One of my favorite hobbies is following a game development project called Star Citizen.
Why would this be interesting, I don't care about some Vidya games you ask? Let me paint the complete picture of this exhilarating decades long saga.
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
To understand the full picture we must go back 30 years ago to the year 1990 when nerds of all continents stared at the little screens of their eye destroying cathode-ray monitors frantically shooting enemy ships in a game called Wing Commander.
This was the Mecca of your dads and various weird uncles that turned out to diddle little children in community kindergartens.
This space flight title released on MS DOS in the good old days before anyone had heard of COVID or Kanye West. It has garnered much praise and attention from the so-called video game critics. Awarded by them titles such as "1991 Game of the Year" "nr 7 best PC game of all time"
In fact it was so good that EA released a port to PSP in 2006 and even to PCs in 2011, 30 years later.
Suffice to say there's probably still a gigantic cult around this game even if half of original players died already from the old age or marriage arguments.
The maker - Chris Roberts, at the time working for a game company named Origin Systems - creators of Ultima series, followed up with Wing Commander II and Strike Commander in 1993 which were also successful. Wing Commander III and IV solidified his position as an immortal God of the space nerds.
In 1996 he left origin and founded his own studio together with his brother because in short - big publishers were limiting his creative freedom.
For some reason the first project of a new studio was not a game but a movie that took 25 million 1999s dollars of that sweet founding cash and probably loans. Great plan, you can see the first glimpse of cunning genius that is Chris Roberts.
The 1999 movie turned out to have zero redeeming qualities and was widely considered a 3/10. Main reasons were: bad casting choices, terrible special effects, uninspiring plot and ameteurish, unexperienced direction. In other words pretty good for your first movie ever but maybe start with 20 dollars?
Desperated to keep things afloat he decided to quickly release a game Starlancer in 2000 with his old and tried formula but it was a new millennium. People, tech moved on and everyone already done better and more interesting things.
It wasn't a commercial success that Digital Anvil badly needed.
Shrewdly Microsoft said hello and bought the barely surviving studio for some pocket change in 2000. This is very important in the context of the next game from Digital Anvil.
Chris Roberts had a very ambitious plans. A space trading and combat video game - Freelancer. In fact so ambitious that the game wasn't any close to materializing or feasible for year, second one... third... It was considered a vaporware.
At a point Microsoft came to the rescue and booted him out of the project completely.
The game was able to release in 2003 although in very different, limited scope than crazy plans of Chris Roberts. It was a success nevertheless, known for its gorgeous graphics and art style.
Let me briefly describe the substantially cut version features versus Chris Roberts vision:
| Feature |
Final Freelancer (2003) |
Chris Roberts’ Original Vision |
| Universe Simulation |
Mostly static, scripted NPC behaviors |
Fully dynamic, AI-driven world where factions trade, fight, and evolve |
| Space-to-Planet Transition |
Pre-rendered cutscenes for docking |
Real-time, seamless landings on planets |
| Flight Controls |
Mouse-based, arcade-style combat |
Joystick-based, more realistic space sim |
| Economy |
Partially dynamic with fixed trade routes |
Fully dynamic economy affected by player actions |
| Ship Customization |
Limited upgrades to a single ship |
Deep ship customization and ability to own multiple ships |
| Multiplayer |
Server-based multiplayer with limited persistence |
Large-scale persistent online universe (proto-MMO) |
| Graphics & Engine |
Good for the time, but somewhat dated due to delays |
Cutting-edge visuals with procedural planet generation |
| Story & Campaign |
Linear single-player story with side activities |
More open-ended story with player-driven choices |
| Faction Interaction |
Reputation system but largely static faction wars |
Factions dynamically evolving based on player and AI actions |
| Player-Owned Assets |
No stations or fleets, just personal ship upgrades |
Ability to build and own stations, fleets, and influence the world |
As you can see the og scope was several times that of an 2018 X4 Foundations and lovely words 'MMO' also appear.
Meanwhile, Chris Roberts dissatisfied, quit the company altogether. In his mind sown the alluring seeds of Freelancer gargantuan full version.
After leaving he founded another company that aimed to produce films, shows and games. However 0 projects ever came out of it.
Zero. Null. Nada.
That 'success' somehow prompted him to make another company - Ascendant Pictures this time entirely MOVIE publishing. What's going on with this guy and movies? Anyway, It funded 8 Hollywood movies one of them Lord of War. nice
But... they were almost entirely financed by a loophole in the German tax laws that was closed in 2006. 💀
After germans fixed their law Roberts' activities as a film producer ended as the funds raised by his controversial financing scheme depleted. Pay attention to financing scheme.
It was even sued by Kevin Costner in 2005. I would very much like for a Kevin Costner to sue me 🥵
Anyhow, the business was eventually acquired in 2010 by Bigfoot Entertainment
a small production company from Philippines.
Roberts getting a taste of tax avoidance and funding schemes hired a world renowned entertainment media attorney and in 2011 founded a company named Cloud Imperium Games together with his wife Sandi Gardiner - an actress (There's a funny side drama to her involving attempt to strangle Chris Roberts and some kids stalking). Nicknamed Strangli.
In October 2012 Cloud Imperium Games launched a crowdfunding schem... I mean project that was essentially Roberts long unrealized dream of full version of Freelancer that Microsoft cruelly demanded him to release, on time.
Wing Commander and Freelancer had a cult following and there were tons of sucker... I mean players who wanted to see what happens if you let an ambitious middle aged man that haven't released a single game since 2000 do whatever.
This amounted to 800 million dollars financial schem... Ahem crowdfunding as we speak.
Roberts discovered a gold mine.
To be continued...