https://www.pcgamesn.com/star-citizen/cost
The production cost of Star Citizen has now surpassed that of multiple triple-A titles combined, including the likes of GTA 5, RDR2, and Cyberpunk 2077.
It’s a different kind of beast.
NMS released. They put it in a box and said “This is the finished game”. It was then torn to shreds and the long road of updates was a redemption story for an already released product.
Star Citizen will NEVER be done. It will always exist in some weird development alpha-beta limbo. It’s never going to go on Steam or shelves as a finished product. This allows the developers cover to always say the game is in development as a shield against any and all criticism. From their perspective it’s kind of perfect. Fans throw money at it endlessly and the development never really needs to reach a coherent state of being finished. Why would they ever want to actually release a finished game?