While I was catching up on recent Blaugust posts I spotted this piece by Scopique in which he talks about the recent announcement from CIG to postpone Squadron 42 (the stand alone story mode game type thing) and Scopique also commented on the recent patch excitement (not the word he uses). Now to be perfectly clear I didn't back Star Citizen, but lots of folks I know from my clan did and at this point they have either cashed out or are still waiting. I admire their dedication, I hear excitement when a new patch drops and then the frustration as they encounter issues or game breaking bugs. But the game is still in alpha so that is expected, but with no clear timeline on when that alpha status will go it has to be frustrating. Now while there are countless things that can and most likely have been said about the project as a whole, I'm not getting into the thick of that discussion in this post. The question I wanted to pose is how long is too long? Creative Freedom or Unbounded Goals I've backed a good number of crowd funding projects over the years from the small to the large, while some haven't been without delays, hurdles and upset, I think there has always been a pretty clear expectation on what was going to be delivered and what those timescales look like. Vague timeframes on anything are just a concern. Chris Roberts was always clear about not wanting a publisher (or share holders) to be accountable to, which to be honest is a noble goal and I think has had great success with other companies. Plus I can understand this after how FreeLancer ended up. Starting with the Crowdfunding in 2012 on Kickstarter Star Citizen it secured an amount that Roberts had said would be needed to secure investors to complete the game. In a 2014 interview with ABC News Roberts talks about how if they could raise 2 to 4 million via crowdfunding then only 14 to 20 from investors would be needed to make the game. However, back to my point has the lack of accountability to anyone, been the reason why everything feels endless and/or directionless at times? There is no-one in the role to keep things on track or to deadlines (Yes I am playing devils advocate here). Is this were the Crowd Funding model falls apart? You invest in the company/product but ultimately the Kickstarter rules are Backer Beware, no guaranty that you will get anything or even when you will get nothing. Going pass down your stake in Star Citizen to your children? Think you can play it before retirement? There is strong data that the general player base of MMOs are older and getting older, the younger gamers aren't into MMOs, or don't have the time/focus/energy to pour into one. So the questions above may not be far off the mark. But Star Citizen isn't an MMO, or at least wasn't advertised as one when people kickstarted it, the FAQ even addresses this point : Is Star Citizen an MMO? No! Star Citizen will take the best of all possible worlds, ranging from a permanent, persistent world similar to those found in MMOs to an offline, single player campaign like those found in the Wing Commander series. The game will include the option for private servers, like Freelancer Is that still the case, is Star Citizen not a MMO? Well even the Star Citizen website description now declares it a "massive space MMO", which is some large scale scope creep from the original offering. Maybe that is why we are so far beyond crowd funding without a full release. Final thoughts Interesting point but then all news about CIG and Star Citizen seems to be laced with mystery. One of the founders of the company Ortwin Freyermuth left the company last year as a director after 14 years and with his departure selling all his shares too. You may remember his name as acting as the legal council for the company whenever players wanted refunds sought in court, and he was also legal advisor for the film development, production company that Roberts setup between gaming jobs. A thought on the Move of the Squadron 42 date: In 2023 Squadron 42 was reportedly "feature complete" and just in the "polish" phase according to a Star Citizen video. I bet those staff that had to crunch 7 day works weeks that were imposed on them in 2024 to get the game ready for CitzenCon and were promised "time off in lieu" when Squadron 42 is released, aren't too excited it has been delayed yet again to 2027. That is if they are still at CIG an didn't forfeit those days by leaving.