Chris Robertson: Star Citizen won't 'Sell Out'
But he supports Oculus acquisition by Facebook
Chris Roberts, the man behind Wing Commander and (far more recently) the lead creator on crowdfunding mega-success Star Citizen, has reassured backers that his company won't be going down the Oculus acquisition route. Roberts said in a blog post that there's no need for his company, Roberts Space Industries, to pursue that option.
Star Citizen, a space combat game, holds the record for the most money ever raised through crowd-funding at $41m. Oculus's recent buyout by Facebook has raised questions about if/when we'll see other high-profile acquisitions of crowd-funded projects. Star Citizen was under that spotlight, with multiple forum threads asking whether Roberts' company, Roberts Space Industries, would go down that path.
Roberts' assertion that he would not be taking that option does not mean he poo-pooed Oculus's acquisition by Facebook, however. Explaining why he doesn't feel betrayed by Oculus, Robertson wrote:
"In order for the Rift to succeed, it really needed a lot more funding than it has raised from its past two VC rounds. Hardware is expensive: it’s one thing to perfect the technology, but before you can sell a single Rift, you need to spend hundreds of millions on manufacturing and building a supply chain if you intend to make the Rift (and Virtual Reality) relevant for the mass market...
"My hope is that Facebook’s funding will let Oculus compete with much bigger companies and deliver an attractively priced consumer headset at the scale needed for mass market adoption without the loss of the incredible passion that convinced me to back the project."
He said that Roberts Space Industries, at least for the time being, plans to continue supporting the Rift.
Directly addressing the possibility of RSI being acquired, Roberts went on: "Now to answer the myriad forum threads that popped up worrying about the possibility of Cloud Imperium being acquired by another, bigger company – don’t worry! We have no plans nor interest in following this path! We don’t need to go to anyone with deep pockets to make OUR dream a reality.
"To mass-produce hardware like the Rift, you need an outlay of hundreds of millions of dollars. Luckily our ships are digital so we have hardly any cost of goods, just the cost of developing the universe of Star Citizen and running servers that Star Citizen’s universe will be simulated on. Thanks to the generosity of the Star Citizen community we have these two things covered."
It's not just about practicalities, however. Roberts added, "And last but not least I’m having way to much fun building the universe of my dreams for everyone to adventure in! I’ve been down the big company acquisition route twice before and there’s a reason I am making Star Citizen totally independently!"
Source: RSI
Star Citizen, a space combat game, holds the record for the most money ever raised through crowd-funding at $41m. Oculus's recent buyout by Facebook has raised questions about if/when we'll see other high-profile acquisitions of crowd-funded projects. Star Citizen was under that spotlight, with multiple forum threads asking whether Roberts' company, Roberts Space Industries, would go down that path.
Roberts' assertion that he would not be taking that option does not mean he poo-pooed Oculus's acquisition by Facebook, however. Explaining why he doesn't feel betrayed by Oculus, Robertson wrote:
"In order for the Rift to succeed, it really needed a lot more funding than it has raised from its past two VC rounds. Hardware is expensive: it’s one thing to perfect the technology, but before you can sell a single Rift, you need to spend hundreds of millions on manufacturing and building a supply chain if you intend to make the Rift (and Virtual Reality) relevant for the mass market...
"My hope is that Facebook’s funding will let Oculus compete with much bigger companies and deliver an attractively priced consumer headset at the scale needed for mass market adoption without the loss of the incredible passion that convinced me to back the project."
He said that Roberts Space Industries, at least for the time being, plans to continue supporting the Rift.
Directly addressing the possibility of RSI being acquired, Roberts went on: "Now to answer the myriad forum threads that popped up worrying about the possibility of Cloud Imperium being acquired by another, bigger company – don’t worry! We have no plans nor interest in following this path! We don’t need to go to anyone with deep pockets to make OUR dream a reality.
"To mass-produce hardware like the Rift, you need an outlay of hundreds of millions of dollars. Luckily our ships are digital so we have hardly any cost of goods, just the cost of developing the universe of Star Citizen and running servers that Star Citizen’s universe will be simulated on. Thanks to the generosity of the Star Citizen community we have these two things covered."
It's not just about practicalities, however. Roberts added, "And last but not least I’m having way to much fun building the universe of my dreams for everyone to adventure in! I’ve been down the big company acquisition route twice before and there’s a reason I am making Star Citizen totally independently!"
Source: RSI
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Chris Robertson