Wing Commander creator returns with Star Citizen

Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts is back with a new space combat simulator aimed at high-end PCs. Today at the Game Developers Conference Online in Austin, Texas, Roberts announced Star Citizen. The game is due out in about two years.

Star Citizen has been in development at Roberts' Cloud Imperium Games for 12 months. The game itself includes a "sophisticated storyline" that is set in a persistent online universe. According to Roberts, it will fuse elements of his previous games, Wing Commander and Freelancer, and support for the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift is planned.

“In recent years, game designers have stopped innovating and pushing the boundaries of what you can do in this genre,” Roberts said in a statement. “I plan on bringing that kind of development mentality back into PC gaming and space sims in particular."

Much like Guild Wars 2, Star Citizen will be available through a one-time purchase, but will not require a subscription. Players can also purchase virtual items with real-world money to customize their ships.

Roberts told GameSpot last week that funding for Star Citizen has been arranged privately. However, the project is also looking for contributions from fans via a new crowd-funding campaign through the game's website. Those who back the project early on will receive beta access to the game in about a year.

Star Citizen is in development only for PC.