A new Letter from the Chairman on the Roberts Space Industries website gives a new year update from Chris Roberts of Cloud Imperium along with some thoughts on Star Citizen, their upcoming space combat game (thanks 88fingers). Chairman Roberts explains that when he will "just smile" when he sees expressions of doubt that the game will live up to expectations raised by its extremely successful ongoing crowdfunding campaign. "Because with the community we have and the passionate and talented team of developers I can’t imagine us 'flopping' as a few bloggers have predicted," Roberts explains. "Not because we’re better than everyone else, but because building a game this way, in total lock step with your community, means it’s pretty hard to fail in the long run. Will we build everybody’s dream game? Of course not, that would be impossible! But with this level of engagement and iteration I think we’ll build something special that people can happily lose themselves in even if it doesn’t have every feature they dreamed of." He also talks about what this year holds for the game, saying: "Star Citizen isn’t a sprint, it isn’t even a marathon. There is no final finish line the way you would have with a traditional retail game. Star Citizen is a way of life for as long as the community is engaged by it." Here's word on plans for 2015:

This coming year will be an even bigger year than 2014 – the FPS module will go live to backers, we will be giving our first drops of the Persistent universe, starting with the Planetside social module, the multi-crew Arena Commander and the first Episode of Squadron 42.

2015 is where the game will be shaped. And it will be shaped with your input. So get in the game and let us know what works and what doesn’t for you!

It’s going to be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and I couldn’t imagine doing it with a better group of people than group of developers working on the game and the amazing Star Citizen community.