Fans and supporters of "Star Citizen" can now ease their worries about the upcoming crowdfunded game, as the scam allegations have recently been addressed by the game creator.
Developer Cloud Imperium Games' (CIG) Chris Roberts has spoken up about the glaring $45,000 patron refund scam issue, which has even generated its own Reddit subforum. CIG then stated that while there was indeed a refund that took place recently, it was nowhere near the amount of $45,000. It was, in fact, just an individual return of $330 that was handled in a timely fashion with no transaction disputes.
As such, the team suggested that the dispute was an elaborately fabricated smear-campaign, aiming to discredit the game due to the recent alpha release delays. It is also perhaps due to the lengthy development process, now on its fifth year, with only a few limited gameplay-testing modules released.
The hoax, as seen on Reddit, discusses three "completionist" packages, each supposedly costing $15,000. The original poster in the forum has since deleted their account but previously claimed that they represented a "commercial organization," which has worked on the financial sidelines with crowdfunded games like "Star Citizen," hence the large amount of money they invested.
The unknown poster then expressed displeasure with CIG, claiming that Roberts lied to them about the fruition of the project. They then continued to scrutinize the refund system, as it supposedly took about five weeks before their money was returned.
When asked whether the owner of the individual $330 refund and the poster of the $45,000 refund allegations were the same, CIG affirmed that they were, as far as they could tell.
Regardless of whether the $45,000 scam is credible or not, the amount is seemingly just a tiny fraction in the total amount of $159 million raised by CIG for "Star Citizen," courtesy of their 1.8 million paying customers.
The development time for "Star Citizen," however, leaves a lot of players skeptical about their investments. As of now, there is still no foreseeable release date intended for the game. CIG, however, is still accepting pledges on its official website, for anyone interested.
