Star Citizen Launches Free Fly Trial Open To Anyone For Two Weeks

[Nergal]

 

 

Aspiring pilots can participate in Star Citizen’s free fly trial, which is open to anyone for two weeks. In mid-August, Star Citizen showed off motion capture for its Squadron 42 game mode, as well as a new $90 ship. The game has been in development since 2011 and is being produced by Cloud Imperium Games using the Amazon Lumberyard engine. The game has been receiving financing from private backers after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012 that raised over $2 million.

While the game is an ambitious project that aims to give players unprecedented freedom and control in a space simulator, its lengthy development has been criticized for not being focused. Star Citizen’s extended development time has caused the game to become one of the most expensive in the industry’s history, surpassing $300 million in developmental costs as of June 2020. Despite numerous updates, the game’s also experienced several delays, some of which were simple roadmaps to keep backers informed of the title’s progress.

As production continues, Cloud Imperium Games announced on the official Star Citizen website that the game is launching a free fly trial open to anyone for two weeks. The event gives anyone who participates access to 16 ships they can pilot at will until the event ends. The 16 ships chosen for the two-week free fly trial are the result of the community voting on which ships are considered either more powerful or more popular than the rest. Gamers interested in participating in the free fly event can sign up on the game’s website, where they will be prompted to create an account, apply the free fly code (also available on the website), download the game, and play for two weeks free.


Star Citizen is one of the most ambitious games in industry history, but the scope of the developer's ambition has long outweighed its ability to follow through on its commitments. Having a ton of planned content and creative ideas to keep players entertained and awestruck is great, but keeping the game in a perpetual closed beta state with no full release insight only serves to frustrate potential fans who want to play the game but can’t necessarily afford to pay for something that may never be finished.

Cloud Imperium Games’ inability to deliver overshadows its wishes to produce such a vast and intriguing world. After so much time in the oven, many fans have given up hope that a polished product will ever be officially on the market, at least not in their lifetime. It’s possible someone else will have to take over the game’s development at some point, as all the current developers might retire long before Star Citizen’s even considered to be ready for release.

Star Citizen’s closed beta experience is available on PC to backers of the project.