Star Citizen Update Delays Raise New Development Concerns

Star Citizen fans are upset by the latest series of update delays which once again negatively impact the already controversial development trajectory of the game.

Recently, the Star Citizen developers posted what they call a “Roadmap Roundup” which includes several delays to previously announced features and updates. Most of the delays largely focus on the technical side of the game. For instance, it seems a server to client update has been delayed as well as an update to the game’s death animations.

Some of the more substantial content delays include the removal of a PvP bounties system (which was seemingly never meant to be publicly discussed in the first place) and a delay of the release of the game’s latest world, Crusader.

There are a few problems with these delays in the minds of some Star Citizen fans. Some of the delays cause problems in and of themselves. It seems that server to client update would have helped instances of in-game cheating and poor user connections, for instance. Also, the delay of a new world for the game is (as in-game content delays usually are) an annoyance.

The bigger issue here, though, is that this is another in a long series of delays which have, thus far, come to define much of Star Citizen‘s prolonged development cycle. Many fans are calling out the Star Citizen team for their habit of promising features and then delaying them rather than just releasing them when they’re ready or providing road maps that largely focus on updates the team feels confident they can deliver on time.

Some of those fans have pointed out that it’s certainly possible that the spread of the coronavirus has contributed to these delays, but it’s also been accurately stated that Star Citizen delays have occurred long before our current situation.

Recounting the entire Star Citizen saga until this point would be a daunting process, but the long and short of it is that Star Citizen began its life as an incredibly successful crowdfunding campaign that promised an epic sci-fi adventure. Since then, Star Citizen has been defined by delays, lawsuits, further funding requests, and accusations of gross mismanagement of resources.

As it stands, you can technically play a much smaller version of Star Citizen that features some impressive visuals and ideas. However, much of the game’s most anticipated content (including a long-delayed single-player mode) remains delayed and doesn’t currently enjoy a reliable release window.