It’s a source of endless frustration for backers and MMO players and a running joke in our own comments: Will Star Citizen ever release, and will we be too old to even play it when it does? Well, we still can’t answer that question, and anyone who does is making it up, but we might have a new window for Squadron 42, the standalone-spinoff game that is supposed to launch before its MMORPG sibling.
The star-studded Squadron 42 was originally meant to launch all the way back in 2014 and missed all of its windows since, with Cloud Imperium’s Chris Roberts telling folks in 2020 that it “will be done when it’s done.” By the end of that year, Roberts said he also wouldn’t be showing gameplay for the title in public or discuss release dates until closer to the “home stretch,” presumably owing heavily to the dust-up over those missed windows and roadmaps.
It’s 2022 now, and the studio has suggested in a glossy six-page MCV/Develop spread that the game is still around two years out, largely thanks to Roberts’ move to Manchester, where CIG is in the process of establishing a new base of ops as of this spring.
“I guess we’ll see how long [Roberts] needs to be over,” CIG COO Carl Jones says. “But yeah, it could be one or two years more. He’s spending more time over here with the Squadron 42 team and with our other developers, but it’ll be this year when he moves over for longer periods of time. Hopefully that means we can progress Squadron 42 through to completion faster. We want to get that game finished, but it will be finished when it’s ready.”
MCV extrapolates that the formation of the new Manchester studio, which will bring the studio to over 1000 workers within five years, means that Star Citizen could be eyeballing a 2027 launch. Jones doesn’t exactly confirm that, but he does say that “by that time, [CIG] will be operating a very large MMORPG.”
Incidentally, MCV asks Jones about the potential for a “metaverse” with Star Citizen, and you can just hear the polite skepticism in Jones’ reply as he clarifies that CIG isn’t planning to be distracted by pie-in-the-sky fads. “Maybe one day we’ll have something that people refer to as a metaverse – we’ll certainly have the technology to build it – but that’s not our business focus. Our focus right now is delivering Star Citizen and Squadron 42 to the community that supported us.”
Finally, Jones addresses the ongoing discrimination scandals in the industry, offering that CIG had already made efforts to improve its diversity to suit its diverse audience well before recent scandals.
Obligatory.
it is about vision man.Am I reading it right that despite having 700 employees, the major limiter on the Squadron 42 component’s development is just one man? They’re waiting on Chris to fully move before work resumes ?
Squadron 42 still years away?
Bumping this old thread because this is depressing. I look forward to SQ42, but we are not getting it anytime soon.
It would had been released if they were under pressure from bank loans.Squadron 42 still years away?
I mean it was obviously a scam from the start, but now it's been turned into strategy. Just keep delaying and delaying so you can work on new "features" and laugh while the "playerbase" continues to give you literally millions of dollars a year for a game that barely exists.It would had been released if they were under pressure from bank loans.
But when you got people funded projects with zero obligation on timeliness.... (or even doing it at all), just kick back. It's not like any kickstart pledger can sue you or anything.
Once someone pointed out to that the whole Squadron 42 thing was originally slotted to release in 2015 and then was delayed and then not heard about again I knew it was all either a scam or it was the worst handled project ever.I don't know that it was a scam, but it certainly became a victim of its own success. Raising money based on promises that would never materialize. When I pledged day one and saw all the stretch goals and everything they kept promising and promising, to generate more revenue, that was a huge red flag to me. Every addition was adding more development.
And they will. Oh boy they will.And when it nears that date, "oh were switching engines gonna delay it, here buy this NFT for 10 grand intsead."
It's been 10 years, over $400 million raised, and the game is not even in Pre-Alpha yet.I'm still having a hard time trying to figure out if this "game" is in fact ambitious for the team, or just a very prolonged money sink that will never be more than that, lol.
Oh, most certainly!It's been 10 years, over $400 million raised, and the game is not even in Pre-Alpha yet.
I thinks it's clear which it is lol
Unfortunately they're basically being financially incentivized to just keep development going as long as possible because people keep buying in. So both of those things are kind of true right now, because yes there is in fact a game to be played. That said it's horribly optimized and it was chugging on my PC during a free weekendI'm still having a hard time trying to figure out if this "game" is in fact ambitious for the team, or just a very prolonged money sink that will never be more than that, lol.
