Something to look forward to: The original Kickstarter for Star Citizen and its single-player component, Squadron 42, began in 2012, a year that feels so distant that teenagers and young adults now share memes expressing nostalgia for it. After 13 years and almost a billion dollars, neither game is finished, but studio head and industry legend Chris Roberts remains confident that Squadron 42 will launch next year.
In a recent year-end assessment, Cloud Imperium Games founder and CEO Chris Roberts revealed that Squadron 42, the story-based portion of Star Citizen, is content-complete and quickly approaching beta. The ambitious space simulation action game has suffered multiple delays spanning over a decade.
Squadron 42 was originally scheduled for release in 2014, then in 2020. In 2022, Roberts stated that the game was one or two years out. Squadron 42 has been in its final polishing phase since 2023, and CIG has maintained a 2026 release date since last year. Roberts now claims that all chapters are fully playable.
The game promises a mixture of first-person shooter and flight simulation combat, allowing players to transition between traveling on foot, exploring spaceships, and flying between planets without loading screens. Recalling the star-studded FMV scenes from Wing Commander in the 1990s, Squadron 42 will also feature a cinematic storyline spanning 40 hours that includes performances from Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, and Mark Strong. A lengthy video from last year (above) revealed the game’s opening.
Meanwhile, Roberts also covered the development of Star Citizen, the main online multiplayer component, which remains in alpha with no concrete release date. In 2025, CIG introduced two new explorable solar systems that players transition between using the unique server meshing feature, which enables up to 700 players to interact simultaneously across planets and solar systems. CIG plans to increase the number to thousands.
Star Citizen also gained nearly 100 new locations, environmental features, ships, and experimental VR support, with other major features still planned. A major focus in 2026 will be procedurally generated planets, which will create biomes, lifeforms, cities, and NPCs on a massive scale, resembling Bethesda’s Starfield but without loading screens.
CIG’s unusually long development cycle is possible due to the longest and most successful crowdfunding campaign in gaming history. Funding, primarily from selling in-game spaceships and other items, accelerated after the pandemic and currently stands at over $926 million. The campaign will likely exceed $1 billion before Squadron 42 launches.
