When Star Citizen announced certain flight blades kits, modifiers for sale that make ships faster, backlash over pay to win mechanics soon followed. The community has handed the company more than $800 million in pledges, ship sales, and much more throughout the years, but this really struck a chord. Initially the blade kits were available for real money.
Now, Cloud Imperium Games has responded to the feedback, saying that in their efforts to more than double released patches this year, they “missed a step”. They called the release of the flight blades an early access release, and said that they will become available for aUEC in the next patch.
Going forward, however, the plan is to release components like this in the store and for in-game currency at the same time:
“To be clear, the new Flight Blades will be obtainable for aUEC in our next patch this June. We followed our usual approach by offering early access on the pledge store to help support development. But after some reflection, we’ve decided that for smaller components like Flight Blades or bomb racks, they should be available in-game at the same time they appear on the store,” the response from Zyloh reads. You’ll be able to support the project early if you want to but “for future gameplay kit introductions, we’ll ensure these items are obtainable in-game on day one”.
Response to this was mixed. One commenter cited the PTU build, where the flight blades were not included in the test, only to show up in the store when the patch went live, leading some to believe this was a deliberate (until the backlash blew up) move.
Another commenter said, “We deserve what we tolerate” and said the component felt like a gimmick, especially when locked to one ship type.
