Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has been forced to add a disclaimer to its marketing materials, which advertise digital starships that can be purchased but aren't actually in the game yet. Beginning in 2012 with the initial launch of its Kickstarter campaign, Star Citizen has been in perpetual development for 9 years with no full release in sight.
Cloud Imperium Games has been under increasing scrutiny from its backers for years now, as many of them wonder where their money is going and what the ultimate fate of Star Citizen will be. Star Citizen's crowdfunding campaign has raised $350 million but development remains ongoing. Despite all the funds being poured into it, the game's development has suffered setback after setback and its various goalposts are constantly being moved. One disillusioned backer has now decided to bring Star Citizen's transparency problem to a higher authority.
According to PC Gamer, a Reddit user by the name of Mazty recently lodged a complaint with the UK's Advertising Standards Authority regarding the way that Cloud Imperium Games markets and sells starships that aren't currently usable in Star Citizen. The complaint cites promo emails for the game's "pledge store," which sells future access to conceptual ships that "do not exist and might never exist," as Mazty puts it. These promo emails neglected to mention that fact, and they don't show any pricing either. In the past, though, players have been charged up to $600 for one ship in Star Citizen.
Following the report, the Advertising Standards Authority determined that Cloud Imperium's marketing emails violated the Advertising Code of Practice. It now requires the developer to make it clear that players will be buying an item that they cannot use immediately. As a result, Cloud Imperium has added a disclaimer at the end of its promo emails, saying that the featured ships are "in development" and will be made available "in a later patch." It's not clear whether or not this meets the ASA's standards, however.
Although Cloud Imperium Games has made many grand promises and shown off some truly impressive footage of Star Citizen, it doesn't seem to be making any significant progress towards finishing it. Public faith in the game has been sinking like a rock, even as Star Citizen's free-fly events rake in money for the developer. At this point, it'll take a lot of doing from Cloud Imperium to restore some goodwill and give fans hope that the game will actually come out.
Source: PC Gamer
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