The powerful money-making machine known as Cloud Imperium Games hit a slight bump in the road in March. The company's online cash shop saw year-over-year sales fall 3.8% down to $9.7 million in the final month of the first quarter of 2026. Still, for the quarter sales were up 7.5% over the same period in 2025 with revenue of $27.4 million. The figure was a record amount for the company for Q1 of any year.
The $956.6 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of March was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,081.0 million ($1.08 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).
- Sales/Pledges: $956.6 million (through 28 February 2026)
- Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
- Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
- All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)
In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2023 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020 and another $1.9 million in 2023. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1.149.2 million ($1.15 billion), or $1.142.6 million ($1.14 billion) when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.
For those keeping track of new user account creation, year-over-year the number increased 97.1%, from 25,946 in March 2025 to 51,129 in March 2026. For the first quarter of 2026, the YoY amount increased by 118.5%. I don't know enough to know if the majority of the accounts were legitimately new people drawn to Star Citizen or if CIG held a sale with major benefits that would lead existing players to create new accounts.
What to watch for: We finished the first 3 months of 2026 without CIG publishing its financial report for 2024. That report would give some indication as to how well the company did in 2025. In 2023 CIG spent $162 million, which is more than the $155 million the cash shop recorded last year. Newer data on company expenditures would help put 2025's record cash shop sales in better perspective. Knowing the burn rate would also help put 2026's record Q1 cash shop sales into perspective as well.
Another item to look for is news about the release of CIG's upcoming single-player game Squadron 42. If the game is going to have a simultaneous global launch, the company needs to announce a publisher for the People's Republic of China in the next few months. We also need to hear news about the game "going gold". That is, the code is in its final state for release.
Finally, we need to watch the cash shop revenue. If sales in the upcoming quarter match those of Q2 2025, the world will see the counter on the cash shop hit $1 billion near the end of June.
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