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Star Citizen ushers in a new business model
olepi
Member EpicPosts: 3,017
in Star Citizen
It occurs to me that Star Citizen is using a new business model. Star Citizen is very profitable, without selling a product. It is a continuous alpha, for years, and no release date in sight. This doesn't prevent them from making hundreds of millions in revenue anyway.
In the old days, you bought a CD (or even a floppy) with the game on it. The game was finished, came with a manual, and was complete. Then we started doing everything online, so that companies could release something that wasn't finished, and then update it later online. This got progressively more common, so that now, games are released in beta shape as a matter of course.
But Star Citizen has taken it one step further. They haven't even released something like a beta. They're still in alpha, still changing the game, still developing it, while they are also selling access to whatever is running at the moment. They are free to change the game at any time, free to shut it down at any time, free to completely stop and just keep the money. Their website makes it clear that donating to the development is not a guarantee of receiving a finished product.
I think this is what has caused so much controversy. The visuals look great, the ships are cool, but there is no game. Just eternal development. And many people apparently don't like this new business model.
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
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Comments
Its actually bit like religion. Pray and pay to the church, so you can have place in heaven ( that maybe or maybe not exists ) one time, when you die.
7 Days to Die is the opposite. . I liked it early on and got my moneys worth but in my opinion the game just got worse and worse.
I expect SC will evolve continuously and I don't mind that but. . SQ42. . come on!
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
It is a title backers are putting all of their hopes and dreams (and cash) for the promise of an eternal reward.
The many parallels with religious or consumer cults is not coincidental.
They are by no means the only company to do this (see Apple) but the must be one of the first to see such success with an unfinished / incomplete product.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/12/turning-customers-into-cultists/382248/
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
also if you think those are detailed financial reports then you either need to get a new accountant or actually look up what detailed financial reports are
Also, I think if a game can give players something sacred (or a cult as it was called), then they have actually done what an mmorpg is supposed to do, in my mind. Im not a religious person, but if a video game can make me feel that type of way, I would happily invest in it.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
It is just that it is a model usually reserved for investors... Not end-customers. =P
This model was brought in to the light when so called crowdfunding was made popular. Before that it was pretty much just a investor thing.
This have been a good conversation
The ones who did something new (and bizarre in scale) here were the fan(atic)s. It's first world conspicuous consumption, or rather pre-consumption, in an insane scale. Any normie non-gamer doesn't get it and the only reason gamers kind of get it is because even if we don't do it ourselves, we are aware of just how much money gamers can spend gaming.
IMO too much is made of what CIG has done and is doing and not enough of what gamers have done to make this happen probably because the general public can't imagine this happening without a con man at the helm... which I don't think is the case. I think this is more a case of a developer stumbling into the motherlode of gamer spending.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
So, wrong from the jump. This is also not a new business model at all. People invest in homes prior to being built, people invest in many things prior to seeing them realized, this is no different other than they have begun to deliver. So your entire premise is wrong.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
SC's crowdfunding success is not any new business model, it's the fact their pitch and what they are developing is a product at a standard people WANT for long, that is the core driver of SC.
It's literally the 101 Supply & Demand, for a game like SC the demand is clear, the offer around leaves SC quite isolated as far what it is doing, pretty much resumes the core of its funding success.
More people need to read your post and maybe get this once and for all instead of this petty low-effort posts talking about religious cults...
I certainly dont know this for sure as it could just be terrible mismanagement and a general lack of care but these always become questions and gray areas with good scams.
That being said and all things aside- There is far more than enough information out there to determine for yourself at this point. And anyone throwing money into this in the last 5+ years has had that information- So EVEN if it is a scam...I dont consider those people to have been scammed- Just foolish.
Theres a point where people have to take responsibility for their own actions and take full blame for their (probable) losses.
The people I feel who were 'scammed' were those who bought in before the big scope change- And SC refunded anyone from a point even after that had happened if I remember right. So SC isnt culpable anymore imho. They did more than the minimum to make sure that everyone was happy with the situation or could be refunded. Even the fool who tried to sue them(and lost) ended up buying more Jpegs.
