Even without a confirmed release window, Star Citizen is still bringing in huge sums of money.
Star Citizen’s funding has now topped $700 million, as IGN originally reported. This is based on information taken from the game’s developer, Cloud Imperium, website. The figure is taken from the “Funds Raised” section.
The business provides an additional timing breakdown, and it appears that May has been a particularly successful month for the game. Over the course of April, Star Citizen managed to raise “only” $4,753,264. This stands in sharp contrast to the numbers for the single weekend of May 21–27, when over $10 million was raised.
The remarkable Adventure Beckons upgrade is partially to blame for this unexpected increase in funding. Officially referred to as Alpha 3.23, this update adds native fauna to the game, making it the largest one to date.
It also contained some much-needed improvements for Squadron 42, the game’s very popular first-person shooter. Along with many other performances by Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, and Gary Oldman, these updates include the addition of Star Map 1.0 and enhancements to the UI and FPS components.
In retrospect, the amount raised by the game’s initial Star Citizen Kickstarter campaign in 2012—a little over $2.1 million—seems really absurd. They haven’t stopped crowdfund since, smashing all previous records in the process.
When $39,680,576 was pledged, the game was officially recognized as having raised the “largest single amount ever raised via crowdsourcing” by Guinness World Records.
Additionally, it got money when millionaire Clive Calder paid $46 million for a 10% share in Cloud Imperium. Calder contributed a further $17.25 million, bringing the total amount obtained from private investment to $63.25 million, after also winning two seats on the board.
