While we continue to wait for more details surrounding the crowdfunded title, Star Citizen, it seems that at least someone still has hopes in the progress of the game’s development.
South African billionaire, Clive Calder, and Snoot Entertainment owner, Keith Calder, have made a $46 million dollar investment in Cloud Imperium Games, taking a 10% share in the studio responsible for Star Citizen. The investment adds to the record $210 million that has already been directly contributed by excited fans, while adding to the value of Cloud Imperium Games, which sits at $496 million. Pretty impressive for a game that has only been released though a series of “modules,” rather than a completed game.
The new capital will reportedly go towards marketing Star Citizen’s single-player mode, Squadron 42, which is planned for a summer 2020 release. The need for marketing capital certainly makes sense, considering the majority of roughly 85% of Cloud Imperium Games’ expenses last year were on its developer headcount.
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In an interview with with GamesBeat, Cloud Imperium Games founder and CEO, Chris Roberts, expressed that the investment will allow the company to maintain its independence, while ensuring its other means of capital be used for continued game development.
“We have the ability to take care of our marketing and not be beholden to someone else,” Roberts said in the interview. “For the future of the company, it’s a really good sign. And it’s a good sign to show that, even at this stage, the company is worth this kind of money. As we grow and get bigger, it should only increase beyond that. That should give people who are worried about whether we’ll be around tomorrow — they shouldn’t be so worried about that.”
The doubt surrounding Star Citizen’s full release continues to be bogged down by delays - the game was originally supposed to launch in 2014 - and additional elements being added to the massive space exploration game thanks to advancing technology. For what it’s worth, the game - which has been compared to No Man’s Sky - and its overall scope looks to be a great time. Hopefully, with this recent investment going towards marketing, we will start hearing more about Star Citizen and, ideally, gain a better idea of when we might expect a full-launch of the game.
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