Once in awhile, I get a Star Citizen scoop so shocking, that even with trusted sources, I remain skeptical. We've been debating how on Earth they could raise $1m a day for 2 days straight when they've struggled ALL Nov to raise money. robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals
Amid that debate, as CIG has done in the past in which they react to public (especially stuff that I write) opinion & perception in the most hilarious way, it appears that they've done it again.
Only this time, seeing that the anniversary Nov fundraising had taken a catastrophic dip, they've apparently done what they always do: inflate the funding chart to suspicious levels.
We've known for sometime now, with *concrete* evidence, that the funding chart is complete nonsense, designed to show backer confidence in the project, but desperation means mistakes get made.
And this time, with the inflated numbers for Dec 1 & 2, they've made the biggest mistake yet, and completely shown their hand and added more evidence to this notion that the chart is pure nonsense.
We know it doesn't track refunds, investor money, loans, taxes etc. They *claim* it doesn't track subscriptions, though that one is up in the air because it NEVER falls below a certain number - EVER.
Basically, as part of the on-going scam, the public facing funding chart is part of the confidence scam used to give backers a false sense of security in order to avoid panic.
Like the project, it's basically a marketing gimmick that bears very little relevance to the reality of the situation. And it's all perfectly legal as it relates to perception.
I am quite certain that the US and UK corps that gave them loans, are well aware of the true financials of the company. Which is why the Coutts loan, this past Summer, forced them to restate their earnings going back 2 years.
How they explain to these corps the discrepancy between the funding chart and their actual financials, is the sort of thing that creative accounting is derived from.
Multiple sources, even those who hear it through third-party within the studios, are well aware that they are financially unstable as they do NOT have the funding to complete the project. It's not even a secret anymore.
The land sale desperation, in which they CLEARLY state that having raised $166m (at that time) was to continue raising funds, is yet another Red flag that most ignore. robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spec…
With the one year late 3.0 having been rushed to the public testing ahead of the anniversary sale, still a complete disaster, the amount of work still left to do, is mind-boggling to say the least. starcitizentracker.github.io
And we're not even talking about features, but also the fact that most of the JPEG ships they have been selling, aren't even in the game. Some are 4 years old since being sold! 
Then we talk about the game world itself. Seriously, this is an actual representation of the world they have built. Stanton? Three moons. That's it. robertsspaceindustries.com/starmap
Back in the Summer when a source told me that the internal and public dev schedules were different, and that the latter was a sham, that was no joke. Then backers took notice.
How did CIG react to the fact that bugs keep piling up, while not being addressed? They REMOVED the bug counts from the schedule. Completely. robertsspaceindustries.com/schedule-report
Last time I checked, in addition to the 3000+ bugs in the 2.6.3 patch released this past April, 3.0 by itself has generated over 1100 more - and climbing. robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issu…
All of this amounts to one simple fact: The game is never - ever - getting completed. And if what I am hearing (and can't share) is true, what comes next is even more astounding than land sales and key people exiting the project.
Throughout the history of the video game industry NO project has EVER succeeded just by throwing money at it. Not a single one. There is a reason that such projects get canceled.
But none of that matters. What matters is that the remaining backers still funding this train wreck through Sunk Cost Fallacy, are about to get the rude awakening they SHOULD have seen coming a mile away. We'll be here to remind them.
Before I forget, this accounting of the 3.0 version over the weekend, comes from a long-time backer who just wanted the game he paid for. Read it. dereksmart.com/forum/index.ph…
And in case you weren't aware, CIG has been charging backers $10 to get access (via subs) to the 3.0 build - for a game they ALREADY PAID for.
unroll
Meanwhile, this is from the perspective of an outsider looking in.
Sandi Gardiner, on the record back in Dec 2015 about the funding chart, and taking pressure off backers. $100M raised. Watch 6:55-10:00
Sandi Gardiner, on the record back in Mar 2014 about deceptive sales practices. $40M raised. Listen 18:15 - 18:40
I swear, when these clowns eventually get sued, discovery is going to be an absolute blast. This is why we've been working diligently to preserve EVERYTHING off-line.
