"Star Citizen": Developers have to work 7 days a week until Citizencon

Employees of the developer studio Cloud Imperium Games will have to work every day in the coming weeks. This is reported by Insider Gaming magazine. The developer of "Star Citizen" wants to ensure that it can show fans good progress at the in-house exhibition Citizencon on October 19 and 20.

Insider Gaming bases its report on an internal email that was sent to employees in the past few days. According to this, developers will have to work overtime on the weekends of October 5 and 6 as well as October 12 and 13. There will also be a tightening up during the week: on the two Fridays until Citizencon, when working from home would normally be permitted, employees will have to come into the office.

Mismanagement and dismissals

According to the internal email, employees are provided with breakfast and lunch on weekend working days and can take time off at a later date. In addition, employees who work on the weekends will be given October 21 off, according to another email.

According to Insider Gaming, the mandatory weekend work is just the latest example in a series of additional tasks imposed on the studio's developers due to mismanagement. Some employees are said to have already left the studio behind "Star Citizen" as a result. Cloud Imperium Games did not wish to comment on the report to Insider Gaming.

Cloud Imperium Games under pressure

The games industry is notorious for its "crunch culture" with lots of overtime and weekend work. Extra work is often required in the weeks and months leading up to the release of a game. However, the example of "Star Citizen" shows that it's not just product releases that can mean crunch time – Trade fairs and gameplay demonstrations can also put additional pressure on developers.

Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) is under particular pressure to have something presentable ready for Citizencon: "Star Citizen" is basically playable, but far from being a finished product. Year after year, fans look forward to the studio's in-house exhibition – with a mixture of anticipation and suspicion, always hoping for the big breakthrough that will turn the studio's ambitious ideas into reality.

For CIG, it is essential to keep the players on the ball. Only then will they spend money on early access to the game and spaceships, which will finance the hugely expensive development of the space simulation. To date, "Star Citizen" has raised over 700 million US dollars. In addition to the sci-fi MMO "Star Citizen", a single-player spin-off called "Squadron 42" is being developed and is due to be released in the coming years.

(dahe)