Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Video games has instructed followers that the Mark Hamill-fronted single-player house journey Squadron 42 remains to be on observe for a 2026 launch date — and to not count on “a protracted, drawn-out advertising and marketing marketing campaign” beforehand.
Founder and CEO Chris Roberts wrote in a blog post that CIG is focusing on high quality and polish because it strikes towards an inner beta milestone and, finally, a full launch for Squadron 42 sooner or later subsequent yr.
“We’re assured in the path the sport is headed and are totally targeted on delivering,” Roberts mentioned. “We all know lots of you’re wanting to play, and we’re trying ahead to placing it in your palms. We don’t plan on a protracted, drawn-out advertising and marketing marketing campaign as we’ve already achieved our share of trailers and gameplay previews. When it’s time, you (and the remainder of the gaming world) will hear much more from us.”
All chapters are mentioned to be totally playable from starting to finish, and “we’ve been taking part in by means of the sport ourselves usually,” Roberts added. “Squadron 42 is a big sport, over 40 hours in size, and it’s turning into more and more clear how particular it is going to be as soon as the remaining polish, optimization, and bug fixing is full.”
He continued: “a giant a part of what makes this potential is the expertise we’ve constructed at CIG over a few years. The flexibility to maneuver seamlessly from on foot, right into a automobile you’ll be able to fly and transfer round inside, right down to a planet or throughout star methods, all with out loading screens, creates a stage of immersion that’s very tough to duplicate. That mixture of close-up interplay and galactic scale is on the core of what’s going to make Squadron 42 so distinctive.
“Equally vital is the standard of the content material itself. From writing and efficiency seize to characters, environments, ships, lighting, sound, cinematics, and design, the extent of care throughout all the sport is one thing I’m extremely happy with. Mixed with deeply interactive methods, it creates an expertise that pulls you into the world and retains you there.”
Roberts, identified for creating the Wing Commander sequence additionally starring Mark Hamill, confirmed off a Squadron 42 demo again in 2024. It was heavy on flashy cutscenes, with CGI representations of Hollywood stars reminiscent of Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, and Mark Robust combined with on-rails turret motion in an enormous house battle. The demo ended with a first-person shooter phase because the alien enemy boarded the participant’s ship.
As for Star Citizen itself, Roberts described 2025 as “the 12 months of Playability” for the house sim.
“It was a yr when extra folks performed than ever earlier than and spent extra time in the ’verse than at any level in our historical past,” he mentioned. “That momentum didn’t occur by probability. It got here from a targeted effort to enhance high quality of life, efficiency, and reliability, and to make the gameplay expertise extra participating and rewarding to return to.”
Star Citizen is reportedly set for a full launch someday in 2027 or 2028, or as Roberts has put it, one or two years after the discharge of Squadron 42. No agency launch window was supplied in his newest weblog submit, however he did say subsequent yr will see the developer “proceed bettering stability and depth in Star Citizen whereas increasing and connecting core methods that form the way you play, from Engineering to Stock, Crafting, Social Instruments, and different foundational options, alongside increasing the playable universe itself.”
Star Citizen is taken into account probably the most controversial initiatives in all video video games. Over the 13 years since its crowdfunding drive started, Star Citizen has been known as many issues together with a rip-off by those that wonder if it should ever correctly launch. Its digital house ships, a few of which value lots of of {dollars}, are sometimes the main target of criticism. Roberts is alleged to have confirmed he is raised simply over $1 billion for Star Citizen from gamers to this point.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.