Star Citizen has officially passed $1 billion in crowdfunding. The largest crowdfunded project in history first reared its head in 2014, and since then Cloud Imperium Games has been growing, delivering more content, and even working on a star-studded spin-off in Squadron 42.
That said, even fourteen years after the game started development back in 2012, a firm release date still hasn't been placed on Star Citizen. The alpha experience has grown consistently, with there being a wealth of content in the game already. However, we're still waiting on the all-important day when Cloud Imperium decides to take the plunge and fully release its magnum opus.
We are set to see Squadron 42 release relatively soon, though. The narrative space adventure is more traditionally developed than Star Citizen, with focus only on its single-player story. Chris Roberts, co-founder at Cloud Imperium, said Squadron 42 is in its "closing stages," when speaking with Variety. The game is meant to release this year, but there are doubts caused by the coming of Grand Theft Auto VI.
Even when Star Citizen does make its release, Roberts knows the work will continue at CIG. "I fully believe that we've still got a long time, even after we've got what we call 1.0 out, and we're not considering an alpha anymore, that we'll be adding and building on the universe and the world, and it will be a place for people to adventure together and meet up together and have fun together. Not too different than, say, World of Warcraft," he explained.