The nature of Star Citizen is that the current money train has to end at some point. The plan is to eventually stop selling ship pledges once it launches, and ALSO not require a subscription to play. So how does the game keep going? Cosmetics, same as every other Freemium model game ever made. Optional subscriptions, which we already have, and paid cosmetic items, which we also already have. For the game to be sustainable after it launches and 'pledging' stops, CIG has to continue to cultivate these cosmetic revenue streams and grow them up to supplant ship pledging. That simply won't happen if those cosmetic items can be permanently lost, or even lost for an extended period of time. Subscriptions will get cancelled, people will stop buying $15 armor sets, those revenue streams will wither and die. Can't have it both ways. You can't have a freemium game with losable purchases. CIG would have to transition their plans to a required subscription model to keep the game financially viable after launch. I'm not actually advocating one way or the other here. I'd personally be fine if they went with a subscription model instead of a freemium model, but it has to be one or the other. Either everyone pays a monthly subscription for game access, or cosmetic purchases have to always be quickly and easily retrievable after death. There's no middle ground for the game to survive past launch.