With over a decade of development and nearly $700 million pumped into it, Star Citizen 1.0 may finally be a reality. After years of relentless criticisms and scam accusations, the game’s developer has now begun thinking in full release terms, though no official release date or window has been set.
Star Citizen first reared its head during a crowdfunding campaign in 2012, though the game has been in development since at least 2010. With 14 years of active work and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, Star Citizen still hasn’t been fully released. In fact, the game is still in its alpha stage. In a March 15 blog post, developer Cloud Imperium Games said it is eyeing a Star Citizen Alpa 4.0 launch in 2024. “But Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 is not our final destination,” the developer remarked, saying the team is slowly but surely moving towards a full 1.0 launch.
The developer expressed how they aim to support Star Citizen with more content and features for years to come, saying that there is no “definitive finish line in an online MMO.” The studio added that “Star Citizen 1.0 is what we consider the features and content set to represent ‘commercial’ release,” meaning the game is accessible for new players, polished, and has enough content to go around. In short, the developer said, “it is no longer Alpha or Early Access.” CIG also announced a roadmap coming later this year which will elaborate on what it needs to do ahead of a 1.0 launch. In the end, they concluded that, though it may still be a bit far away, “Star Citizen 1.0 twinkles on the horizon.”
Star Citizen has been in development for so long many players believed that the game would never come out. Memes cropped up about the issue, with some labeling it as Scam Citizen, and making a subreddit dedicated to refunding the game and calling it out. After so many years of controversies and hiccups, Star Citizen‘s full release may just be a reality, though it appears, like it always does, that it’s not coming soon. But hey, so long as it’s better than Starfield…
