A Reddit thread and a YouTube breakdown have Star Citizen backers arguing over whether Cloud Imperium Games just gave itself sweeping new power to ban them. We compared the new U.S. terms of service, dated October 30, 2026, with the previous version from September 28, 2023. The ban wording did not change in this update. The biggest change is to gifting, and it alters how new pledges work.
The ban and ownership wording was already in the 2023 terms
The thread raises three complaints, and none of the clauses behind them changed on October 30:
- Bans: the Rules of Conduct say behavior that “harms such enjoyment by other customers, offends RSI employees or is illegal” conflicts with the goals of the terms, and that CIG’s Roberts Space Industries can remove “game access, Spectrum access, account access.” That text is identical in the 2023 version.
- Ownership: the terms say that despite words like “buy” and “own,” you “only acquire a limited license right” to ships and other virtual goods, which are “not redeemable for any sum of money.” The limited license language goes back to at least the August 2013 terms.
- Fan content: the clause allowing changes “without prior notice” covers “RSI Fansite Content,” meaning the images and artwork RSI lets fansites reproduce, not work fans make themselves. It was already there in 2016. A separate clause lets RSI remove user content that may infringe someone else’s rights, and that did not change either.
Backers can still fairly object to how broad that wording is, especially with thousands of dollars tied to some accounts. But it is not new, and most replies in the thread call it standard for online games.
New pledges can only be gifted if you choose that at checkout
CIG outlined the change in August and followed up with an FAQ on October 27. The new terms set out the rules for pledges bought on or after October 30:
- You cannot buy a pledge for your own account and decide to gift it later.
- Gifting appears only on eligible items, as a “Buying as a gift?” option at checkout, and you must be signed in.
- The pledge never enters your hangar. The recipient gets an email with a single-use code, and anyone holding that code can redeem it.
- The code lasts 30 days. An unclaimed gift is cancelled and refunded automatically, and you can cancel it yourself before it is claimed.
- Store credit cannot pay for any part of a gift, and pledges worth over $1,000 remain excluded.
- Once claimed, a pledge cannot be gifted again or moved to another account, and melting, upgrading or buying it back does not restore that.
Pledges bought before October 30 keep the old gifting rules
The terms call these “Legacy Pledges” and leave them under the rules that applied when they were bought. CIG’s FAQ says existing hangar gifts and gift codes are grandfathered in and will keep working. The opening of the terms also says they do not affect transactions made before their effective date.
The checkout rule closes the buy first, gift later route
The terms say gifting “must not be used to facilitate sales, exchanges or other trades through secondary markets or unauthorised websites.” The 2023 terms already discouraged those trades, but the new mechanics make them harder on new pledges, since a pledge can no longer sit in a hangar until a buyer turns up. CIG’s posts do not present this as a move against those markets. Its August announcement ties the changes to a new Game Library system and preparation for Squadron 42 and Star Citizen 1.0.
The people most vocal about it on CIG’s Spectrum forum include players who give ships away. In the top reply to the August post, a YouTuber who says they have given away over $12,000 objected that they can no longer buy a ship, show it off and then give it away.
Protected Game Access pledges were due to lock on November 1
A related change had a deadline on Sunday. Since October 1, one pledge per game on each account has been protected, meaning it cannot be melted or gifted. CIG’s FAQ gave backers until November 1 to choose which pledge that is, and said the selection would then be final.
