I haven’t followed the progress of this game for a long time but it reminds me of the importance of MVPs. If you can’t get something out on the market that is fun within a reasonable time, it likely never will successful.
People rag on about incomplete games a lot but these days games a long past the throw over the wall products they used to be. They are living products designed to last a decade or more. Getting real players on the game and driving the feedback for future development is critical to getting a final product that is perfect.
I guess it depends on the developers' definition of "successful." If the goal was to ship a completed game than Star Citizen is an abject failure. If the goal was to make hundreds of millions of dollars working on an overly ambitious passion project than it has been wildly successful.
People rag on about incomplete games a lot but these days games a long past the throw over the wall products they used to be. They are living products designed to last a decade or more. Getting real players on the game and driving the feedback for future development is critical to getting a final product that is perfect.