AccursedTheory said:
The Witcher 3 cost between 70-87 million dollars to make, including advertising. Assuming they started work on it the day after they released Witcher 2 (Unlikely), it took them about 4 years to complete it. Using that money and 4 years, they built a new engine from the ground up and created one of the largest and most detailed open worlds found in modern gaming (If not the largest). They used 19 'no name' voice actors for primary characters, and 81 voice actors to fill in for lesser characters. They did all this in a country where you can get more bang for your buck, because the cost of living and salaries are lower - specifically, the average polish developer makes 20% of what US developers get.
Star Citizen has 92 million dollars as of last count, for a game that's initial cost was supposed to be 22 million. Their running cost are substantially higher (Office space, power cost, employee cost). And this is what their promising.
-MASSIVE Single Player Campaign
-MASSIVE multiplayer universe (100+ systems)
-Ship Module
-First person Module
-Flight Chair Support
-Integrated tablet functionality (Active)
-Professional Motion Capture (Developer built own mocap studio)
-Full Orchestra Soundtrack
-Professional sound studio (Developer built own sound studio)
-Oculus Rift (3d Glasses) support
-Professional 'Behind the Scenes' documentary
-Space Stations management system
-Mobile Facial Capture System
-Procedural Generation System (Not available for initial release)
-Three complete fictional languages created by actual linguist
-20 A list (Or more realistically, 'known') voice+mocap actors. Unspecified amount of 'no name' actors\
-Pet system
CD Projekt Red Employees - 230
Cloud Imperium Games Employees - 300+ (Internal and contracted)
Ok, what?! If this is true, that is the biggest red flag yet. And since even the defenders haven't tried denying it, in spite of precedent for clinging to any straw avalable, I gotta believe it is accurate.
Christ! This means CIG, an unproven company still getting their bearings has LESS money to do MORE than CD Project Red, a proven company so experienced that their hair must be collectively white from breathing Witcher fumes at this point. How can anyone defend that as in any way normal or acceptable, above skepticism? How?! If that isn't backing of Smart's educated guesses I don't know what is. By Witcher 3 precedent, CIG needs to produce a literal miracle to reach its goals.
However, in the interest of fairness, there will always be revolutions. Brilliant people who manage to do more with less than earlier precedent would indicate possible. Ultima Underworld or No Man's Sky come to mind. Since crowdfunding is all about faith, having trust in someone to revolutionize is reasonable. Acceptable.
Problem is just that CIG hasn't shown its backers anything to justify such faith in miraculous revolutions. To justify the kind of certainty the SC brigade has shown these last few weeks. No Man's Sky did show us that, or at least told us early on how it planned on achieving what they want, with every update since proving them more true.
As for the defense that SC just needs more time, time costs money. If CD Project Red used its 90 millions in 4 years under considerably cheaper circumstances, there is no rational reason to think CIG has money left 3 years in to reach its goals. Which in turn casts a very dark shadow over their motives for additional crowdfunding.
If the quoted facts are accurate, then sorry fanboys, you are defending a miracle. And I who thought Roberts' unwillingess to put this issue to rest on Smart's dime was alarming.