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September 16th 2014
Over the weekend, we crossed $53 million in crowd funding!
Let me first apologize for the delay in this letter. One thing we’ve learned is that the period following a major patch is critical: we get our most important feedback by tracking and responding to what we hear in the first hours of a release. So the team has been working through the weekend not only fixing urgent issues but also adapting our future plans to your feedback.
But in the end, we have been extremely happy with how the Arena Commander V0.9 rollout has gone. It looks like a lot of people are enjoying the race modes, and the updated mechanics are really showing what we meant when we said combat in Star Citizen was going to be skill-based! Our most urgent charges now are re-enabling private matches and addressing control issues; expect to hear more about both in the near future!
For now, let’s take a moment to celebrate another crowdfunding milestone. We’re proud of Arena Commander, for sure, but we also know that we would not be where we are today without the support of our backers. You’ve made this possible, and you deserve all the blood and sweat we can put into the game. The $53 million unlock was for the Independent Arbitrator’s Guild position, described:
Obviously, this is something we aren’t going to need until the persistent universe launches… but we’ve set aside funding for the position, and are in the process of determining exactly what the requirements are. We’ve heard from many fans who want the job, and are leaning towards considering applicants from outside the gaming industry. It seems like a paralegal with the appropriate grasp of our universe might be an ideal candidate!
For the past two years, you’ve learned the ins and outs of our ships and you’ve heard that they will be fully customizable. Next, we’ll be moving to make that a reality. For the next set of stretch goals, we’re asking you to vote for a component that you’ll to keep (and use in combat!) The development team recently kicked off a new pipeline for ship components, with the aim of ultimately populating Arena Commander and the Voyager Direct store with plenty of options to make your game more interesting.
We’ve selected ten of these future upgrades, ranging from laser weapons to cooling units, for the poll below… and the one the community picks will be awarded to every account that backs before the $55 million level. So take a moment to vote for something you’ll get to play with in the short term in Arena Commander.
Here’s a rundown of the poll options. Which will you choose?
Remember, Star Citizen’s scope is based on our crowd funding; your continued support is making it possible for us to operate with teams around the world! You are the reason Star Citizen is actually happening, and I can’t thank you enough for both funding the game and spreading the word.
— Chris Roberts