Star Citizen dev denies rumors of its financial problems

Star Citizen creators decided to put an end to rumors about its alleged financial problems. A word of introduction first. Some media noticed a recent posting on UK’s Companies House, which reveals that the British branch of Cloud Imperium Games had taken a loan at Coutts & Co. That obviously caught the attention of some editors, aware of the fact that so far the crowdfunding of Star Citizen has generated over $150 million. Why the loan then?

Players around the world are deeply concerned about how Star Citizen fares.

Ortwin Freyermuth from Cloud Imperium Games explaines that the loan was just a smart business move to avoid unnecessary currency conversion costs into GBP. Since the company’s subsidiary Foundry 42 is working on Star Citizen’s single player campaign Squadron 42, much of its expenditure is made in GBP, while most collections are in USD and EUR. “Given today’s low interest rates versus the ongoing and uncertain currency fluctuations, this is simply a smart money management move, which we implemented upon recommendation of our financial advisors” Freyermuth said on the game’s forums.

What’s more, contrary to some reports, Star Citizen as a whole is excluded from the loan collateral, which pertains to the company’s UK operations only (i.e. Squadron 42) and “does not affect ownership and control of their assets”. In other words, the stories about Star Citizen becoming a property of a bank or its dev’s financial problems are not just far-fetched, but simply not true.