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Star Citizen’s new cash shop offerings provoked fresh pay-to-win and predatory monetization accusations | Massively Overpowered

⁨160⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

https://massivelyop.com/2025/05/16/star-citizens-new-cash-shop-offerings-provoked-fresh-pay-to-win-and-predatory-monetization-accusations/

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Comments

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  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Star Citizen is a scam. Stop giving them money.

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    • tal@lemmy.today ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Star Citizen is a scam.

      I’d be more-generous and just call it a wildly mismanaged development process that ran out of control.

      This is not to imply that one should throw more money into the hole, mind.

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      • swordgeek@lemmy.ca ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        It’s possible that it wasn’t a scam to begin with.

        But now? Now it’s impossible for even the most dewey-eyed dreamer to see it as anything less than a deliberate hustle, perpetrated by amoral grifters.

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    • killeronthecorner@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They can’t. Star Citizen is the Trump of videogames

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      • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Oh my god… that’s the perfect summary.

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  • QubaXR@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Pay to win what? Is there a game yet?

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    • ms_lane@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      JPEG wars

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  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Start Citizen looked so fucking cool when it was announced like 15 years ago. Since then it’s dipped lower and lower every single time new info comes out.

    Like, the hopefully dumbasses that got burned initially like my dumb ass did with No Man’s Sky, I kinda get… but how the absolute fuck are they still getting sales?? Are there seriously still people that don’t know it’s a scam?

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    • Agrivar@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Worse. The die-hards may as well be cultists at this point. They delude themselves as hard as MAGAts. (I know a few guys who’ve been off-and-on players for years, and they still try to convince me to join them!)

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      • ms_lane@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

        The Amway of videogames.

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  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Played it on a free weekend a few months ago after hearing about it for over a decade.

    Shit sucks.

    Looks pretty, and that’s where the good parts end.

    Everything, and I mean everything, is insanely tedious and the inventory system is godawful. After 10+ years of “development”.

    Avoid this garbage.

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    • Lenny@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Exactly. Your game is bad if I have to look up how to do something as simple as equip a weapon. Your game is bad if I have to run around like an idiot for 15+ minutes after every death before having the chance of doing something enjoyable again.

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  • Sendpicsofsandwiches@sh.itjust.works ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    OH MY STARS! THE GAME THAT SPONGED CROWD FUNDING FOR MILLIONS IS TRYING TO GRAB MORE MONEY!? UNTHINKABLE!

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    • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
      [deleted]
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      • Sendpicsofsandwiches@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        It’s not a scam guys. GUYS It’s not a scam quit calling it that. Just because saps, I mean marks, I mean people bought $400 digital ships over a decade ago and haven’t seen shit yet, doesn’t mean this game won’t release any day now.

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      • DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The way they designed this game I swear to god the entire thing is one giant MLM and Star Citizen is the product they want you to sell to everyone else.

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      • ExtantHuman@lemm.ee ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Not even beta or EA.

        What do you call the thing you can load up and play right now?

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      • Tetsuo@jlai.lu ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Eheh for a second I thought EA was Electronic Arts.

        Like a beta game is unstable but before the beta you get the EA stage/release where it’s just doesn’t work but is still for sale.

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  • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Wait… the game where you can buy a bundle of every ship in the game for $48,000 might be pay to win?

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  • TommySoda@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    As someone that played star citizen and enjoyed the gameplay very much, this game has been basically ruined by greed for years now. They basically discourage playing the actual game with these practices. Sure, you can work your ass off and make a butt load of money to buy a bunch of cool guns, armor, and ships, but as soon as they do a server wipe, which they do fairly regularly, most if not all of it will get wiped clean. But if you give them real money you get to keep them everything after a server wipe.

    I even had a friend where his ship, bought with in game currency, glitched and he was able to keep it several updates later with no issue while mine disappeared. We both bought them with in game currencies at about the same time. Mine disappeared as soon as the update came out and he had it for almost two years! To me that sounds like it’s intentional and they could totally get away with letting you keep your stuff but they choose not to.

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    • carlossurf@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Holly shit thats despicable, you mean people who actually earn shit the hard way lose there ships!

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      • TommySoda@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

        And look, I’ve played early access games before and I’m used to playing games that do a server wipe every once in a while or saves being incompatible with the new version, but I’m talking every update and multiple times a year. It makes it so the only sense of progress you feel is when you buy a ship with real money so you can still have it on the next update. It’s a very exhausting game.

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  • RangerJosey@lemmy.ml ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Normal Store Citizen behavior.

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  • Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If you feel tempted to try Star Citizen, just go play Elite:Dangerous. You’ll have a much better experience for a fraction of the cost, and still get to do all the things you were hoping to do in SC.

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    • lorty@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Including the insane grinds for no payoff (I still love E:D)

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      • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        At least ED is a finished product.

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  • Landfill@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I mean I paid $45 dollars for a ship a decade ago and have since made 100s of hours of wonderful memories with my friends. I wish I got scammed more ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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  • Flamekebab@piefed.social ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Star Citizen still exists? I started when I was in my twenties and now I'm pushing 40!

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  • Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’m convinced this game is a Lacanian social experiment.

    Also how can a game be play to win if there is no game?

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  • Punchshark@lemmy.ca ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Did this game even release? I worked with a guy 10 years ago that invested heavily into this game and would always tell me “its about to be released”

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    • illi@lemm.ee ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      In alpha I think? They have a playable version afaik, but not released, no. Can spend thousands on virtual ships tho

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  • krimson@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I played this game and threw some money at it. I wanted it to succeed. Recently there have been plenty of developments that convinced me to quit this game completely. This one just gives me more confirmation I did the right thing.

    I think CIG is at its tipping point now and it will be game over for Star Citizen in a few years.

    Class action suit anyone?

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    • natecox@programming.dev ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      SC has so much potential. There is real magic in some of the game they have produced; the aesthetic is fantastic and the fundamentals are solid… all of which makes what they’re doing to run the game into the ground so fucking disappointing.

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  • Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Best thing that came out of star citizen XD youtu.be/isLH2GalU4g

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  • reksas@sopuli.xyz ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    i have been waiting for long time for them to add enough content to be worth buying. If they are going this route, i guess i’ll forget about getting the damn game entirely

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  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Years ago they had certain components for sale, but removed them due to backlash. Given how unique the game is, I don’t mind this so long as everything is also available in-game. Being familiar with the game and how it works, this doesn’t seem “pay to win” to me.

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    • 2fm@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It’s not pay to win. You’re right. Spending big bucks on a big ship will still get oneself killed by a small ship earned in-game. People who call SC pay-to-win listened a bit to much to Derek Smart while sipping their Monster, snacking on Doritos, wonding how many days they have to wait for the next Call of Battlefield. Those people genuinely do not understand what kind of game it is, why money can be spent, and that not a single penny beyond a starter package even needs to be spent. Nearly everything bought with real money can also be bought in-game. The monies goes to support the project, its clear when you buy anything, and you get like a month to return no questions asked if you want to. Or return at ANYTIME for instore credits and swap to some other ship without spending anything new. The misrepresentation still blows my.mind to this day.

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