With more than $700 million dollars and 12 years in development under Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), it’s an understatement at this point to call Star Citizen the most expensive video game ever. Some disgruntled employees who were laid off from the project have apparently come forth and shed light on what was happening. The game doesn’t look like it’s about to release a 1.0 version anytime soon, even with the rather exorbitant expenditures of the Star Citizen devs.
The report came from Insider Gaming where they interviewed several laid-off developers who were let go earlier this year. The $700-million project is being mismanaged according to the unnamed sources. Some of them quoting office amenities and architectural luxuries as a symptom of CIG’s mismanagement.
One employee even referenced a coffee bar that occupies most of the 9th floor in CIG’s Manchester office. That’s on top of the alleged ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ of custom furniture and props. Management apparently justified its spending habits as necessary since they are pushing the boundaries of game development. “But at least we have baristas serving us coffee here,” said one of the employees as a joke.
Another employee is convinced that the CIG office caters more to taste than functionality. It almost resembles Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Some also blame the cult mentality and unnecessary bureaucratic red tape and meetings as detrimental to Star Citizen‘s development.
That Didn’t Prevent the Star Citizen Layoffs
Despite what can easily be assumed as indications of success and progress, CIG wasn’t immune to the mass layoff fever this year. It notably laid off around 150 staff members in its Austin and Los Angeles offices in the US this year due to a relocation.
As for Star Citizen‘s release date itself, well, there’s no news about that. The game continues to receive crowdfunding more than a decade after its announcement. It now has a budget that dwarfs Hollywood movies. Star Citizen is easily more expensive than the most expensive Star Wars movie right now.
Still, the yearly CitizenCon is right around the corner and you never know when they might announce something big.
