Nearly 14 years ago, industry veteran Chris Roberts launched the Kickstarter campaign for Star Citizen, promising an incredibly ambitious spiritual successor to Wing Commander and Freelancer in a genre thought to be dying or, at the very least, niche. The campaign immediately resonated with fans, gathering over $2.1 million in pledges from nearly 35,000 backers, but that was merely the beginning. Shortly after the end of the Kickstarter campaign, Roberts continued to allow fans to back the game