T w e n t y d o l l a r s.

I won't link the page because of forum advertising rules, but there is the description:

Digital Ticket for CitizenCon 2948. Includes live streaming access to all presentations, exclusive digital items given away at CitizenCon, including an in-game wearable duster jacket, CitizenCon 2948 trophy, CitizenCon 2948 Weapon, access to purchase exclusive CitizenCon merchandise, plus an Imperator subscription for the month of October. (Subscription included with this item will begin on Oct 9th and end on Nov 9th)

Cancellation policy: Digital Tickets may be canceled up until 3 days prior to the event and refunded for store credit. No refunds will be granted within 3 days of the event. Tickets are non-transferrable.

Basically if you want to watch the stream of a pre-alpha game in development, you need to pay up. They say the content will be made available on Youtube afterwards but that doesn't really explain why this suddenly requires a paywall after all these years.

Their excuse of funding backer events from subscriber money + attendee tickets is out the window now.

[UPDATE]: Chris Roberts responded to the community backlash and has made the opening keynote and closing available to everyone with an RSI account. Other sessions will require the digital pass. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/citizencon-streaming

[Update 2] Stream is now free for everyone with an account.

Admittedly, I've completely stopped following any news about this weird game/MLM scheme but could you clarify what the issue is about this? I didn't think digital tickets to conventions were a particularly new concept, pretty sure Blizzcon and has been something like this for years. It gives access to exclusive streams, gives some in-game items, some subscription to some thing. Seems fine to me but again, I also don't really follow the development of this anymore.

CitizenCon 2948? Sounds like it's named after the likely release year for this game.

@imhungry: It's not a new thing for sure, but it is not being received well by the community. For instance the ticket gives "access to purchase exclusive CitizenCon merchandise" which seems poorly thought out. Also Blizzard holds these events for games that are already released. SC isn't even in a proper alpha yet.

I'm so curious what my 30 usd "Just the game" backing from 100 years ago will even be once the game hits 1.0.

@imhungry: difference being that Blizzcon is hosted by one of the most well-established development houses in the market. BlizzCon organically grew for years and years, along with its staggering fanbase. They host talks, scads of demos, fan competitions, and probably a bunch more stuff. This sounds like someone saw what BlizzCon does and thought it sounded really neat.

AFAIK the main Blizzard keynote is free, it's just the extra stuff that you get a ticket for. So far CIG's ticket is for all streams at the event. EDIT: now it is free too. Literally copypasta from Blizzard.

It just feels slimy. Almost like no one involved with power over these decisions realizes how this looks or maybe they do and they just don't care, I dunno. I just think it's bonkers that not only are they holding conventions specifically for a game that has not been officially released yet, they're charging for a stream on top of that, and as a cherry on top it's not even available to all backers despite this game being years behind the initially promised release window. And that's not even getting into all the other business of them regularly selling ships for hundreds to thousands of dollars, that whole $30,000 ship pack fiasco a few months ago, the Crytek lawsuit, and lord knows what else I'm forgetting.

This more than anything else seems like a giant middle finger. Most if not all of the other shit seems targeted at whales which is still slimy, don't get me wrong, but also rich people gonna do rich people shit. This seems targeted at everyone else. Like...they feel they could be milking their "lower class" fans more so that's what they're gonna try and do.

Say what you will about Blizzard, but they're shipped multiple games since Star Citizen was announced. They can hold all the conventions they want, those make sense. Also, just gonna throw this out there, Digital Extremes, makers of Warframe, also have their own fan convention, but their streams are not only free, but also you get in-game goodies just by watching. And their game is free-to-play.

Nothing about this Star Citizen thing is a good look for CIG.

I've given up on Star Citizen. Literally doesn't even interest me any more, beyond watching the hype-train speed towards disaster.

They've shown all of this pretty gameplay footage where a ship enters the atmosphere of an alien planet and lands on its surface, then literally nothing except for beautiful graphics... If there's one thing I've learned about video games, it's that just because something looks awesome when you watch footage, doesn't mean it will be a fun game. It will probably be a big, good looking universe full of nothing more than a few generic missions and some PvP, and will be fun for about an hour. The only people that will enjoy it are folks that have way too much time on their hands and don't mind sinking hundreds of hours into metagame stuff, à la EVE Online.

When I originally paid for the game, my PC was decent. Now, I'll need to fork out another £1,000 on upgrades to be able to play it.

Honestly, don't give a fuck any more. I hope it gets cancelled, just to watch the internet explode.

It looks like they decided to squeeze the lemons that are still on board with the project and gave up on getting more lemons in.

@onemanarmyy: Luckily for them, some of those lemons are idiots that are willing to spend up to $30,000 on ships. Or millionaires.

After 7 YEARS of this though you gotta admit - Chris Roberts can run a pretty good scam.

Man, if this game ever gets released, the harrasement Hello Games had received for selling an indie title at full price will be nothing compared to the shit show we will see with Star Citizen.
People that put money into this "black hole" refuse to admit that they will never get the game they are hoping for.
Of course they will pay 20 Bucks to hold on to their dream a little longer.

@indigomaterie: I think they game they're talking about will get released eventually. It will probably have all of the features they say, but none of those features make a good game.

People are getting an erection over 'being able to walk around your ship in space'. Yes, this is a cool little thing to do, but how quickly will that become boring? The whole pitch seems to be a load of these little features that have no real lasting appeal.

When tried the version of the game they put out a few years back, you could climb into this little bed in your ship. Stuff like this is pretty cool if it serves a purpose beyond being neat the first time you do it.

