Star Citizen adds Kickstarter as crowdfunding option

After the faulty launch of its own crowdfunding campaign for Star Citizen, Cloud Imperium Games and developer Chris Roberts have added Kickstarter as a payment option to relieve its beleaguered Roberts Space Industries web site.

According to an FAQ on the RSI site, Roberts originally did not embrace Kickstarter because "we were very concerned that Kickstarter does not support European payments which would exclude a major portion of the Wing Commander and Freelancer audience." However, Kickstarter was added when its own solution was unable to handle the fan demand.

"Those who pledged via Roberts Space Industries through our very rough first week of operation and those who make a pledge going forward on Kickstarter or on our site will all have their pledges tied directly to their Roberts Space Industries account," Roberts said in a release. "Nothing has changed there. We just hope that people will understand the situation we were in and support us and support what we plan on bringing to the table for PC gamers everywhere."

Despite the initial hiccups, the game has already collected more than $1 million of its $2 million goal through the RSI site with 21 days left. Another $150,000 has already been gathered on Kickstarter, with a target of $500,000. Donations from both sites will be added, with $2 million still being the initial overall goal.

Roberts has said he needs $12-$14 million to complete the game, and reaching $2 million in donations will trigger the additional investment.