Wednesday, July 2nd 2025
Star Citizen's Foundation Festival Returns with Free Fly Event, New Referral Program, and More
Star Citizen's annual Foundation Festival returns from July 2 to 14, celebrating the Star Citizen community and welcoming new pilots to the 'verse. This year's event also features a Free Fly period, giving all players free access to the game and the chance to fly eight distinct ships and vehicles - a perfect introduction to Star Citizen's rich and varied universe. Hot on the heels of the Alpha 4.2: Storm Breaker release, which introduced new missions and the towering irradiated Apex Valakkar, a colossal worm-like creature from the depths below, the Foundation Festival arrives at the perfect time to prepare new players for the adventure ahead.
To get started, newcomers can check the New Player Essentials, packed with helpful tips, guides, and must-know information to take their first confident steps in the 'verse. There are also in-game tutorials, beginner friendly articles and videos on the Welcome Hub, and the Guide System further connects beginners with veteran players eager to lend a hand and share their knowledge.
Launching alongside the festival is the all-new Star Citizen Referral Program, a fully revamped system that makes it easier and more rewarding than ever to join the community. Featuring a fresh interface, better tracking tools, and seriously legendary rewards, the program now also gives 50,000 aUEC to every new player who joins using a referral code: an immediate kickstart to their journey.
To help equip new players for their adventures, three starter bundles are available at a discounted price through July 16. Each pack includes a game download, starter ship, special edition ship paint, and more. Pilots can choose from the versatile Drake Cutter, the cargo-ready Intrepid from Crusader Industries, or the Nomad, a sleek and flexible freighter from Consolidated Outland. With a 'verse filled with veterans eager to welcome new players aboard, a wealth of diverse content to explore, and free access throughout the Foundation Festival, there's never been a better time to join Star Citizen.
When
Foundation Festival including Free Fly: 4pm UTC Wednesday, July 2 - 4pm UTC Monday, July 14
To get started, simply head to the Foundation Festival page or play.sc
Source:
Cloud Imperium Games
To get started, newcomers can check the New Player Essentials, packed with helpful tips, guides, and must-know information to take their first confident steps in the 'verse. There are also in-game tutorials, beginner friendly articles and videos on the Welcome Hub, and the Guide System further connects beginners with veteran players eager to lend a hand and share their knowledge.
To help equip new players for their adventures, three starter bundles are available at a discounted price through July 16. Each pack includes a game download, starter ship, special edition ship paint, and more. Pilots can choose from the versatile Drake Cutter, the cargo-ready Intrepid from Crusader Industries, or the Nomad, a sleek and flexible freighter from Consolidated Outland. With a 'verse filled with veterans eager to welcome new players aboard, a wealth of diverse content to explore, and free access throughout the Foundation Festival, there's never been a better time to join Star Citizen.
When
Foundation Festival including Free Fly: 4pm UTC Wednesday, July 2 - 4pm UTC Monday, July 14
To get started, simply head to the Foundation Festival page or play.sc
39 Comments on Star Citizen's Foundation Festival Returns with Free Fly Event, New Referral Program, and More
The issue is that they expand the scope faster than they meet the milestones of the scope, so its "percent complete" is on a downwards trajectory and if I had to put a number to it, I'd say it never hit more than about 60-70% complete (and that's going back about 4 years now).
I haven't even looked at it for a year, but it wasn't close to a viable game back then.
The whales that Roberts Space Industries are targeting are victims of their own making with silly money to throw away. There's no need to pity them.
If you didn't get SC for free, or ~$5, then there have been enough free weekends and free events like this one to give you a taste of just how janky and incomplete the game still is.
The performance was rough (I had a 5600x and 6950XT), the UI and HUD weren’t very helpful, and the overall learning curve felt steep. The most frustrating part was just figuring out how to play. There was a tutorial, but it dumped a lot of information on me all at once with little to no interaction. When I actually started playing, I still had no idea what I was supposed to do or where I was supposed to go. I get that the game lets you do whatever you want, at least in theory, but you'd think you would at least maybe get a mission or two assigned just to let you get a feel for things.
So I figured I’d try flying into space. But I didn’t know where my ship was or how to find it. I ended up watching a YouTube video just to figure that out. Then, once I got to my ship, I didn’t know how to fly it or even how to leave the hangar. So another video. The issue was that almost nothing felt intuitive, and there weren’t clear instructions in game. Most games give you a more interactive, guided tutorial during your first 30 minutes or so, which helps a lot with learning by doing. Star Citizen didn’t have that, at least not back then.
Maybe things have improved since. I might give it another shot during this free week. I have yet to spend a dime on it.
It’s a shame we’ll never get a Freelancer successor with how the development of this monstrosity went.
It's just interesting to see everyone's comments on this topic.
The Star Citizen evangelists annoy me just as much as the "it's a scam" people.
As frustrating, poorly managed, and over-monetized as it is, that doesn't make it a 'scam' or not worth hoping it succeeds.
I've put 100's of hours into this game, never paid a cent as well, friend bought me a basic starter bundle, I only payed in time & 30k crash errors, good times.
This includes the length of development (specific parts, not overall)
And over-monetization, usually of smaller things, as most people just say "let the whales have their toys, and fund the game" (all ships are or will be purchasable in game)
Though, I will agree, seeing $1000+ ships in the store does feel icky, you never have to even look at it.
My point here is that, while yes you can levy many valid complaints; "scam" is not one of them, especially when you can hop in and see legitimate tech innovation like server meshing working in real-time (albeit not entirely smoothly yet)
As much as I do want people to hold their feet to the fire, and accountable for the many missteps, I also do not want everyone just to dismiss the project outright and miss its potential innovation.
I don't want to play a game to eventually ask, "Hey, nice <insert digital pixels>, where can I get it?" just to hear "Oh heheh, special promo, or massive $$$ thrown, can't get it anymore" I don't want to think "money" or "damn, missed it because I had to make money" when I try to unplug from this crappy reality. Takes my peace meter from chill, into the red real fast.
I dropped WoW/Diablo/Starcraft because of this, as much as I love Freelancer and the former franchises, if I just get a wiff, you will never see me buy them again, I don't care how good it is/was.
@TheLostSwede
If you want me to use your referral code, tell me, I suppose I can do that much, so you can get a nice "ship" from what I understand. Won't take long.