Summary
- Star Citizen developer CIG has upset its community with paid ship upgrades.
- Flight Blades were going to be added in an upcoming patch, and only purchasable with real-world money.
- They’re now being delayed and will be available to purchase with both real money and in-game currency when they launch, but fans are still unhappy.
Star Citizen often makes headlines whenever it reaches a new eyewatering donations milestone. Last month, the total surpassed $800 million, and a further $18 million has been raised since then.,
However, that doesn’t mean that developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) isn’t looking for more ways to raise this figure. As spotted by PC Gamer, the studio recently upset its community by rolling out paid upgrades for player ships, only making them available to obtain with real money.
Flight Blades will improve the performance of your ship, and as per the original announcement, wouldn’t have been purchasable with the in-game currency. They would have cost anywhere from $9.60 to $42, and made unlockable without real-world money further down the line.
Since this would give anyone who paid an advantage, many understandably labelled it as pay-to-win. The backlash was so severe that Flight Blades have now been delayed, and when they go live, you will be able to use the in-game currency to buy them too.
However, CIG’s response hasn’t exactly pleased fans either. Here, the devs used the excuse of having to work on 11 patches for 2025, and fans just don’t think that this justifies putting more microtransactions in the game.
“This is a band-aid to calm people down, but the root issue here is that you continue to sell more and more items in the game that have a wider impact on what a player would do day to day,” says forum user SaltEMike.
“Components shouldn’t be on the store AT ALL. Never mind later on,” Iiana agrees. “People are angry cos these are being sold in any way shape or form for real money [sic].”
Unsurprisingly, someone brings up the fact that CIG absolutely shouldn’t be hurting for money right now. “They desperately need to manage their money better and have someone in charge who can choose a course and stick to it and deliver a game,” says MWTGoldenGun. “If they want to make money, deliver a game! Their budget is nearly double Red Dead Redemption 2 and they’re nowhere close to delivering Squadron 42.”
In the meantime, CIG is also gearing up for CitizenCon. It won’t be held in person this year, as the studio says it needs to focus on development. Whether or not Squadron 42 can actually stick to its release window remains to be seen. Star Citizen itself is playable in early access, with no word on when it will fully launch.
Star Citizen
- Developer(s)
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Cloud Imperium Games Corporation
- Publisher(s)
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Cloud Imperium Games Corporation
- Engine
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star engine
- Multiplayer
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Local Multiplayer
- Early Access Release
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December 23, 2017