Star Citizen continues to be almost legendary due to the enormous amount of crowdfunding money it has raised, and many still doubt that it will ever be released and wonder what's actually happening with the money behind the scenes. The plan, however, was to have an initial release this year in the form of Squadron 42, the single-player portion of the adventure.
But... it's almost September and we still don't have a release date, and now it's clear that we won't be getting one either. In an open letter, Chris Roberts, the CEO and founder of Cloud Imperium Games, writes that they want to avoid competing with Grand Theft Auto VI:
"At CitizenCon 2024 we announced we would ship in 2026. Our plan was to release in Q4 around IAE. But much like the rest of the industry there is no way I want to launch my spiritual successor to Wing Commander, a game that has had twelve years of blood, sweat and tears invested into it (we started Squadron 42 development in 2014 as 2013 was opening studios, hiring people and getting the Hangar module out for Star Citizen) launching into the attention buzz saw of GTA6. While GTA6 isn't launching on PC this November, pretty much all outlets and most content creators will be all over it, not leaving a lot of room for other coverage."
So when will it be released? Well, they go on to explain that the game is set to launch in the second quarter of 2027, which means that, in the worst-case scenario, there could be nearly a year left until release:
"We have taken a look at the release windows at the start of 2027, and decided that Q2 provides a better time for Squadron 42 to release."
We might wish that Cloud Imperium Games had been aware of Grand Theft Auto VI and its November launch much earlier, but now we're keeping our fingers crossed that the developers will make the most of the extra time and that this is the last time the game gets delayed.
<social>https://bsky.app/profile/gibiz.bsky.social/post/3mu5akvssq22c</social>