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Star Citizen crowdfunding has passed $200m

Chris Roberts reports the game now has backers in 171 countries, has smashed all crowdfunding records

The ambitious Star Citizen project continues to attract donations, with developer Roberts Space Industries now reporting it has raised more than $200 million since the original crowdfunding campaign.

A letter from Chris Roberts celebrates the milestone, with the chairman declaring it "the highest total for any project in the history of crowdfunding and is beyond anything I could have imagined in my wildest dreams."

Roberts says the backer that pushed the game past the $200 million mark a community member known as Algared, from New South Wales in Australia.

He went on to claim Star Citizen has backers from 171 of the world's 193 countries, ranging from smaller nations like San Marino and the Maldives to major markets India and China. He even claims they have at least one backer from Antartica.

Star Citizen has been in development since 2011, with RSI running a Kickstarter campaign in 2012. This only accounts for $2.1 million, with the rest raised through donations via the company's own website.

Roberts also took the opportunity to reflect on how far Star Citizen and the studio behind it has come, growing from "a handful of people" to over 500 employees spread across five studios in three countries.

The core game of Star Citizen is currently in alpha, with single-player campaign Squadron 42 on the way. Roberts expects to publish a roadmap charting the road to the latter's completion next month.

Earlier this year, a Star Citizen backer sought a refund for $4,500, having originally pledged in 2013 and been expecting the game to be released no later than 2016. The court ruled in favour of Roberts Space Industries.

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James Batchelor avatar
James Batchelor: James is Editor-in-Chief at GamesIndustry.biz, and has been a B2B journalist since 2006. He is author of The Best Non-Violent Video Games
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