Star Citizen: Difference between revisions

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| Developer = Cloud Imperium Games

| Official Website = https://robertsspaceindustries.com/

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|Logo=Star citizen logo.png}}

Star Citizen, a crowdfunded space simulation game, has sold numerous digital products and features since 2012 that remain undelivered as of 2024. Key items include ships costing hundreds of dollars, a modding platform, and private server capabilities, pets, and much more, all of which continue to be marketed and sold despite no implementation timeline.

'''[[Wikipedia:Star Citizen|Star Citizen]]''', a crowdfunded space simulation game, has sold numerous digital products and features since 2012 that remain undelivered as of 2024. Key items include ships costing hundreds of dollars, a modding platform, and private server capabilities, pets, and much more, all of which continue to be marketed and sold despite no implementation timeline.

==Background==

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==Consumer Protection Concerns==

The practice of selling digital products years before implementation has raised significant consumer protection concerns. Despite marketing these items as 'pledges' or 'concepts', CIG continues to charge real money for digital goods with no firm delivery timeline or guarantee of implementation. The company's terms of service have been modified multiple times since 2012, changing the conditions under which refunds are offered and altering customer rights regarding purchased content. Many backers who attempted to obtain refunds for undelivered products have reported difficulties, with CIG often citing their evolving terms of service as justification for denial. The lack of concrete development schedules for sold items, combined with regular price increases for unreleased content, has led to criticism from consumer advocacy groups and gaming industry observers. Additionally, the practice of artificial scarcity through "limited-time sales" of digital products that don't yet exist has been questioned as potentially misleading marketing.

[[File:ASA Response .png|thumb|A response letter from the Advertising Standards Authority affirming that Cloud Imperium Games likely had breached the Advertising Rules ~~when failing to~~ ]]

[[File:ASA Response .png|thumb|A response letter from the Advertising Standards Authority affirming that Cloud Imperium Games likely had breached the Advertising Rules. ]]

In 2021, following a consumer complaint to the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) by a member of the /r/starcitizen_refunds community<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_refunds/comments/pfgchs/uk_advertising_standards_agency_rule_concept_ship/</ref>, Cloud Imperium Games was required to modify their concept ship marketing emails after the ASA determined they violated Advertising Rules in the UK. The issue centered on emails promoting concept ships without clear disclosure that the advertised vessels did not yet exist in-game. In response, CIG added a standardized disclaimer to their marketing emails stating that concept ships are "being offered here as a limited vehicle concept pledge". The disclaimer also notes that purchasers receive a temporary "loaner vehicle" until their bought ship becomes available.

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Star Citizen's Persistent Universe or PU for short is an open sandbox that allows players to engage in PVP activities such as Piracy and Bounty Hunting yet activity participating in these activities could lead a player to being banned for 'excessively' engaging in this activity under the guise of it being 'harassment' to do so.

=== The HuskyPie Incident ===

On April 21, 2025, Cloud Imperium Games banned player HuskyPie for 17 days after German content creator Karolinger falsely accused him of stream sniping. The incident occurred in Pyro, a lawless system explicitly for PvP combat. HuskyPie was completing a mercenary mission when he encountered and killed Karolinger twice at Bueno Ravine. Despite having no evidence beyond the streamer's accusations, CIG suspended HuskyPie's account. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0eipkl66-8 As documented in an episode of the "Griefers Pub" podcast], HuskyPie was forced to appeal by providing his own game logs proving he was already at the location on mission objectives and had never watched Karolinger's stream. CIG eventually overturned the ban but offered no apology or explanation. This case directly demonstrates preferential treatment for content creators and shows how regular players can be banned for engaging in permitted gameplay while content creators receive special protection from legitimate game mechanics.

