Cloud Imperium Games continues to break crowdfunding records. Star Citizen has now surpassed the $550 million mark, and its development is still far from over.
Image credit: @Shockbreaker
Star Citizen now has more than 4.4 million registered users, or “citizens”. At the moment of writing, CIG reached $551,648,369 in crowdfunding (via the game’s official website). Thus, the average pledge per one citizen is $124.6.
Star Citizen surpassed the $500 million mark last September. So it took Cloud Imperium Games around five months to raise another $50+ million.
According to CCU Game, users pledged $113 million towards the development of Star Citizen in 2022, which is up 31% compared to the previous year. Around $8 million has been donated since the beginning of 2023.
When it comes to video games, there is no title even close to Star Citizen in terms of raised funds. The second most crowdfunded game is Richard Garriott’s infamous RPG Shroud of the Avatar with $11.8 million, followed by Shenmue III ($6.3 million), Chronicles of Elyria ($6.1 million), Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ($5.5 million), and Torment Tides of Numenera ($4.7 million).
CIG launched a Kickstarter campaign for Star Citizen in 2012, with the game initially expected to come out in 2014. However, after over 10 years in the making, it still has no release date. The same is true for the game’s story mode Squadron 42.
The company continues to regularly release diaries, keeping fans updated on development progress. The latest video goes deep into new features like mining, which are expected to be added in the upcoming Alpha 3.19.