Author Topic: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs  (Read 573581 times)

David-2

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #405 on: December 31, 2018, 04:12:49 PM »
"All Star Cast"... Only if you're someone who is still stuck in the nineties.

That's an interesting point. 

Gary Oldman was crazy great in Fifth Element but he's most recently known for his excellent performance as 70 year old Winston Churchill.  Mark Hamill as the young Skywalker is in all our memories ... old memories.  More lately we know him as an old man in both Kingsman: The Secret Service and as a rather cranky and useless old man in The Last Jedi.  I thought Gillian Anderson was the hottest thing going in The X-Files - which was over for all intents and purposes in 2001, nearly 20 years ago.  Lately I thought she was great as the aging old maid Miss Haversham in Great Expectations - and that was 7 years ago.

So to all these great actors - and the others who were voice- and motion-captured for S42 - I say: Thanks for the memories! But, I'm sorry, let's be honest... you don't actually now invoke the active excitement of a space combat shooter, do you?

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #406 on: January 02, 2019, 12:56:13 PM »
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #407 on: January 07, 2019, 12:35:37 PM »
Today's rant takes us back to where it all began

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/1082340477196742657
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

jwh1701

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #408 on: January 07, 2019, 12:55:16 PM »
Today's rant takes us back to where it all began

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/1082340477196742657

Both were great overviews, I did not remember the German interview that was very interesting to watch. Wish I has that one for when the backers were complaining about the engine choice, I could of had fun posting it. Hindsight really shows us the true nature of Chris and his plans.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #409 on: January 07, 2019, 01:28:27 PM »
Yeah, I have a Gold mine of hilarious material going all the way back to 2012. Fun times. :)
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #410 on: January 16, 2019, 05:27:37 AM »
So we were right. They did get the name (Infratrade) wrong in the filing last month. They have now corrected it in an updated filing.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08815227/filing-history
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

jwh1701

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #411 on: January 16, 2019, 01:04:27 PM »
So we were right. They did get the name (Infratrade) wrong in the filing last month. They have now corrected it in an updated filing.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08815227/filing-history

They sure do make many accounting and filing mistakes, good detective work on determining the real name.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #412 on: January 21, 2019, 09:04:49 AM »
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

jwh1701

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #413 on: January 21, 2019, 02:38:55 PM »
FYRE Star Citizen

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/1087371035941457921

I remember reading about the fyre and it seems like the predatory scams are increasing. I'm already putting Chris's words to good use.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #414 on: January 24, 2019, 05:13:45 AM »
I posted this over on Blue's. Copying them here for posterity.

Quote
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Expect sales, free weekends, and a rush to release sq42 regardless of completion status.

Hard to believe Derek Smart was right.


Well, I mean, Derek is Smart. 

Seriously though, I have said a lot of the same things Derek has said: there's way too much scope creep, they aren't producing content anywhere approaching what they promised, SQ 42 is way behind schedule, etc. Say what you will about Derek, but he has worked in this industry for decades. His opinions are worth listening to even if you disagree.


I am going to be perfectly honest, on Dec 12th when I broke the news about the $46M investment, a whole 8 days before CIG even acknowledged it on Dec 20th, I really had NO clue that the "90 days tops" comment (which those guys have derided and attacked me over since Oct 2015) was so on the mark. They were literally INSOLVENT at various periods in time, spending more than they were earning; and to the extent that they were looking for investors since mid 2017 (as I had reported at the time) and managed to find off-shore dark money which they closed a deal on in May 2018. Without telling backers anything. The same thing they did when they spent a year evaluating Lumberyard, then not saying anything until the day they released on 12/23/16 - again hours after I broke the news.

Though they claim this $46m is for marketing, looking at their financials, it's clear to see that they're lying. You don't SELL shares in your company to raise marketing money for a game that's literally TWO YEARS away. Remember, they got the money in May 2018, and were possibly negotiating, going through due diligence etc, for months prior. And then in Dec 2018 they say SQ42 is going to be in Alpha by end of Q2 2020.

Especially since, if you look at the financials, you will see that they were already spending money on marketing.

So they are just using the money to pay for their monthly shortfall (seen in the financials) from May 2018 to whenever it runs out. This way they aren't operating in the Red.

Bottom line is that even with over $200m in FREE MONEY, Chris couldn't ship a SINGLE game going into year 7. And back in 2015 when I said they couldn't build that game for anything less than $150m, a decent custom engine, and a talented team, some people called me crazy, attacked me etc. Here we are.

My Star Citizen - A New Dawn is extensive blog that has charts and numbers which show the seriousness and alarming nature of this investment.

ps: Who remembers back when I was opining that they had to have been burning between $3m - $4m a month?



Quote
So they have 3.5 months to stay solvent without any additional funding? PCGamer says they expect Squadron 42's beta to be ready by the second half of 2020. So the first game probably won't release until late 2020 or even into 2021. If they continue to use $4 million per month they will need an additional $82 million just to make it to early 2021. I just don't see that as possible with only crowdfunding. Haven't they already milked as much money as they can out of their gullible fans?

