Can this even conscionably be called "micro" anymore? Star Citizen, if you haven't heard of it, is the single most successful crowdfunded product to date, with millions of players pouring in tens of millions of dollars for the promise of the kind of broad, intricate space simulator that game after ambitious game has failed to deliver. The only issue? Star Citizen, as a completed product, has yet to exist.
Year after year, the scope has gotten bigger and the deadlines have been pushed back, creating a feedback loop wherein players will pledge money after seeing the newest, shiniest trailer and incentivize that devs to not actually use any of that money on the game itself. Indeed, Cloud Imperium Games seems deadset on extracting every dollar it can. Take, for instance, the brand-new Legatus 2953 microtransaction bundle, which retails for a whopping $48,000 USD.
Fifty grand is life-changing money for the majority of people. That's a new car, a down payment on a house, years of rent- but you can also spend it on a bundle of virtual ships for a game that only exists in a buggy, barebones alpha state. According to PC Gamer, you also need to be in the so-called "Chairman's Club" before you can even purchase it- which, surprise surprise, you also have to buy your way into. The only thing bleaker than the fact that this bundle exists is that some sunk-cost gamer is going to buy it.