As soon as they show me some substance, I will take an interest.

This can only end in tragedy right? Not this ticket thing but the development of the game.

An in-game wearable duster jacket, you say? Hmm...

Like others have said, the concept isn't new, Blizzard does it for $40 every year to blizzcon(I buy a Virtual Ticket every year), which is nice for people that can't shell out the $1000+ to attend in person.

That said, Blizzard has 5 released/supported titles, they give free in game rewards for said games, they do give people the opportunity to purchase a goodie bag AT A DISCOUNT(everyone else can also buy one at full price) when buying the V-Ticket, but this is something people going in person get for free, and it's still cheaper than going to the con in person. Last year the goodie bag was a bakcpack and various items(keychains, patches, etc) which the backpack alone would be the price of the goodie bag. Two years ago it included a sweet stein. So one could argue that the goodie bag is a better value than whatever BS Star Citizen will let you buy.

The fact that Star Citizen has been in "development" for I don't even know how long at this point, is continuing to charge stupid amounts for stupid content to gullible people, and is now charging more money to basically give people the opportunity to see what the heck they've been working on since no one knows, is extremely shady.

It was a cool idea at the time, but since they had announced the game all those years ago and didn't deliver, they've had to continually change their scope because other games are coming out and doing what they were going to. Star Citizen and it's developers are a stain on the gaming industry and I for the life of me can not understand why people are still giving them money.

This sums it up perfectly, for me. They're building the game slower than the industry is evolving, in a way, but because they're striving to release a revolutionary game, they keep trying to expand.

The only other option is to release it and develop in-flight. That doesn't always work either, though.

Who knows, maybe they are doing it right...

I think they're trying to ride this game out as long as they possibly can. As long as they keep making the game, they can live off the "promise" of a great game. The second it ships and the game is seen as mediocre or worse they lose out their money train. Even worse, if fans get a game that doesn't live up to the lofty expectations that Star Citizen has spent years creating, you could potentially fracture your fanbase enough to insure you never get an opportunity to follow up with any future game.

Everyone on the outside like me is looking at this situation expecting that people got scammed and wondering if the game will never come out. You're starting to get backers thinking the same thing. Even the big whales, like that one backer who won his thousands of dollars back or the other who lost his refund lawsuit are starting to question the game ever even being close to the game they originally signed on for. This is coming to a head sooner or later, the big question is if it's going to be a massive shitstorm or a weak thud.

Surely this thing is losing steam now...

I used to work with a guy that used to spend thousands on Star Citizen and bragged about it. But even he's given up on it now!

DISCLOSURE: I bought the cheap "fighter and access to SP campaign" bundle way back during the initial crowd funding process. Never actually downloaded SC. Tempted to do so when my new HOTAS arrives next week

Additional Disclosure: I bought the 10 year pass for Elite Dangerous. Love the game and love Horizons but I am pretty sure I am getting boned by fdev on that front.

I am of two minds on the subject of SC.

On the one hand, it is a predatory as all hell business model which is straight up selling hopes and dreams that may never exist. And I think that the game a lot of us backed years ago is never going to happen

On the other hand: I think the devs are making the game the majority of folk want. I love Elite and have since I was a kid playing the original on a PC. I am not normal. I LIKE being the dude from Space Truckers (the more pneumatic penis, the better) and I positively love just exploring the black by myself while listening to a podcast or some music. I am not normal. Most folk HATE Elite Dangerous and No Man's Sky and the like because they think they are going to be Han at the Battle of Yavin.

Star Citizen has basically devolved into the Derek Smart games but (hopefully) more functional. You can control everything from a soldier on the ground to the dude from the Ben Bova books who is firing lasers at space ships while tethered to an asteroid all the way to someone commanding a crewed ship. But it is space deathmatch in a fairly limited area. It is more Freelancer than Freelancer was.

And while it sucks for the long term backers, the folk paying thousands of dollars for a skin for a ship they may or may not get to fly eventually are getting what they want. And, in principle, I am all for that.

I still think they should have taken the route E:D did and make a vertical slice and build out from there. But folk HATE E:D for not being what they want or not having enough content to play for hundreds of hours straight right now. Whereas folk love the dream that is Star Citizen.

CitizenCON

In an age full of incredible grifting this still ranks up there with the best.

Yeah you can't...do this when you've yet to actually deliver the thing you've been promising.

Blizzard can sell expensive virtual tickets to a show because they've done the work and built the trust and fanbases with actual compelling products.

Star Citizen still just feels like a thing a bunch of people now just really WANT to be true just so that everything hasn't been a massive waste.

Yo this game is a wild scam

I can't get over just how soul-suckingly boring this game looks. Go watch some of that hot mining gameplay they keep talking about and see if you make it out awake.

I'm sure people would be less annoyed about the fee if they felt they'd gotten their money's worth so far.

How the hell can anyone involved in a game that's already been getting tons of shit for their business practices/development limbo think this is a good idea? That's just ridiculous.

Shocking... this whole thing is one big pyramid scheme.

@brunothethird: If I could like this post..I would

"After sleeping on this, I am going to chalk this one up to experience. We're going to cut back on the live-streaming crew / costs but have both stages streamed for anyone with a Star Citizen user account. Star Citizen Content Creators are welcome to rebroadcast our stream live. If you would like to support the additional costs of streaming all the presentations, you can support the show by purchasing the CitizenCon digital goodies package (Imperators still get this as their October flair)" - Chris Roberts