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750 million US dollars in crowdfunding: "Star Citizen" is a phenomenon
by Debora Pape
Trouble over "Star Citizen": Community criticises developers' pay-to-win decision
20.5.2025
Translation: machine translated
A new item in the real money shop of "Star Citizen" is causing displeasure among players. Those who pay get earlier access to ship upgrades and the players don't understand this.
These are so-called flight blades, which you can use to upgrade various ship models. This improves their manoeuvrability or top speed. The modules cost between around 10 and 40 US dollars, depending on the model. The improvements can give experienced players an advantage in competitive gaming.
«Star Citizen» lives from real money sales
Why all the excitement now?
Early access for those willing to pay is nothing new for new spaceships in «Star Citizen». It is a precedent for upgrades that are not purely cosmetic, but actually grant advantages in gameplay. Fans fear that CIG could monetise other game-changing items first in the future. In other words, CIG could move more and more towards a pay-to-win business model.
Since each Flight Blade is also tied to a specific ship model, you have to buy several if you want to equip different models with it. Some fans see this as pure money-making on the part of the studio.
The criticism of CIG got so intense that the studio was forced to backpedal just one day after announcing the Flight Blades. The modules will only be released with a new update in June. In future, all gameplay kits will always be released simultaneously in the game and in the Pledge Store.
It remains to be seen whether this will put an end to the topic of pay-to-win. Despite the latest statement, many users on Reddit to express their displeasure at the direction the game could be drifting in.
Controversy in the gaming community too
For some fans, it is completely legitimate that supporters of the game who are willing to pay should have advantages such as early access to improvements. The money flows into the further development of the game, from which everyone benefits. The fact that CIG is now taking the early access route not only for spaceships, but also for upgrades, is not a big difference and after a few weeks or months, access is open to everyone.
For other fans, however, Star Citizen is taking a dangerous path that widens the gap between those who are willing to open their wallets and those who can't or don't want to. There are accusations of second-class players - and it should not be forgotten that all regular players have already invested in the game with the starter pack. In a game at full-price level, they expect access to all relevant content.
Header image: Cloud Imperium Games
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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