Facepalm: In what seems like a case of pushing your luck too far, the makers of Star Citizen, a game that has raised over $800 million across thirteen years without any sign of a finished version, are under fire from players for introducing pay-to-win ship upgrades that couldn’t be earned in-game.

Through its combination of crowdfunding, subscriptions, the sale of ships, and other methods, Star Citizen has raised more than $801 million since it was announced in 2012. Rather than slowing down, the amount being raised has sped up in recent times, passing $100 million every year since 2022. And all without any solid release date for version 1.0 of the game – though developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) claims the single-player element will launch in 2026.

But while fans seem unfazed by a seemingly eternal development cycle, there was plenty of outrage over the recent introduction of flight blades.

The blades offer an advantage to players by making ships faster or improving their maneuverability. While ship upgrades aren’t new, what angered people was that instead of the blades being purchasable using real money and in-game aUEC currency, as is usually the case, they were cash-only upon launch, priced between $9.60 and $42.

Even for players who are accepting of the way Star Citizen and CIG operate, the blades were a step too far. The forum thread announcing the upgrades was swamped with angry comments about the perceived pay-to-win upgrades.

CIG’s response was to release a statement, which lacked an apology, confirming that the blades’ release was being delayed until June, when they will be available to buy using aUEC as well as in the store. It added that future gameplay kit introductions would be obtainable in-game on day one.

“We’re pushing 11 patches this year instead of 4. We’re crushing more bugs than ever, building more exciting content, moving faster than ever to make the Persistent Universe a better experience for everyone, and in moving that fast, we missed a step,” wrote Tyler “Zyloh-CIG” Witkin.

“To be clear, the new flight blades will be obtainable for aUEC in our next patch this June. We followed our usual approach by offering early access on the pledge store to help support development,” Witkin added. “But after some reflection, we’ve decided that for smaller components like flight blades or bomb racks, they should be available in-game at the same time they appear on the store.”

The response appears to have done little to placate the Star Citizen community. “This is a bandaid to calm people down, but the root issue here is that you continue to sell more and more items in the game that have a wider impact on what a player would do day to day,” argues the top-voted comment in the thread.

At its current rate, Star Citizen will pass $1 billion in funding in just a couple more years, possibly (probably?) before version 1.0 releases.

CIG CEO Chris Roberts said last year that he was confident the single-player element of Star Citizen, Squadron 42, would arrive in 2026. Squadron 42 was scheduled to launch in the summer of 2020, and in 2022, Roberts said the game was one or two years away, so don’t be surprised if we experience more delays, which is a shame as the star-studded game looks pretty impressive.