Star Citizenis one of the most ambitious gaming projects of all time. It is not only the second-highest crowdfunded project of all time, but it also holds the distinction of being the single most expensive video game ever developed. Though part of the reason for its costly development is the sheer amount of features thatStar Citizenpromises to implement, a more important reason is that the project has been in development for more than a decade.
AsStar Citizenenters another year of development in 2022, it is settling into the esteemed company of games likeDiablo 3andDuke Nukem Forever atop thelongest development times in gaming history. The important difference betweenStar Citizenand its peers is the aforementioned fact thatStar Citizenis buoyed by a huge crowdfunding effort meaning that fans of the project are literally the ones footing the bill. For this reason alone, it’s important to takeStar Citizento task and put its lengthy development timeline into perspective.
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Putting Star Citizen into Perspective Using the Metal Gear Solid Franchise
Star Citizenbegan development back in 2011—disregarding pre-development in 2010—which means that 2022 marks 11 total years in development. If hypothetically,Star Citizenhad started development back in 1998 on the same day that thefirstMetal Gear Solidgamewas released, fans would still be waiting for the project to finish well afterMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriotshad been released. In fact, the period between these titles is only 9 years and 9 months, meaning thatStar Citizenis already a year beyond this comparison.
While exact figures for all the titles in theMetal Gear Solidseries are difficult to ascertain, themost expensive development wasMetal Gear Solid 5, which the highest estimates have put at a cost of around $80 million. Even using this possibly inflated figure, it’s still a certainty thatStar Citizen, at nearly $350 million, has cost more than every single title in theMetal Gear Solidfranchise combined.
Putting Star Citizen into Perspective with Pokemon
Using that 11-year figure, ifStar Citizenhad begun development just asPokemon RedandPokemon Bluewere hitting North American shores, and the trading card game was just beginning to blow up, its development would take fans all the way from that point, pastPokemon Platinum,to the introduction of Pokemon Trainer inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. During this same period,Pokemonfans would see the roster of their favoritePokemontitle grow from the original 151 up to nearly 500.
This would also mean thatPokemonfans would begin the first day of the 11-year period likely playing on a Game Boy Color or an old Game Boy Classic, and would end the period just asthe Nintendo 3DSwas about to release. In the interim, of course, the Nintendo Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 would have already been released.
Putting Star Citizen into Perspective Using Souls Games
While the previous examples were structured around hypothetical time periods,Dark Soulswas actually released the same year thatStar Citizenofficially went into development. Since then, fans of the “Souls” games have seen the release ofDark Souls 2,Dark Souls 3,Bloodborne, andSekiro. Perhaps even more importantly,Dark Soulshas aged to the point where it has affirmed its place in gaming history and was able to nab the distinction of"Ultimate Game of All Time"at the Golden Joysticks Awards.
To make matters worse, unlessStar Citizenreleases sometime in the next couple of weeks, the development period will also include the release of Elden Ring, the latest Souls game that is also a collaboration ofGeorge R. R. Martin and FromSoftware. Oddly enough,Star Citizen’s development also began the same year as the first season ofGame of Thronesand easily outlasted the TV series as well.
