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Chris Roberts sure knows how to raise money.
The creator of classic video games like Wing Commander has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for Star Citizen, his upcoming space adventure game. Since kicking off a Kickstarter campaign nearly two years ago, Roberts and crew have raised more than $55 million.
That's not only the largest crowdfunded game of all time, according to Guinness, it's the largest amount raised for any sort of crowdfunded project. Not bad for a game that initially was seeking just $500,000.
"I sometimes get asked why continue to raise money," Roberts said in a blog post announcing the news. "Haven’t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star Citizen isn’t a normal game. It’s not being developed like a normal game and it’s not being funded like a normal game.
And it sure doesn't look like fans are slowing down with their donations. Star Citizen has raised $5 million in the past two months alone. In fact, more than 608,000 backers have put their money behind Star Citizen so far, an average of $90.39 each (which is a fair bit more than the $60 price tag of today's typical video game).
Many think Star Citizen got its start on Kickstarter, but that's not exactly true. Initially, Roberts planned to raise funds via the game's website, but the plug-in he used to collect money couldn't keep up with the volume of donations. Roberts turned to Kickstarter as a backup. Between the two, he raised $6.2 million.
Since then, all fundraising has been done on the Star Citizen site.
"If we had raised the original amount and no more, we wouldn’t be able to ... continually upgrade the game with new features," said Roberts. "Our ability to iterate in Arena Commander, to try different flight or targeting schemes, or add new game modes that are test beds for future Persistent Universe gameplay is all due to our increased funding."
Star Citizen is certainly ambitious, and with no firm release date yet, expect it to rake in even more funds before all is said and done.
The creator of classic video games like Wing Commander has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for Star Citizen, his upcoming space adventure game. Since kicking off a Kickstarter campaign nearly two years ago, Roberts and crew have raised more than $55 million.
That's not only the largest crowdfunded game of all time, according to Guinness, it's the largest amount raised for any sort of crowdfunded project. Not bad for a game that initially was seeking just $500,000.
"I sometimes get asked why continue to raise money," Roberts said in a blog post announcing the news. "Haven’t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star Citizen isn’t a normal game. It’s not being developed like a normal game and it’s not being funded like a normal game.
And it sure doesn't look like fans are slowing down with their donations. Star Citizen has raised $5 million in the past two months alone. In fact, more than 608,000 backers have put their money behind Star Citizen so far, an average of $90.39 each (which is a fair bit more than the $60 price tag of today's typical video game).
Many think Star Citizen got its start on Kickstarter, but that's not exactly true. Initially, Roberts planned to raise funds via the game's website, but the plug-in he used to collect money couldn't keep up with the volume of donations. Roberts turned to Kickstarter as a backup. Between the two, he raised $6.2 million.
Since then, all fundraising has been done on the Star Citizen site.
"If we had raised the original amount and no more, we wouldn’t be able to ... continually upgrade the game with new features," said Roberts. "Our ability to iterate in Arena Commander, to try different flight or targeting schemes, or add new game modes that are test beds for future Persistent Universe gameplay is all due to our increased funding."
Star Citizen is certainly ambitious, and with no firm release date yet, expect it to rake in even more funds before all is said and done.
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