The perpetual development cycle ofStar Citizensomehow keeps finding ways to get sillier, courtesy of the leadership at Cloud Imperium Games.
An anonymousStar Citizendeveloper has leakedan internal memothat detailsa grueling 18-day crunch to avoid a potential PR disasterat Citizencon 2024.
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CitizenCon 2024 isa fan event by Cloud Imperium Gamesand was created to celebrateStar Citizen. The first convention happened in 2013 when the game entered early access. Back then,developers promisedStar Citizenwould come out in 2014.
Ten years later, the game is still in early access,albeit in better shape, butthe scope of improvements hardly matches the time andmoneyinvested(north of$700 millionthus far).
The hellish October crunch aims to push outpatch 3.24.2andassemble a playable demo of the Squadron 42 campaign,a star-studded disasterthat has been in development since 2012.
Wake Me Up When October Ends
The specifics of the CitizenCon crunch seeminspired by the worst of AAA studio practices, a testament to their commitment to making Cloud Imperium match big names like EA at every step.
Fridays, traditionally a work-from-home day, now have mandatory office presence, but that is nothing compared to the requirement offull workdays on Saturday and Sunday. These are officially flexible, but it is highly ‘encouraged’ to be physically present.
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Cloud Imperium will “compensate” workers by giving them breakfast, lunch, and TOIL(time off in lieu) to use later.
The poor management and treatment of developers is made more sinister when you tie in an earlier leak from July.Employees have had to work 12 extra weekly hoursto ship a demo for CitizenCon, again in exchange for TOIL, but there is a catch.Any TOIL earned between then and the convention can only be cashed in when Squadron 42 releases,which at this point will occur sometime before the heat death of the universe. Additionally,this will only be available if the employee in question is still employedwith Cloud Imperium Games at the time of release.
The company was careful not to infringe on UK labor laws, reminding its developers based in the islands that they need to have 11 hours outside of work per every 24-hour cycle.
Charitably,Cloud Imperium is gifting one (1) day off for freeafter CitizenCon is over.
These demands from management area systemic issue within the companyand, unsurprisingly, have caused talented workers to quit theStar Citizenteam despite the hostile job market in game development and tech today.
In Space, Nobody Can Hear a Release
Star Citizenplayers are right when they say the game isbroadly enjoyablenow, but critics frequently retort that this sentiment isthe bastard child of Stockholm Syndrome and a sunken cost fallacy.
It is easy to be deeply invested in a game you have spent thousands of dollars on. “At this point, why not stick around until it is released?“And thus theStar Citizencycle continues, for another year… or ten.
