Roberts Space Industries, the team behind the infamous always-in-progress MMORPG Star Citizen, believes it’s closer than ever to its 1.0 “commercial release” product—but not without some major internal movement. A new Letter From the Chairman, written by founder and CEO Chris Roberts, outlines some of the successes of Roberts Space Industries lately, as well as outlining some of the future hopes for the company and its games.
This is off the heels of some major developments—and some losses. Last October, Roberts Space Industries announced that its single-player spinoff, Squadron 42, was almost entirely ready for release product-wise, minus its polishing phase. Meanwhile, the game tackled its most ambitious technical accomplishment, even by wide scale tech industry standards: server meshing, aiming to bring all servers into one persistent universe, which saw testing earlier this month.
One of the biggest discussions this time was something onlookers have been doubting for years: a tighter path to a 1.0 release. Star Citizen has been working through countless Alpha versions for years, essentially a perpetual Early Alpha, with its first tidbit of hangar gameplay releasing to Kickstarter backers in 2013.
Now, Roberts says they’re focusing up to finally get the team–and its players–out of the Alpha cycle and into a more realized full “commercial release.”
“While we recognize that there is no definitive finish line in an online MMO, and that we will always be adding new features and content for many, many years to come, Star Citizen 1.0 is what we consider the features and content set to represent ‘commercial’ release,” he explains. “This means that the game is welcoming to new players, stable, and polished with enough gameplay and content to engage players continuously. In other words, it is no longer Alpha or Early Access.”
A new Senior Game Director, Rich Tyrer, formerly the director for Squadron 42, has been brought on board to focus up towards a 1.0 release. He assures they’re properly tightening up the sprawl that Star Citizen has become over the past decade.
“This begins with identifying what features and content are required to create a fully realised space MMO while laying the foundations for future updates,” he explains. “To be 100% clear though, this doesn’t mean going back to the drawing board or totally changing the vision of what SC currently is. With this aim, Chris and I have overseen the creation of a roadmap that takes us all the way up to 1.0 and outlines all the features and content we need, and just as crucially, the ones that will come post full release.”
However, in the meantime, the end of key Squadron 42 development and the return to office movement seemed to force some major restructuring (read: layoffs). We don’t know the exact number, but we do know major figures were laid off, and one outlet even reports a former staffer hinted at a “highly toxic” environment.
Part of the reorganization also included asking its core development team in Los Angeles to move to Austin or Manchester, UK, instead in order to join the new offices. Moves to Texas have become common in the past decade, with lower taxes and rents compared to its California and New York City counterparts. However, Roberts chalks it up to being “closer in time zone to our main development operations in Manchester, Frankfurt, and Montreal.” Remote doesn’t seem to be an option here, as Todd Papy, an upper-level staff member of nine years, opted out of the move and left the company altogether.
In the 11 years since its successful Kickstarter, Star Citizen has come under a ton of scrutiny for its slow progress and pledge program. A system implemented early into its development allows players to buy their way in with different tiers of spaceships along with access to the game’s alpha. At the time of writing, according to its site, it’s brought in over $613 million. However, to be fair, one does have to admire its perseverance.
Do you think Star Citizen will finally see its primary 1.0 release anytime soon?
