Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday – Crash Landing for NASA Video Game

Topline: In 2012, NASA set out to conquer a new frontier: the iPad App Store.

The story of the NASA video game app

App development proved to be more difficult than actual space exploration. NASA spent $1.5 million to make a video game called “Starlite,” but the full version was never released. The money would be worth $2.1 million today.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses. 

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.   

Coburn’s Wastebook 2012 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $18 billion, including NASA’s foray into gaming.

Key facts: NASA selected three video game developers to create a multiplayer game that could teach players about space. When an online Kickstarter campaign raised less than $50,000 in private funding, the federal government decided to cover some of the cost.

NASA originally wanted to spend $7 million on the project, but it only spent $1.5 million after “budget cuts took their toll,” as one official told the Washington Post. The Canadian government also provided $750,000.

Critics ranted

Starlite was still not complete by 2014, but the developers released a short part of the game to whet players’ appetite. Reviews were terrible, with many noting that the game had too many technical glitches to be playable. One player wrote, “It’s truly awful, but luckily it lasts only 15 minutes.”

There were few updates for the next nine years. In 2023, the game developers announced that Starlite would never be completed, citing “constraints in funding” and “internal disagreements.” 

The shortened game is still available today for $2.99 on the website Steam.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Summary: Taxpayers around the country could have bought video games for themselves or their children instead of spending $1.5 million on NASA’s odd attempt at outreach.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.