Star Citizen’s new ‘Flight Blades’ microtransactions spark a pay-to-win uproar — is trust finally crumbling?

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It’s hard to believe it’s 2025 and we’re still talking about Star Citizen. This game started with a Kickstarter campaign 13 years ago and became the highest-funded video game in history, exceeding $1 billion by August 2025. Despite entering early access in 2017, it remains in the alpha testing phase.

The game costs about $40 to purchase, though you can try it out for free initially. Beyond that, the game heavily features in-game purchases, with ships available for prices ranging from around $40 to over $1,000.

The game has recently faced backlash from the Star Citizen community on Reddit due to the introduction of “Flight Blades.” These are new ship components that actually improve performance in areas like shields, engines, and cooling. While some Flight Blades can be obtained by playing the game, others require players to spend real money, and this has caused significant criticism.

The flight blades backlash

Flight Blades are ship attachments that affect how your spacecraft handles in combat. They offer different trade-offs: some prioritize speed at the cost of maneuverability, while others emphasize agility over raw speed.

If Star Citizen focused only on cooperative gameplay, this wouldn’t be a significant issue. However, since the game also features player-versus-player combat, players who purchase upgrades with real money can have a noticeable edge over those who don’t.

On top of the game still being in early development, something called Flight Blades suddenly appeared for sale. The frustrating part? You could only get them by spending real money – anywhere from $10 to $40. Unlike most items in games, you couldn’t earn these in-game at all.

The announcement quickly drew criticism. Players immediately took to Reddit and the game’s forums to express their anger, claiming Cloud Imperium Games was failing to keep its promises and prioritizing profits over fair gameplay. Many described the changes as unfair and a clear example of ‘pay-to-win.’

Following criticism, Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) announced Flight Blades would eventually be available to earn through gameplay, and they delivered on that promise with an update released in June 2025. While CIG stated the initial paid launch was always intended to be temporary, many players were skeptical. It appeared to most as a reactive measure to address negative feedback, rather than a planned strategy.

Star Citizen’s troubled Development history

Star Citizen first appeared on Kickstarter in 2012, quickly exceeding its $2 million funding goal. While initially expected in 2014, the game’s release was delayed. From 2013 to 2017, the developers, CIG, provided backers with smaller updates. They switched game engines in 2016 and launched an early access version in 2017, which is still being actively developed and tested as an alpha.

The game has earned over $1 billion through YouTube, despite a controversial approach of setting low expectations, making grand promises, and continually asking players to invest in a game with no guaranteed release date.

Star Citizen aims to be a massive online space simulation game with similar goals to No Man’s Sky, but the two are quite different. Unlike Star Citizen, No Man’s Sky isn’t a massively multiplayer game and hasn’t relied on lengthy funding without delivering results. Instead, it’s received nine years of free updates and recently reached its highest-ever number of players on Steam. I’m not suggesting you should switch to No Man’s Sky, but it’s a more affordable option that you might enjoy more.

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2025-09-18 17:10