Star Citizen will not require a subscription not be free-to-play, it will will be available for a one-time purchase. And while players will be able to play in the Star Citizen universe for free, there will also be virtual items available for purchase with in-game credits so players can customize their ships and other items.
While the Kickstarter campaign ended late 2012, Chris Roberts' Cloud Imperium has kept on racking in donations through its official website and in the 8 months since the end of the Kickstarter has added an additional $7.8 million, for a total $10 million in funding.
While most crowd funded projects have a pre-determined funding window of 30 to 60 days, Star Citizen’s campaign remains open. Fans can still visit the official website and back the project, upgrade and purchase ships, subscribe to newsletters and developer forums and manage their accounts. Since the original campaign ended in mid-November, Star Citizen has raised an additional $3.7 million in crowd funding.
“The Star Citizen community has been nothing short of phenomenal in its support of this project,” said Roberts. “And for that we are eternally grateful. Our backers are providing us the opportunity to make a game that not only we want to create but one that they want as well. The beauty of crowd funding is that the crowd is involved every step of the way, not just with their financial resources but with their regular feedback and opinions as well.”
“We have raised a lot of money from the crowd, which is unheard of in our industry,” continued Roberts. “But we don’t plan on slowing down. In another week we’ll be unveiling new pictures and a special promotional sale for yet another ship in Star Citizen complete with sales brochure and commercial video. And at the end of the month we’ll be launching our new Star Citizen website that will have a more robust e-commerce system that allows fans to upgrade and modify their pledges, purchase add-ons and manage account info. And it’s going to better represent the world of Star Citizen, so it’s going to look amazing.”
Reaching the $10 million threshold has been much anticipated by the Star Citizen community because it carries with it a promise that Cloud Imperium will open a motion capture studio with the funds. Company officials will have more complete details on those plans in coming weeks, but released a video today to whet the appetites of its passionate fan base.
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