Update: Sept-18-2017: Cloud Imperium Games spokesperson Dave Swofford has issued a statement claiming the information as per the Reddit posts below was in facct an elaborate fabrication.

In a statement issued by Swofford, he said "The screenshots do not represent the actual communications which were shared to and from our support department," the CIG representative wrote. "So no…there’s nothing to it at all. There is no story." The actual refunded amount was, in fact, $330.

Original Story: Sep-14-2017 - A Star Citizen Player has Just Successfully Received a $45,000 Refund

A Star Citizen player representing a guild has just set a huge precedent, asking for and successfully receiving a huge $45,000 refund for the three ‘Completionist’ ship packages the guild had clubbed together to buy. Each of the Completionist packages comes with every ship announced up until 2014 and currently retails for $18,000, or enough to buy 300 AAA $60 games on day one.

“We sidelined many other great games and commercial opportunities waiting for Star Citizen, but in the end, we can't wait any longer, and a new generation is joining also who have absolutely no interest,” said the hideously named ‘Mogmentum’ on Reddit. “The final straw was evidence presented the committee of Chris Roberts blatantly lying, we don't mind the delays but couldn't handle the lies anymore, and it left us wondering what else he is knowingly lying about.”

He’s got plenty of proof that this is the real deal over on Reddit; the result of five weeks of back and forth between him and Cloud Imperium Games. He’s the first to get a Star Citizen refund but it is indeed the largest we know about. For CIG it sets a worrying precedent. The $50K is just a drop in the ocean of the $159,294,223 raised, but should the discontent spread then CIG could find itself backed into a funding corner. The current total may seem like a lot but considering there are five offices worldwide and development has stretched for several years, this money has probably dwindled significantly

What’s kind of eye-opening is that there’s an entire Star Citizen Refunds subreddit dedicated solely to the discussion of unhappy folks wanting their money back. According to Redditors, it’s because talk of refunds is frowned upon on the main Star Citizen subreddit. There’s clearly a vocal contingent of the Star Citizen fan base that isn’t at all pleased with how Star Citizen’s development is shaking out, what with the constant delays and changing expectations.

The latest hammer blow seems to be Star Citizen’s Alpha 3.0 launch, which has already been delayed three times and may now be pushed back to October. CIG has likened this version to an ‘Early Access’ launch; the price will “probably go up a little bit” and a lot of Star Citizen’s basic gameplay loops and mechanics will be present. There’ll be a persistent universe, missions to undertake, a basic trading system and the like. From the sounds of it we’re still a fair ways from Star Citizen becoming the game it’s always claimed to be though, a result of immense ambition that predicates a lengthy development process.

It’s tricky to gauge just where a game is by hyperbolic arguments from either side of the fence but the truth of the matter is that not everything’s rosy when it comes to Star Citizen right now. There are murmurings of discontent and it feels as if the pressure is really on for CIG to deliver a cohesive package with Star Citizen 3.0, Early Access or not.

Has anyone here on GD tried to refund their Star Citizen backing? Does this speak of a worrying future for the space sim, or do you think CIG an eventually deliver on its promises? Let us know below!

Source: Star Citizen Reddit