Star Citizen credits, buggies and more go sale – Odd pricing?

Yours for $20

Hot on the heels of the Star Citizen hangar release, the in-game store just added the ability to buy more “credits”. 1000 credit is the equivalent of $1 in case you were wondering.

To accompany the arrival of purchasable credits, there are also new items that can be purchased such as a buggy, different weapons and even posters to decorate your hangar. This is so you can can play about and interact with them in your hangar now.

The launch of these new additions have so far raised a few eyebrows in the community because items such as the buggy cost $20, almost the same price as the Aurora ship. Surely a buggy should not cost the same as an actual ship?

Obviously prices are subject to change at this stage but it has got the community talking about how the developers are going to approach microtransactions for in-game items. There is a danger that prices on certain items are going to be out of sync with other items.

With the funding almost reaching $17 million, if players buy some of these new items, the campaign should raise over $20 million.

Chris Roberts also added a post to the official site explaining why they have launched the store now, even though the game is some way off from a full release.

We are giving you the option right now because there isn’t a way to earn credits in the game (as we’re still building it!) and this is a great way to let you support the development of the game as well as play with other game elements we’ve already created. But be warned, purchasing a stock of extra lasers through the catalog right now will not provide any great advantage when Star Citizen launches; there will be a lot more to discover in the living universe and some of the best weapons or upgrades will have to be earned through gameplay or sought out by traveling to the appropriate planet to buy them. Ultimately all items in the store today and in game will be purchasable via UEC earned in game. Outside of the initial ship package everything will be purchasable through UEC in the final game. There is no pay to win here!

No doubt we’ll hear more about this pricing discussion in the coming days as not everyone is happy.

In related news, now that the Hangar Module is in the hands of players, the datamining has commenced with all sorts of things being uncovered in the ships and even environmental objects.