Not a super serious post, but I think it's interesting to see some parallels between the games' development cycles. BG3: 6 years in development Several years of early access Pre-existing, updated engine Privately owned studio Studio team of somewhere around 150 Can't find a budget, but was described by a dev as a "AAA budget" and I've seen other rumors around $100 million SC: 10 years in development Almost 10 years of early access (alpha testing, whatever) Somewhat pre-existing engine, but needing massive fundamental reworks, to the point that it's a unique engine Privately owned studio Studio team grew from a few dozen to somewhere over 1000 by 2023. $500+ million budget so far (for two games, tbf, no idea how to break down SQ42 vs the PU) While the scope of BG3 is, in some ways, less ambitious (it's a turn based RPG with 4 player teams, nothing like space flight, 100+ people in servers, seamless star system, several hundred unique ships, etc) it is still such a grand vision that it would never be done by a "real" AAA studio. It would have had a few years of development and been a much more limited, merely serviceable, probably microtransaction filled game. I think it is at least a proof of concept that a privately owner studio, taking their time to do a game right, can be worth it. SC is a significantly more multifaceted game (again, not saying this as a dig against BG3, it's just a different kind of game) with various aspects that are still pretty much unique in the gaming world. One of the reasons I still think the game is good so far is because it's still the only game that can provide me with things like a seamless, incredibly beautiful star system, fully realized ships, a non-arcade flight model, multiplayer, surprisingly fun FPS combat, etc. And, as such, it's still not a surprise to me that it's taken 10 years already. Larian, with 150 people and a pretty sizeable budget, took 6 years to make what is pretty solidly the most richly complete RPG game in years, if not ever. To throw in a Starfield comparison, it's taken 8 years, up to 500 people, and several hundred million dollars, and it has a chance to be one of the best Bethesda RPGs ever. So I'm still holding out hope, and I think not unreasonably, that CIG--with now 1000 people and a lot spent so far--can end up giving us at least one of the most impressive single player space games and likely the most impressive space MMO, at least assuming they can get over a fairly daunting technical hurdle, which is server meshing. I just don't buy it when people are accusing the CIG devs of being lazy or incompetent, just because some of the players don't like how long it's taken or because they don't like Chris Roberts. I guess I'll know more when they update us on things like SM at CitCon, but until then, just don't get yourselves too worked up. Maybe go play BG3. Starfield comes out soon. Have fun and have a great day.