As much as I loathe SC- I think theyve done everything (even above and beyond) to give people a chance to have gotten out- And the fact they are bringing in more than ever tel;ls me that they are doing exactly what most people would do if they happened to have a tree that grew money. Cultivate it...
And theres no sympathy in my eyes for anyone still in if/when the whole thing ends up an average to sub par and quickly forgotten ca$h grab game.
edit- And I'll also note- At this point CIG are living the dream and people are parting with their money with years worth of information and data with which to make that choice. Good on CIG then- They are living the dream and if you want to burn dollar bills in my fireplace- I'll take the heat you are providing.
I'm certainly not jealous that "millions" love SC-I'm happy for anyone who finds a game they love and I personally love some games that are universally despised.
Also not sure what you believe I wrote reads like fiction- The fact that scams exist? Maybe they dont in your world? They are prevalent everywhere else and often prey on otherwise intelligent people.
I gave my opinion but also said "I dont know for certain"... That doesnt bar me from stating a (fairly) informed opinion based on whats available publicly- The same anyone here is doing with the information we have, regardless of ones opinion.
But the gist of what I was saying is that I dont think anyone is being 'scammed' except for the people who initially bought in or Kickstarted the project and SC refunded those who wanted out past that point- But I still feel that SC is scam (But that doesnt mean they are not making a game, employing people or anything else a normal business would do) )
If Robert's was SERIOUS about making this game,he could have done it years ago but only jumped in when he saw this money grab gimmick that others introduced to the gaming market.
I wouldn't doubt he also has some investors join in giving him even more money.
Funny thing about the internet is the devs like Robert's can use it to their advantage.Pay off some streamers,some websites,get everyone on board praising the game and the studio.It is only we small people that can see the scum and talk about it.You'll never see a tough interview done because Robert's would simply snub it.He doesn't want to have any responsibility,he wants to remain hidden and just keep collecting money.
Saddest reality of this all is that this truly is a form of exploiting people,dumb people but remains fully legal within the law to exploit over and over again.It is no different than selling alcohol to a drunk,it is illegal but only if proven.
There should be a giant wall of shame showing all the names of people who supported this idiocy.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
And the "negativity" imo has sustained the funding.
About that motherlode though - I think the likes of Activision-Blizzard and EA got there long ago. Whilst $250M would cover 1 year of their combined C level salaries it wouldn't cover 2. They are not even "big" companies as measured by revenue, profits, employees etc. Some companies make as much in profit as they make in revenue. Do they need such "highly talented" leadership?
Without the negativity and the "us vs them', "WE" are under attack mentality that formed- It changed funding into a sort of defensive measure.
Derek Smart was the best thing to ever happen to Star Citizen- Its like the Anton Lavey quote about "Satan being the best friend the church ever had"
Do I think theyre exploiting people? Yes, of course. But the information is all out there and some people want to be exploited.
Its like the guys (or gals) who get together with gals (or guys) who have a history and reputation around town for cheating or whatever... If they meet someone from out of town who gets with them- You feel sorry- But when its a local who has seen the pattern for 7+ years and still wants to give it a try? Idk.
In a way the negativity on SC was a good thing, there is SO MUCH NAYSAYING for years and years, that what has been happening recently is that we see SC casting a growing shadow upon the haters because is more and more speaking for itself. More and more avid naysayers on the past are checking in on the game, and it's something I defended for years it would happen and it IS happening.
Hate bounces back as positivity in specific cases, there is a marketing to it indeed, and you've seen it more noticeably more recently on NMS.
I think Sc saw this and fostered this.
I dont think the negativity was a good or a bad thing concerning SCs development but on its funding I believe it very much helped and created a stronger bond/attachment between the community and SC.
I also dont think this is a rare phenomena- It happens with alot ofthings but was magnetized by being a crowd funded venture- This was like the Nintendo Vs Genesis primary school arguments bumped up to 11 because the ones arguing were funding the companies lol-
I know the analogies arent exactly right but I like them dammit.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey