Cloud Imperium Games Sales Revenue Down 17.2% In Q1 2024

With the beginning of April I can look back at Cloud Imperium Games' sales for the first quarter of 2024. What I found wasn't pretty. Year-over-year, sales as recorded on the CCU Game dashboard fell by 17.2%. The $17.3 million posted in 2024 was $3.6 million less than that recorded in the first quarter of 2023. The month of March was particularly bad, with revenue falling compared to March 2023 by 20%, from $9 million in 2023 down to $7.2 million in 2024. Still, the decline was not as great as the 30% year-over-year decline in January 2024.

For those wondering if the decline is due to failure to attract new players or veterans not spending as much money, I would say the answer is a little of both. The number of new user accounts created declined by 10.4% year-over-year, from 135,173 in Q1 2023 to 121,088 this year.

Overall, the recorded sales tracked on the CCU Game dashboard is $674.7 million since the launch of the Kickstarter in October 2012. But Cloud Imperium has additional funding sources not tracked by the dashboard. Overall, the company has recorded $773.3 million in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2022 financial report) .

• Sales/Pledges: $674.7 million (through 31 March 2024)
• Subscriptions: $33.0 million (through 31 December 2022)
• All other sources: $65.6 million (through 31 December 2022)

In addition, the company has received a total of $63.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2022 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $831.8 million.

Before people start using the first quarter sales to indicate the death of CIG, remember that many commentators believe the company will begin pre-sales of Squadron 42 at CitizenCon in October. So while the company may experience some cash flow issues, as long as pre-sales come in strong, the company should wind up 2024 in decent financial shape. In the mid-term, however, we learned of a looming deadline in the first quarter of 2028. For those interested in how the story evolved, I created a timeline here.