional funding. Nonetheless, we are offering you the option to have your money refunded (less processing fees), should we really not reach our minimum goal. Or you may leave it in so that we can use it for additional fund raising or to continue working on the game at a reduced level."