Star Citizen video game launches $27,000 players' pack

Crowdfunded space simulation game Star Citizen has launched its $27,000 (£20,000) Legatus Pack, which includes nearly all its spacecraft plus extras.

Only players who have already spent $1,000 in the game can access the pack.

Cloud Imperium, the creators of Star Citizen, has received more than $200m in crowdfunding since launching a Kickstarter campaign for it in 2012.

According to its website it has more than two million players, although the game itself is still in development.

Star Citizen aims to create a vast science fiction universe that can be explored in dozens of spaceships, with first-person space combat, all online and multi-player.

A single-player version, Squadron 42, is currently being developed and will include performances by Hollywood actors including Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman and Gillian Anderson.

Both are overseen by US games developer Chris Roberts, who made the Wing Commander franchise.

While luxury in-game packages are not uncommon, the pricing of the Legatus pack is unusually high, said Steve Bailey, senior analyst at IHS Markit.

"Despite there being no 'real' object attached to this package, it may still offer tangible value to buyers," he said.

"Putting aside the marketing value of this move, purchases like this can bestow special status on buyers within Star Citizen's community, as well as offering extreme shortcuts to a more advanced role within the game itself."

However, he added that it also raised two potential concerns.

"Can Star Citizen can maintain the kind of compelling visibility from here on out to justify these kinds of premiums on its contents, and what kind of impact does this have on the game's fairness, as perceived by other players?"