==References==

[[Category:Star Citizen]]

~~[[Category:Cloud Imperium Games]]~~

~~[[Category:Crowdfunding]]~~

~~[[Category:Digital goods]]~~

~~[[Category:Consumer protection]]~~

~~[[Category:Software]]~~

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | Developer = Cloud Imperium Games
 | Official Website = https://robertsspaceindustries.com/
-}}
+|Logo=Star citizen logo.png}}
-Star Citizen, a crowdfunded space simulation game, has sold numerous digital products and features since 2012 that remain undelivered as of 2024. Key items include ships costing hundreds of dollars, a modding platform, and private server capabilities, pets, and much more, all of which continue to be marketed and sold despite no implementation timeline.
+'''[[Wikipedia:Star Citizen|Star Citizen]]''', a crowdfunded space simulation game, has sold numerous digital products and features since 2012 that remain undelivered as of 2024. Key items include ships costing hundreds of dollars, a modding platform, and private server capabilities, pets, and much more, all of which continue to be marketed and sold despite no implementation timeline.
 ==Background==
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ==Consumer Protection Concerns==
 The practice of selling digital products years before implementation has raised significant consumer protection concerns. Despite marketing these items as 'pledges' or 'concepts', CIG continues to charge real money for digital goods with no firm delivery timeline or guarantee of implementation. The company's terms of service have been modified multiple times since 2012, changing the conditions under which refunds are offered and altering customer rights regarding purchased content. Many backers who attempted to obtain refunds for undelivered products have reported difficulties, with CIG often citing their evolving terms of service as justification for denial. The lack of concrete development schedules for sold items, combined with regular price increases for unreleased content, has led to criticism from consumer advocacy groups and gaming industry observers. Additionally, the practice of artificial scarcity through "limited-time sales" of digital products that don't yet exist has been questioned as potentially misleading marketing.
-[[File:ASA Response .png|thumb|A response letter from the Advertising Standards Authority affirming that Cloud Imperium Games likely had breached the Advertising Rules when failing to ]]
+[[File:ASA Response .png|thumb|A response letter from the Advertising Standards Authority affirming that Cloud Imperium Games likely had breached the Advertising Rules. ]]
 In 2021, following a consumer complaint to the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) by a member of the /r/starcitizen_refunds community<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_refunds/comments/pfgchs/uk_advertising_standards_agency_rule_concept_ship/</ref>, Cloud Imperium Games was required to modify their concept ship marketing emails after the ASA determined they violated Advertising Rules in the UK. The issue centered on emails promoting concept ships without clear disclosure that the advertised vessels did not yet exist in-game. In response, CIG added a standardized disclaimer to their marketing emails stating that concept ships are "being offered here as a limited vehicle concept pledge". The disclaimer also notes that purchasers receive a temporary "loaner vehicle" until their bought ship becomes available.
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 Star Citizen's Persistent Universe or PU for short is an open sandbox that allows players to engage in PVP activities such as Piracy and Bounty Hunting yet activity participating in these activities could lead a player to being banned for 'excessively' engaging in this activity under the guise of it being 'harassment' to do so.
+=== The HuskyPie Incident ===
+On April 21, 2025, Cloud Imperium Games banned player HuskyPie for 17 days after German content creator Karolinger falsely accused him of stream sniping. The incident occurred in Pyro, a lawless system explicitly for PvP combat. HuskyPie was completing a mercenary mission when he encountered and killed Karolinger twice at Bueno Ravine. Despite having no evidence beyond the streamer's accusations, CIG suspended HuskyPie's account. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0eipkl66-8 As documented in an episode of the "Griefers Pub" podcast], HuskyPie was forced to appeal by providing his own game logs proving he was already at the location on mission objectives and had never watched Karolinger's stream. CIG eventually overturned the ban but offered no apology or explanation. This case directly demonstrates preferential treatment for content creators and shows how regular players can be banned for engaging in permitted gameplay while content creators receive special protection from legitimate game mechanics.
 ==References==
 {{reflist}}
 [[Category:Star Citizen]]
-[[Category:Cloud Imperium Games]]
-[[Category:Crowdfunding]]
-[[Category:Digital goods]]
-[[Category:Consumer protection]]
-[[Category:Software]]