Star Citizen has passed another milestone. After hitting $350 in crowdfunding earlier this year, Roberts Space Industry.com reports that funding has just soared past $400 million despite the fact Star Citizen is still in its technical alpha.
Like many games, Star Citizen's funding model involves selling in-game content--usually ships, which are easily the coolest thing about Star Citizen. However, Star Citizen's ship packages are sometimes sold before the actual ship has been developed. This has led to developer Cloud Imperium Games getting a slap on the wrist from the UK Advertising Standards Authority for misleading advertising practices.
Star Citizen is notorious for missing its development milestones and seems to be in a perpetual alpha state. Production originally began in 2011 with an initial release window of 2014, but that was delayed to 2015, and then only bits and pieces of the game were released as teasers to backers. Since then it's been gradually adding content with various releases adding systems, ships, locations, features, and mechanics, but it's been at a snail's pace and with many failed milestones from past development roadmaps.
Star Citizen's current roadmap has numerous caveats and the word "tentative" listed above most milestones. We might see Update 3.16 in Q4 2021, while update 3.17 might appear in Q1 2022.
But there's no denying that progress is being made. The most recent update added comprehensive health, healing, and injury systems. Much like Fallout, specific body parts can become injured after update 3.15, with those injuries requiring either drugs, healing items, or a hospital to correct. There was also a refresh of the game's loot system, some new missions, and a few new ships to try out as well.
That said, Star Citizen is nowhere near done, and the current development roadmap doesn’t even hint at a beta, let alone a full release date.