CIG needs to higher the min-spec, to actually allow a more diverse scala of hardware to play the game. As said in the latest Star Citizen Live: Engine & Graphics Q&A, things like VRS and mesh-shading actually allow much better graphics and it allows more recent lower end hardware to be able to play the game. To give in an indication, I added an image below and that shows really big gains. Sources: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/297307-new-3dmark-benchmark-shows-the-performance-impact-of-variable-rate-shading#:~:text=VRS%20allows%20developers%20to%20selectively,better%20games%20than%20ever%20before. and http://www.redgamingtech.com/how-variable-rate-shading-changes-xbox-pc-the-huge-performance-impact-of-vrs-dx12-ultimate/ I marked this topic as controversial, because most people seem to think that higher min-spec actually excludes people from playing this game, but in reality, it actually includes a bigger potential player base with current hardware which could be on the lower end. For example, when this game is coming out, in let's say 2024, it is not very weird to have a min-spec of a 2020 GPU, in this case, this could also be a cheaper PC as long as it supports DirectX12/Vulkan (which support raytracing, VRS and mesh-shading, which results in tremendous benefits to the performance of the game). As an added bonus, this also allows the developers to implement raytracing and other performance / graphics enhancing features, without having to maintain multiple code-basis (for example, a fall-back solution for GPU's which can't use raytracing). In the end, this would benefit development speed and hardware support for the game, as seen with for example Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition (which is a fully raytraced game and won't work with graphics cards which don't support said technology). If you are more interested in this topic, I highly suggest to take a look at the analysis by Digital Foundry of Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition: https://youtu.be/NbpZCSf4_Yk