It all depends on how this public $46m investment rattles the faithful. Remember, they were already raising and spending over $40m a year since 2015



The amount in 2018 is looking like $37.7m*

If we estimate that they raised and spent another $40m in 2018, it's easy to see that this investment is like a reserves of sorts. Remember, they got it in May 2018 and so they probably spent some of it by now going by the fact that 2018 funding is down to 2014 levels - even with all the shady shit and multiple sales they pulled in 2018 to milk whales. We will know more if/when they release the 2018 financials.

Between 2012-2017 they raised $207.5M. Which btw is about $32M higher than the actual funding chart on their website which totaled $175.5M year ending 2017. Remember how I’ve always claimed that the funding chart was bs?

My point is that if they continue to raise money - even at the lower levels - this $46m can be stretched (as a reserve) to the end of 2020. This was their plan all along I think, once they figured out that they simply couldn't make it to SQ42 release without downsizing (thus affecting BOTH projects) and such. Remember that though I'd been saying this since 2015, until Dec 2018, we didn't know for sure that SQ42 was so far out! I mean, the roadmap was shocking enough and shows that for MANY years Chris BLATANTLY LIED about the state of the project. Heck, even in 2016 when sources told me it was nowhere near complete, once again CIG went and issued a press statement basically saying I was full of shit.

Anyway, they will coast until sometime next year; and my guess is that even if they managed to get SQ42 into Alpha by end of Q2, it probably won't make a difference to their funding.

* source
« Last Edit: January 24, 2019, 05:31:44 AM by dsmart »
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

Judge_dolly_OG

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #415 on: January 24, 2019, 06:19:11 AM »

Anyway, they will coast until sometime next year; and my guess is that even if they managed to get SQ42 into Alpha by end of Q2, it probably won't make a difference to their funding.


Squander 42 will be a rushed out buggy mess if it is released at all, I can't really see CI(G) developing a new found sense of focus and meeting a tight deadline for completion, they haven't so far despite being close to going under in the past as you have shown. Thinking about it, they did develop a new found focus on milking the whales for everything they could so I guess anything can happen :)

Roberts could basically sell more of his shares and donate the money raised to the company to keep the wolves from the door for a bit longer and get a bit closer to the S42 release, or he could attempt to cash out for whatever he can get.

After what happened to the Fyre festival owner, I'd be a bit worried though, better move to somewhere with no extradition treaty to the US.

Dementropy

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #416 on: January 24, 2019, 07:52:05 AM »
Quote
Especially since, if you look at the financials, you will see that they were already spending money on marketing.

So they are just using the money to pay for their monthly shortfall (seen in the financials) from May 2018 to whenever it runs out. This way they aren't operating in the Red.

Bottom line is that even with over $200m in FREE MONEY, Chris couldn't ship a SINGLE game going into year 7. And back in 2015 when I said they couldn't build that game for anything less than $150m, a decent custom engine, and a talented team, some people called me crazy, attacked me etc. Here we are.

Even if we take this at face value, and the funds are strictly for marketing, bridge financing is dangerous unless there's a guaranteed profit at the end. They've practically reached the limit on pre-sales to their targeted audience, which doesn't leave much room for additional revenue from SQ42 on release. (Though who knows? I'm sure there are some people who will be on the verge of entering their teens who were just 2-years old when development started, by the time SQ42 graduates past the beta phase.)

We don't know the exact terms. We don't know the interest on the agreement, or if there was collateral put up (I'm sure Snoot can make use of mocap equipment) for the funding. The bottom line is that SQ42 needs to have an even greater reach and appeal as of its official release for Cloud Imperium to come out on top, because it's obvious that concept sales and subscriptions have not been cutting it over the years.

jwh1701

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #417 on: January 24, 2019, 01:37:20 PM »
I posted this over on Blue's. Copying them here for posterity.
 

Excellent write up and just yesterday I saw them still trying to discount your statements in reddit concerning the foretelling of
delays etc.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #418 on: January 24, 2019, 05:43:45 PM »
Even if we take this at face value, and the funds are strictly for marketing, bridge financing is dangerous unless there's a guaranteed profit at the end. They've practically reached the limit on pre-sales to their targeted audience, which doesn't leave much room for additional revenue from SQ42 on release. (Though who knows? I'm sure there are some people who will be on the verge of entering their teens who were just 2-years old when development started, by the time SQ42 graduates past the beta phase.)

We don't know the exact terms. We don't know the interest on the agreement, or if there was collateral put up (I'm sure Snoot can make use of mocap equipment) for the funding. The bottom line is that SQ42 needs to have an even greater reach and appeal as of its official release for Cloud Imperium to come out on top, because it's obvious that concept sales and subscriptions have not been cutting it over the years.

Absolutely that.
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

dsmart

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Re: Star Citizen Scoops, Musings and Blogs
« Reply #419 on: January 24, 2019, 05:44:39 PM »
Excellent write up and just yesterday I saw them still trying to discount your statements in reddit concerning the foretelling of
delays etc.

You know we just lol at those guys, right? Their faith is unshakable, and so it's pointless trying to show or convince them of anything.
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

 

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