“After a long time of joint development CIG has completed an acquisition of Turbulent, I discuss the history of the two companies efforts including clips from a Mar 10, 2023 Inside Star Citizen interview with the co-founder of Turbulent.”
In this video, Danny Raymond discusses the recent merger between Star Citizen and Turbulent Studios. He provides some background information, explaining that Turbulent was initially brought on in 2013 to handle web development and other related tasks for Star Citizen. However, as Star Citizen shifted its focus exclusively to Squadron 42, they needed additional content creation support. Turbulent, being a separate company, was able to step in and help with game design, locations, tools, characters, and more.
Raymond then highlights the cautionary tale of another partner studio, FireSprite, which was suddenly bought out by Sony, leaving Star Citizen in a difficult situation. This experience led Star Citizen to take precautions to protect against a similar scenario with Turbulent. Through a stock swap, Star Citizen became a significant stockholder in Turbulent and obtained veto authority over any potential acquisitions. This was done to safeguard the institutional knowledge and expertise that Turbulent brings to the project, particularly in areas like persistent entity streaming and server meshing.
Despite the merger, Raymond expresses his hope that Turbulent will not be exclusively dedicated to Squadron 42, as their contributions to the persistent universe have been highly valued by the community. Overall, the merger seems to be a strategic move to ensure the stability and continuity of Star Citizen’s development, protecting against potential risks and further integrating Turbulent’s expertise into the project.