Anybody read this yet?

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fans-dropped-77m-guys-buggy-half-built-game/

Everybody's got an opinion and they're entitled to it. That being said, something like this has been written before (and will be again) so it's difficult to judge if they're sincere or just trying to capitalize on the CS community and get some ad hits on ads sponsoring their article.

I'm hoping that CR will produce the game and Chris Baker will post an update to his article with an image of him flying his M50 while reciting a sincere apology.

While I don't subscribe to it, there's a chance that the SC world would come crashing down, hundreds of people will lose their jobs, pixels from digital ships will be dumped into the harbor and villagers with torches and pitchforks will converge on southern California. No pressure, Chris

While I don't have all my ships flyable yet, I do like what I see so far and I do enjoy flying my M50 through the race rings.

Good article, I hadn't heard the new part about them selling 200 virtual ships for $2500 each in less than a minute = $500k...

I am a backer so I still hope SC gets finished, but as long as Roberts continues to sell more and more virtual ships for prices like that, these articles will continue to be written... I just wish they'd spend less time on marketing and making new ships to sell and more time on finishing the game...

They have a few more ships in the queue from the earlier pledge milestones, but dev time on these is limited unless they're needed for SQ42, at this point. They have continued to optimize the ship pipeline, so they report that has sped up the time it takes from concept to space. Most things fall in behind priority of Squadron 42, so the game is the priority for the main teams Illfonic (FPS), Austin (Persistent Universe), UK (SQ42). They're about to introduce the new team in Germany who I believe are focused on Cryengine game core...I believe they were mentioned as former Cryengine engineers or developers. At this point, we're expecting some significant releases this year.

This was nice to hear:


But that $22k backer guy...




If you think people would put that money into the game as just a donation, then take back all the ships and crap and put up a simple "donation" button and see how far the thing gets funded.
These people expect something in return. That guy sends money when there's something to be gained in the game, an edge and jumpstart over other players. He isn't simply sending money out of the goodness of his heart.

I hope it comes out as promised, and without taking years to do it like some other dreamy sounding projects have, but the high dollar crap is absurd. This new idea of "pay to win" months or years before a game even comes out is ridiculous and capitalizes on people's competitive nature rather than appealing to their generosity.
They've got my $65, or whatever it was, but no more until there's a real game to play. And I DO expect something, the game, as promised in return for that advance.

I too wish they could be a bit less of a marketing machine at that stage - I've followed the very initial reveal and backed SC right when it was announced, but since they've started the long train of releasing new ships and their assorted faux car ads videos I've stopped following what was going on because I found it awfully uninteresting (as well as frankly worrying). I'll press the "play" button when I get to see some significant videos about Squadron 42 or the persistent universe. Also, new ships are nice, but my good old Constellation was part of the very first ships created and is still not flyable. At these stage I'd rather see one working multi crew in Arena Commander than promises of all of these and bigger and bigger ships with crew in the dozens sold for thousands of bucks...

I started really enthusiastic about this project (with low expectations to be honest - a new Wing Commander was enough already) but if I would be given the choice to back this project today with what I've seen... I'm not entirely sure I would do it...

Agree 110% with your viewpoint. I am supporting the development in hopes of something never seen before. I just wish they would release some completeness of any one of the three modules, much akin to DCS or Arma 3. Give us a complete baseline engine to play with, more so then just the multiplayer, single moon environment or racing. They both get old quickly. Admittedly, I have invested a bit more, not to pay to win, but to capitalize on the LTI and supporting the development team as much as possible. I have pretty much capped out buying anything else until I see more substance in the game.

Agreed... I wouldn't have pledged the current amount I've contributed "out of the goodness of my heart"... I do like shiny things though.

To paraphrase Homer Simpson...

Oh, yeah. Pirate Skins, M50's, 890 Jumps, Reclaimers, GamesCom, SXSW. It's wonderful, Raw Kryptonite. I've never felt so accepted in all my life. These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.