Star Citizen gains $3.5 million in crowdfunding in one day, but release date remains mystery

Ah, Star Citizen, the sci-fi MMO space shooter, is one of the most lucrative video games in the industry, but it has remained incomplete for a decade.

Developed by Cloud Imperium Games, to say that the development process of Star Citizen is an intriguing one would be an understatement. Pre-production for Star Citizen was said to have begun in 2010 before its Kickstarter campaign was announced in 2012. So far, Star Citizen has been in development for so long and has raised so much funds, that its production costs have ballooned past the likes of GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 combined!

Check out the Star Citizen Alpha 3.18 trailer below!

Described as a first-person sci-fi MMO on PC, this game seemingly has something for everyone. Space combat, exploration, customisation, trading and much more. Star Citizen is an ambitious project, so much so that it’s still technically in development. Well, that and the fact that crowdfunders continue to pump incredible amounts of cash into the project.

“Star Citizen is an in-development futuristic first-person space simulation set in the 30th century. The game is a highly ambitious project with the aim of featuring more than 100, fully explorable, individual, star systems complete with planets, moons, space stations and other stellar objects,” reads the description of the game.

So how much has Star Citizen been able to gobble up in terms of crowdfunding finances, I hear you ask? As reported by PCGamesN, based upon data from the independent tracking website, ‘Star Citizen Funding Dashboard’, the sci-fi MMO has recently broken a crowdfunding record for generating $3.5 million (about £2.7 million) in a single day on 25 November 2023.

What’s more, in September this year, Star Citizen has garnered an eye-watering total of $600 million despite being in its alpha stage. Star Citizen is certainly raking in the cash, yet its release date still remains a complete mystery. To be fair to Cloud Imperium Games, if Star Citizen as well as its other project, Squadron 42 is earning this kind of money pre-release old habits will most certainly die hard.

Star Citizen is available in its “alpha” phase on PC.