Summary
StarCitizenhas hit yet another crowdfunding milestone, surpassing $800 million in contributions despite still having no release date. Few, if any, games have had as long a development cycle as Cloud Imperium’s space-faring MMO, but the wait has not stopped fans from supporting it financially. With no end in sight yet,Star Citizenis quickly nearing the $1 billion mark.
The much-delayed early access title is no stranger to setting records. In 2023,Star Citizenbecame the most expensive game ever made, surpassing the development costs ofRed Dead Redemption 2,Grand Theft Auto 5, andCyberpunk 2077combined. Notably, all of those games also had relatively long dev timelines, but none of them come close toStar Citizen, which is now going on 13 years and is still in Alpha.
At the time of writing,Star Citizenhas raised over $802 million, thanks to investment from over 5.5 million contributors. The game’s budget swelled by over $9 million in March 2025 alone, which means the crowdfunding campaign saw more than four times its original goal of $2 million in a single month, and that was far from the title’s biggest funding period. Still, things have not been all rosy forStar Citizenand the studio behind it. In November of last year,Cloud Imperium laid off roughly 1% of its workforce, which was just one in a series of job cuts the company has suffered throughout its long development. The cause behind these cuts is unclear, as is when the crowdfunding period will finally end.
Star Citizen Passes $800 Million in Crowdfunding Contributions
AsStar Citizen’s budget keeps skyrocketing, its future remains uncertain. Its last major update, version 4.0, came out in December 2024 and included a full wipe of players' acquisitions and stats. Cloud Imperium has said that full wipeswill become less frequent afterStar Citizen4.0, which could suggest that the team is gearing up for an official full release, but without any confirmation from the studio, that may be little more than wishful thinking. The first pre-alpha build of the game came out in 2013, and multiple builds have experienced delays since then, so it’s difficult to say when fans can expect the next phase to start.
Other games have survived decades-long development hell in the past. Notably,Mother 3was in development for 12 yearsbefore releasing and is now one of the most beloved GBA titles.Star Citizenhas now passedMother 3’s dev timeline, so it’ll be interesting to see when it will finally get a full release and what its legacy will be afterward.
Star Citizen
WHERE TO PLAY
Star Citizen gives you unlimited run of the Stanton system, a vast sandbox of life-size planets, moons, cities, space stations, asteroid belts, and more. With unmatched beauty, diversity, and danger in equal measure, you never know what’s waiting for you when you take flight.You can be whoever you want and explore the stars on your own terms. You can mine ore, haul cargo, salvage space wrecks, hunt bounties, become a mercenary, or even take up a life of crime. Fly and drive a vast variety of vehicles and play how you want to play - the possibilities are endless.How you deal with danger is up to you – stay safe in the regulated sectors of the system, arm up and tackle threats head-on, or turn to a perilous life of crime and get your cut of the action. Stanton’s booming black market offers opportunities to earn a crooked living if a hard day’s work isn’t for you.Star Citizen is currently in the “Alpha” stage of development, with each update adding new features, technology, and gameplay to grow and evolve with players.