Certainly a halfway decent studio could have produced something. I mean they spent a ton of money on a ton of talent and all that work is just just sitting on a HDD somewhere. I mean they can't really change the story since it is all filmed. So who knows what they are doing, if they aren't doing the missions.Once someone pointed out to that the whole Squadron 42 thing was originally slotted to release in 2015 and then was delayed and then not heard about again I knew it was all either a scam or it was the worst handled project ever.
You give any halfway decent studio of literally any size 400 million bucks and they would be able to put out an amazing Space Sim for that in half the amount of time that these charlatans have been able to put out a glorified tech demo.
Yeah I wonder too. It's a mystery is what it isSo who knows what they are doing, if they aren't doing the missions.
Only Chris and Sandy Roberts are doing that.Yeah I wonder too. It's a mystery is what it is
"we'll still have huge development resources, because by that time we'll be developing the sequel and sequels for Squadron 42"
They're probably so far gone by now they dont even remember why they're so rich in the 1st placeOnly Chris and Sandy Roberts are doing that.
I don't think you can.Unrelated question, is this the level of graphic we can expect from starfield?!
I can see it now, ships made of different NFT'S. Like how a car has different serial numbers for parts.And they will. Oh boy they will.
...why?I don't think you can.
I just don't think Bethesda will spend time on that level of fidelity. That is basically a cut scene image to for SQ42. And I doubt the final Sq42 product will even look that good. I am sure it can be done, but I don't think it is the priority for Bethesda to have incredible looking NPCs....why?
not saying that i want every npc to look like this (although it would not be an absurd request in 2022\23 for an AAAA game) but at least the main characters...
Honestly can't even tell if this is parody or not lolI love how people are shitting on a game that's 8 years in development that looks this great, is incredibly expansive, and is 20 times more polished than most games released in an equal time frame.
You cant really use that word here as it doesnt apply because exactly like you said, those 'other' games at least released..released
I'm in the same boat. I mean it's clearly going to happen at some point I just hope I'm around to see it in its entirety.I own 1 ship. A basic $45 package so I could check out the game. Recently, it *has* been fun to fly around a bit and do some odds and ends missions but damn if this game isn't feature-creeped to death already.
You can firmly place the blame for the continued "development delays" on whales pouncing on jpgs of concept ships and vehicles.
Not gonna lie, I kinda want it to come all crashing and burning down just to rubber neck the extreme fallout that situation would produce.
thats the planI'll be dead before this game is release.
It's funny to me how everyone thinks they are so smart for "calling out" Star Citizen as a scam. "It will never be finished rarrrarararar!"
The conceit of this project is that it is trying to do something no other developer is. If you want to be a part of that, and all the growing pains and false starts that come with it, then you have the option. Nobody is making you donate money to the devs. I'm just glad that someone is trying to evolve games beyond the current rut they are in.
It's funny to me how everyone thinks they are so smart for "calling out" Star Citizen as a scam. "It will never be finished rarrrarararar!"
The conceit of this project is that it is trying to do something no other developer is. If you want to be a part of that, and all the growing pains and false starts that come with it, then you have the option. Nobody is making you donate money to the devs. I'm just glad that someone is trying to evolve games beyond the current rut they are in.
It's funny to me how everyone thinks they are so smart for "calling out" Star Citizen as a scam. "It will never be finished rarrrarararar!"
The conceit of this project is that it is trying to do something no other developer is. If you want to be a part of that, and all the growing pains and false starts that come with it, then you have the option. Nobody is making you donate money to the devs. I'm just glad that someone is trying to evolve games beyond the current rut they are in.
It's funny to me how everyone thinks they are so smart for "calling out" Star Citizen as a scam. "It will never be finished rarrrarararar!"
The conceit of this project is that it is trying to do something no other developer is. If you want to be a part of that, and all the growing pains and false starts that come with it, then you have the option. Nobody is making you donate money to the devs. I'm just glad that someone is trying to evolve games beyond the current rut they are in.