For the last week or so we’ve been publishing the fruits of an in-depth investigation into Star Citizen, one of the most successful crowd-funding projects of all time – not just in games, but in anything. The series has included articles on all aspects of this game, from a variety of perspectives: developers, directors, ex-developers, the CEO of Cloud Imperium Games, backers, and vocal critics. It is a fascinating subject for several reasons. Star Citizen has raised a total of nearly $125 million, over 1.5 million individual people have backed it, and it is by any measure one of the most ambitious games ever envisioned. (Just scrolling down the long list…

Since launching its Kickstarter back in the mists of late 2012, Star Citizen has made bank. Its backers have forked over around $110 million, through pledges, subscriptions and the purchase of virtual spaceships. What started as a cap-in-hand underdog has grown and mutated into a sodding great money-hound – and all before the game has even arrived. But it isn’t just the total size of the pot that’s so staggering from the outside: it’s where Star Citizen’s cash comes from, with backers forking over bushels of cash (some of them thousands, some of them tens of thousands) in funding and in-game purchases as Star Citizen inches towards a nebulous future…

Chris Roberts is in trouble. It’s just before Christmas 2015, and the legendary designer of early-’90s classic Wing Commander is live on the air, ready to give a demonstration of his new space sim: Star Citizen. Even though a firm release date seems as distant as another galaxy, the game itself is already more famous than its creator, widely hailed as the most successful crowdfunding project ever. You wouldn’t be able to tell from the recording studio’s cheap faux-brick wallpaper, but Chris Roberts’ new company Cloud Imperium Games has received over $100 million from its fans. Unfortunately, it’s even harder to tell from what’s currently happening on his computer screen.…