{"id":1586428,"date":"2026-05-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/NYWJUCKcdksGCxoDxotgSP"},"modified":"2026-05-23T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:00:00","slug":"as-it-rapidly-approaches-1-billion-in-player-funding-star-citizen-goes-free-to-play-until-may-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/as-it-rapidly-approaches-1-billion-in-player-funding-star-citizen-goes-free-to-play-until-may-27\/","title":{"rendered":"As it rapidly approaches $1 billion in player funding, Star Citizen goes free to play until May 27"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While there’s a lot of speculation about when, if ever, Star Citizen<\/a> will actually be finished, Cloud Imperium Games’ massively ambitious space sim has been in a steadily-growing playable alpha for a long time. And if you want to check out how far along the game is without investing hundreds of dollars in virtual spaceships, the game is free to play<\/a> until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

This is all part of Star Citizen’s annual DefenseCon<\/a> event, a very normal virtual military convention which allows both new and existing players to try out the biggest ships in Star Citizen’s fleet. For regular Joes like myself, this means we can cut about in ships that would normally be available to only the most dedicated players, while also checking out what Star Citizen’s galaxy has in store.<\/p>\n

To play Star Citizen for free, you just need to create an account<\/a> and download the launcher. The DefenseCon event is being held in-game at the Bevic Convention Center in the city Area18. New players will receive a loaner Aurora Mark 2 ship so they can fly to the event. Alternatively, you can just spawn at Area18, then take a shuttle (Star Citizen is the kind of game that has virtual public transport) to the Bevic Convention Center. Apparently there are 100 ships available to fly, with each loanable for a total of 48 hours.<\/p>\n

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