Chris Roberts' New PC Game is Space Sim 'Star Citizen'
PC gamers hoping that the return of Chris Roberts would mean another Wing Commander sequel is in the works may be a little disappointed, as his next entry into the gaming arena will be Star Citizen. It's a space sim to "re-invigorate PC games," and currently in development at his Cloud Imperium Games studio, located in Los Angeles.
"In recent years, game designers have stopped innovating and pushing the boundaries of what you can do in this genre," says Roberts. "I plan on bringing that kind of development mentality back into PC gaming and space sims in particular.
"There is a lot of noise out there regarding social and mobile games right now, and I think PC gamers are feeling a little left out of the mix. But the PC is still incredibly capable of presenting an experience that doesn’t take a back seat to any other platform out there, including consoles. With my game, I want PC gamers to stand up, be counted and get excited again about all the great experiences their computer can deliver."
Star Citizen has been in development for the past 12 months, and will include all the Chris Roberts trademarks including "high quality cutting-edge visuals and technology, a virtual world that is immersive and detailed, a sophisticated storyline that is wide in scope and visceral, heart-pounding space combat."
Like many other game developers as of late, Roberts is taking the crowd-funding route to get the project completed, but not through Kickstarter or other 3rd-party sites on the Internet. Instead it will be done in-house, offering "rewards" for those who pledge from ten bucks up to $10,000 USD. This latter pledge provides the rank of Commander, a custom skin for a top of the line RSI Constellation spaceship, exclusive access to the alpha and beta, and more.
"We are taking this approach to fund-raising for several reasons," said Roberts. "For one, this route takes the traditional game publisher out of the mix and enables us to take the millions of dollars normally used by publishers for a triple-A title and plow them right back into developing the game. Secondly, using our own crowd funding mechanism allows us to reach out to our international fans, who have been devoted followers of my games in the past. Thirdly, going direct gets us much closer to our fans and allows us to focus more on the community side, create more updates for our fans and directly interact with them as we are making the game."
Like NCsoft's Guild Wars 2, Star Citizen will require a one-time purchase, but will remain free-to-play online thereafter. PC gamers will be able to purchase in-game items with real-world cash, thus indicating that Star Citizen may be a persistent MMO space sim. Roberts goes into detail in the video provided below, confessing his love for the PC platform and his dedication into total immersion with Star Citizen.
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For more information about Star Citizen, head here.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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sparky2010 I like this idea! Regarding in-game item purchases, we don't know if everything will be like that, but this is basically EVE Online in first person!Reply
And to space fight MMO style? Bring it on! -
dark_knight33 Looks to put X3 to shame, exciting.Reply
I welcome the harbinger of the return to (real) PC game domination. -
killerclick No MMOs for me, thanks. I liked Wing Commander and Starlancer, loved Privateer, but if I wanted other players around, I could play Eve Online.Reply
I guess I'll stick to First Encounters D3D, hope Chris Roberts makes a comeback though. -
husker By saying it's been in dev for 12 months, is like saying we just started. I'll be happy to check it out in a couple of years when it's closer to release.Reply -
Priox @killerclickReply
"No MMOs for me, thanks. I liked Wing Commander and Starlancer, loved Privateer, but if I wanted other players around, I could play Eve Online."
As awesome as Star Citizen sounds, and as devoted to the idea as I am, I understand not wanting to play another MMO.
What makes this project so beautiful, and what seems to not be mentioned in this article, is the single player game.
The single player is a military campaign that stands alone as a game, actually with a separate name: Squadron 49.
Squadron 49 is meant to fit within Star Citizen, in that once players complete the single player game, they can continue playing their character in the open world universe.