Star Citizen Hits 13 Years of Development & Nearly $900 Million In Funding, And It’s Still In Alpha

The long road to Star Citizen’s full release looks to be continuing, as it’s been 13 years since the game was announced. We’ve checked back in from time to time, and the latest update is that Star Citizen is still in alpha, and it’s swiftly closing in on $900 million of crowd-funded money.

Say what you want, yes, but Star Citizen actually looks like a quality game. On the other hand, it probably should do when it’s had the development time that many multi-game franchises get and enough money to fund several Hollywood-level movies. Cloud Imperium Games’ Star Citizen could end up being one of the most fascinating games of our time.

Star Citizen Approaching $1 Billion In Funding

Star Citizen has been playable since 2017. To be fair, it somewhat mirrors Escape From Tarkov, which was first playable in 2016, and eventually came out in 2025 for its 1.0 launch. However, there doesn’t seem to be anything similar planned for Star Citizen right now, and the team continues to work on refining the game and adding new content.

There does come a point where the lines are blurred between ‘early builds’ and a complete release. You could argue that a game can’t stay in testing forever, especially not 8 years of alpha testing.

Since it was announced in 2012 (13 years ago), as of October 2025, Star Citizen has accumulated $885,286,273 in funding—At the time of writing.

It’s figured that Star Citizen is in the top 3 most expensive video games ever made. The data varies from source to source. The crucial difference here is that funding shows no signs of slowing down. We expect the space-based combat simulation game to cross $900 million before long, and unless the beta phase—or full launch is announced—the $1 billion mark surely beckons.

Let’s make it clear: We are not criticizing the game or its development. But it certainly is a curious case, and after we learned a few months ago that ‘Integral Staff’ responsible for Server Meshing are no longer with the company, you have to wonder if this road ever has an end.

Have you played Star Citizen or contributed to its ongoing funding? Give us some insight: Why do you enjoy it, and what do you think the holdup is? You can do this through the Insider Gaming Discord Server.

We have other big news here at IG, such as Black Ops 7’s AI Controversy Catching The Attention Of A US Congressman, and Concord Effectively Being Shut Down By Sony For A Second Time.