dsmart
6479
You would be wrong. CIG already had a fully paid license for a single game (Star Citizen). No royalties.
By using the single license for SQ42 - even if they didn’t switch - they skirted having to fork out money for another license. That CryEngine is already free, has no bearing on that. And that’s the hilarious part of that specific issue.
Then they went all out and claimed to have switched to Lumberyard - though they didn’t.
They’re in a Catch-22 screw-up because even if the agreement allowed them to switch, they are still on the hook for the other claims - and they would have to PROVE (we don’t believe that they did, as it would be LOT of work. Because CE3 and LY are derivatives, they didn’t have to do a full 100% swtich) that they switched and no longer are using ANY part of CryEngine. And if they were not allowed to switch - then they did - well, here we are.
ps. I wrote a blog about that switch
Teiman
6480
I dunno man.
They are trying to make a videogame. Thats good, no?
But, like, are they though?
That’s the 180 million dollars question, isn’t it? ;)
Teiman
6483
Well, obviously yes. Maybe they overpromise and underdeliver (thats always subjetive), but they go and release stuff. Maybe thats worth some respect.
dsmart
6484
I agree. It’s not so much that the devs aren’t doing their best to produce something. The blame - all of it - lies with Chris and his upper echelon cronies. He pushed this beyond their technical and experience abilities, thus killing the project slowly. Had he stuck with the original 2012 “vision”, we’d probably have a game in 2015, and talking about expansions now. Just like a normal studio would plan for.
This is all on him.
And once they figured they had a bunch of saps willing to give them money - for no apparent reason other than Sunk Cost Fallacy - they abused that privilege and just continued downhill.
It’s amazing to me that in Sept 2014 when they had raised $65M, the game was supposed to have been out in Nov 2014, at a cost of $2M. Yet, +3 years + $115M later, they still only have a glorified tech demo.
Scotten
6485
I work Corporate America IT and this sort of project would never fly, not in the 21st century. I have been on a few where more money kept getting thrown and things and it usually did not end well.
Ah, there’s nothing wrong with this game that $100 wouldn’t fix.
– Tom Waits
That is pretty much when I got the impression that the project was starting to sound like a case study out of The Mythical Man Month.
I lost faith much sooner: circa February 2013 after the KS ended and it began to rain jpegs (begin at 10:34):
The man had discovered a gold mine. Here’s a post I wrote in November 2014 on Ars Technica, suggesting CIG’s current tack would one day result in a lawsuit:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1184666&start=2400
This was well before the words “Derek Smart” meant anything to me, and I was used to being vigorously shouted down regarding the topic of Star Citizen.
To be fair, what game there is looks much better than I expected but that’s the nice thing about having low expectations.
You still won’t see me around for as long as I expect some wallet warrior to look me in the eye and say “I helped make Star Citizen”.
This post of you is superb
I can see dropping that kind of cash on a certain title over a lifetime. Certain games require subscription fees, and the idea is that these games will receive a Kaizen type treatment over their lifetimes as well, and generally you get to try the game first to see if it’s a good fit. I’ve spent close to $800 on a title myself, so I’d be a hypocrite if I criticized someone for spending 3x that. The important difference is that this $800 has been spread out across a decade, for an already released game. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics and finance knows that the net present value of $800 today is a lot more than $800 across a decade. For me personally, if I were to consider dropping $2,500 on Star Citizen, I would want assurance that this would still be a relevant title in… 2060*, due to what else is on the market right now.
Here are just a few other things you buy with $2,500 right now:
-Several years supply of infant formula
-An elaborate snowboarding vacation to Colorado, or SCUBA vacation to Florida (including certification and rentals)
-A balanced investment portfolio
-A gaming laptop and an entire library of AAA titles
Far be it from me to tell you what to do with your money, but spending this on a game that might be good and might be out in a couple years is nothing short of Quixotic (<- that’s me trying to be nice). As to the argument “well, 2.5k isn’t much to some”, my reply is that if this is the case, then Star Citizen is a game for the over-rich, in an invented market.
*For those without a sarcasm detector, this is tongue-in-cheek. There is no way someone could offer me this assurance, although I’m sure some would try, given creepy things I’ve read from other Star Citizens like “I Trust Chris Roberts” or “Don’t underestimate the power of faith”.
dsmart
6491
That was a good post. It’s amazing that a LOT of people saw this train wreck coming a mile away - and most of them weren’t even developers. This is why when I jumped into the fray back in July 2015, everyone lost their minds because I remain, the only living insane person on the planet, to have ever attempted a game of this scope. And I know what failure looks like - right from the ground floor. If people look back to 2015 and compare to now, it should be easy to see why they all freaked out when I wrote that blog. They secretly feared that I was right. Heck, even the execs at CIG freaked out, came after me, and subsequently made it worse. Meanwhile, a bunch of loons stuck in Sunk Cost Fallacy came up with the best idea ever: give them money until they can achieve their goals. Except they didn’t take tech, experience, and expertise into consideration.
dsmart
6492
Hey, new schedule is out. We’re in 2019 territory now. And we’d still be stuck in Stanton (which still won’t be finished) system. Which is 1 of 100 they promised.
Remember back when I said this “game” was never going to see the light of day, and that the 2016 schedule was bullshit?
Chris Roberts’ Kickstarter is the 419 letters of the 21st century.
Sounds like you’re saying, in the fine tradition of posters here, that you predicted this on your blog!
Brooski
6496
Most respected poster, by far!
Enidigm
6497
Indeed my good man, i felt it my duty to remind the committee here gathered that my monocle had popped ere long years before!
