Star Citizen trailer introduces Anvil Aerospace, $24 million stretch goal achieved

As I activated the long-range news scanner this morning, I saw the unmistakeable blip of some Star Citizen news. "Ah," I thought, "another million dollars already?" The gaps between intervals were becoming less frequent. Grimly I set out, determined to wrangle the stray news fragment, but during my approach, I realised something was wrong. This wasn't about the space game's expanding finances. It was something else entirely: a new trailer, showcasing one of the in-game ship manufacturers. Less than an hour later, I accidentally stumbled across another Star Citizen news scrap. The game had passed its $24 million funding milestone.

Here's what the new total will mean for players:

" Public Transportation System – Need to get from one place to another but don't have a starship? We're building a galactic transportation system. You can travel via transport from system to system in Star Citizen and even ship items (like a ship you need moved to another hangar.) With this stretch goal, we'll expand this system: star liners, long range transports, charter ships and flyable shuttles!"

In short: space monorails. Since we last honked the Star Citizen news horn, two other stretch goals were unlocked, including the 'Xi'an Scout', a light attack craft, and a facial capture system that the developers say will allow for more realistic characters.

At $25 million, Star Citizen will get an expanded alpha, ensuring that the initial launch of the main game will reach more players than originally planned.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.