Star Citizen creators Cloud Imperium Games have backed off of a plan to charge people $20 to watch a stream of the annual CitizenCon event.
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A fan convention that’s been free to stream in the past, CitizenCon allows people who support the game to interact with the developers and see how progress on the crowdfunded project is coming along. While it’s true that it’s been free in the past, Cloud Imperium Games said through Star Citizen site that watching the stream this year would cost $20 for a digital ticket, but it’d be included for some supporters depending on their backer level.
The part of the site that sold the ticket has now been removed with a 404 page taking its place, but not before the evidence of the decision circulated on Reddit and other forms with many people criticizing the pay-to-watch stream. Gamers on the Games subreddit pointed out other games that stream their events for free while referencing the millions of dollars that have been crowdfunded for Star Citizen to make the case that the stream should be free.
Following the controversy, the cost to follow the stream online has now been removed with the stream planned to be a free event. Cloud Imperium Games director Christopher Roberts shared an explanation for the situation prior to the stream becoming free and reasoned that CitizenCon 2018 was a larger event than they’ve held in the past.
“This year’s CitizenCon is much bigger than last years, with two separate stages and tracks,” Roberts said. “We did this because we felt the format we tested last year was a success and because of this we wanted to expand it to allow more people to attend and provide more opportunities to hear from and interact with the devs.”
Yes, it will be automatic and be accompanied by an email to alert you.
— Star Citizen (@RobertsSpaceInd) September 1, 2018
He added that “the original plan didn’t have any plan for streaming anything beyond the opening keynote,” but due to supporters’ requests to see more, he said, it was planned that they’d record the panels and other events. In an attempt to “defray at least some of additional costs,” part of the cost was passed onto backers through digital passes that would allow buyers to watch the content between the opening and closing keynotes.
After sharing the lengthy defense of the pay-to-stream structure, Roberts updated his post to say he looks at this situation as a learning experience and that the stream would be free as they reduce the crew and costs of the event.
“After sleeping on this, I am going to chalk this one up to experience,” he said. “We’re going to cut back on the live-streaming crew / costs but have both stages streamed for anyone with a Star Citizen user account. Star Citizen Content Creators are welcome to rebroadcast our stream live.”
CitizenCon starts next month on October 10, and those who already bought one of the digital tickets will have their purchase refunded.
