The life of Chris Roberts
Gaming's greatest snake oil salesman?
Chris Roberts, a name that stokes fiery emotion. Some hail him as a visionary while others label him a hack. What is undeniable to all though, is that he is a grand dreamer.
If you've heard of Chris Roberts, it's likely for one of two things: his work on the cult-classic video game series, Wing Commander, or his ongoing and ambitious project, Star Citizen.
But let's journey back to 1986, a time when games were made for nerds and could only display a handful of polygons. At the age of 22, Chris Roberts joined Origin Systems. He began as director of a traditional RPG game called Times of Lore. While well-made, it was generic, and didn't mark the beginning of Roberts' legend.
The turning point came in 1990 when Roberts led the development of his brainchild, Wing Commander, as its director, producer, and designer. This space-simulation game quickly gained critical acclaim, launching him into niche stardom, and spawned 11 sequels, novels, a card game, a TV series, and even a feature film. In fact, Richard Garriott, co-founder of Origin Systems exclaimed in an interview that he would never forget Roberts’ pitch for Wing Commander and how he was a true visionary.
After several Wing Commander projects, Roberts left Origin Systems in 1996 to co-found Digital Anvil, where he created another space-simulation game, Starlancer, which released to favorable impressions. However, Roberts was not satisfied and began working on a much grander project.
The title of this project was Freelancer and Roberts dreamed big. He promised many different features for the game which would seem impossible for games even today. It seemed like every time he spoke about the game, it became even more complex. However, as most would assume, the development of the game was not very smooth. There were constant delays pushing the release of the game back farther and farther and money was starting to run out. The studio was bought out by Microsoft during its financial troubles in 2000 and Chris Roberts left the company, remaining only as an advisor for Freelancer. Even though many assumed the game to be vaporware and never come to fruition, it released in 2003 with a lack of many promised features.
From 2002 to 2011, Roberts ventured into a mediocre career of film production. His movies failed to garner an audience and the studio only remained afloat due to a loophole in German tax law.
In 2011, everything changed. Chris Roberts founded Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), a move that would have a more profound impact on gaming than all his previous work combined. CIG launched a Kickstarter campaign in October 2012, with a minimum funding goal of $500,000 and stretch goals reaching $6 million.
These goals were not only met but exceeded, making Star Citizen the highest crowdfunded game with over $600 million in backing.
Yet, Star Citizen isn't a completed game; it remains in its early alpha stages. Despite 12 years of development and $600 million in funding, the game is little more than a proof of concept. Only a fraction of the promised features are implemented, and the game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues. Promised major releases and even the complete game are consistently given release dates and then delayed, causing tension for funders who feel cheated.
Nevertheless, Star Citizen continues to attract funding. A large majority comes from "whales" who purchase promises of virtual ships years down the line, sometimes costing thousands of real-world dollars.
But this money is not running down the drain. For example, Star Citizen is the first game ever to implement server meshing at a massive and seamless scale. For the non-nerds in the audience, servers are basically the hub all computers you are connected with join; a Minecraft world you and your friends play on is one server. However, Star Citizen has just unveiled proof of their server meshing technology which allows different servers to merge, change, and interact with each other seamlessly. I implore those interested to watch the video below as it is truly a first for the industry and something like game development magic.
Star Citizen is Roberts’ magnum opus and as funding grows, he continues to align the game to his vision, prolonging development, and sometimes abandoning years worth of work.
Roberts' vision and ambition have propelled Star Citizen to unprecedented funding heights, but are also the root cause of its turmoil and naysayers. It's a testament to the dual nature of ambition, guiding one toward greatness whilst also casting shadows of doubt.