Star Citizen crowdfunding total hits $35 million

In news likely to be obsolete by the end of next week, Star Citizen has passed yet another enormous crowdfunding milestone, announcing a further stretch goal.

The Roberts Space Industries and Cloud Imperium Games effort has now attracted a whopping $35 million in pledges, up from $33 million towards the end of November.

That's not quite as speedy a jump as last time, when it pooled a couple of million in a handful of days, but the monthly funding graph shows pledges tend to come in rushes.

Although $35 million is a very large number, what's perhaps even more impressive is the number of backers involved; with over 330,000 pledges, the average donation - or pre-order - works out to about $100, well more than the asking price for a triple-A release in major territories.

"You’re not just re-writing the rules of how games are made and funded but you’re showing the power that a committed community has to achieve a vision that so many people said was no longer relevant," Chris Roberts wrote in the latest chairman's letter.

"You’ve broken every record there is in crowd funding – and not just for games – for any type of project."

Roberts noted that "a large amount" of the latest batch of funding came from 6,617 new backers, as opposed to existing fans increasing their pledged.

By reaching $35 million, backers have unlocked the last of a series of fan-voted ship designs - the Drake Herald.

Roberts Space Industries has stretch goals in place for $36 million, $37 million and $38 million.

Star Citizen is expected on PC in 2015.