Roberts Space Industries’ ambitious space simulation title Star Citizen has been a crowdfunding success story. Over $39 million has been raised since the $2 million Kickstarter launched in October 2012.

Today, Roberts began a series of monthly updates that delve a bit deeper into the title’s development. There are currently 212 staff members working on the game, which Roberts attributes directly to backer support. The funding base for the community continues to grow, with approximately $4.26 million of the $6 million raised in the first two months of 2014 coming from new supporters.

The much anticipated dogfighting module, which will be the first playable piece of Star Citizen, will go into closed-door preview for backers just before PAX East in early April. The plan is to make that more widely available shortly after.

Star Citizen currently has over 400,000 backers, growing from the original 34,397 who funded the Kickstarter endeavor. You can read up on Star Citizen on the game’s website, where you’ll find information on ships, the universe, and the company.

[Source: Star Citizen]

Our Take

I am often skeptical of crowd-funded games, especially as the scope grows. With 212 staff members and regular, public updates, my confidence in Chris Roberts (who has a stellar track record with Wing Commander) and his team grows. There is a great deal of potential in Star Citizen, but there is also much on the line.