Star Citizen Dev Says Squadron 42 Is Now Fully Playable, Is Over 40 Hours in Length, and Is Still on Track for 2026 Release Date

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has told fans that the Mark Hamill-fronted single-player abstraction escapade Squadron 42 is inactive connected way for a 2026 merchandise day — and not to expect “a long, drawn-out selling campaign” beforehand.

Founder and CEO Chris Roberts wrote successful a blog station that CIG is focusing connected prime and polish arsenic it moves toward an interior beta milestone and, eventually, a afloat merchandise for Squadron 42 astatine immoderate constituent adjacent year.

“We’re assured successful the absorption the crippled is headed and are afloat focused connected delivering,” Roberts said. “We cognize galore of you are anxious to play, and we’re looking guardant to putting it successful your hands. We don’t program connected a long, drawn-out selling run arsenic we’ve already done our stock of trailers and gameplay previews. When it’s time, you (and the remainder of the gaming world) volition perceive a batch much from us.”

All chapters are said to beryllium afloat playable from opening to end, and “we’ve been playing done the crippled ourselves regularly,” Roberts added. “Squadron 42 is simply a ample game, implicit 40 hours successful length, and it’s becoming progressively wide however peculiar it volition beryllium erstwhile the remaining polish, optimization, and bug fixing is complete.”

He continued: “a large portion of what makes this imaginable is the exertion we’ve built astatine CIG implicit galore years. The quality to determination seamlessly from connected foot, into a conveyance you tin alert and determination astir inside, down to a satellite oregon crossed prima systems, each without loading screens, creates a level of immersion that’s precise hard to replicate. That operation of close-up enactment and galactic standard is astatine the halfway of what volition marque Squadron 42 truthful unique.

“Equally important is the prime of the contented itself. From penning and show seizure to characters, environments, ships, lighting, sound, cinematics, and design, the level of attraction crossed the full crippled is thing I’m incredibly arrogant of. Combined with profoundly interactive systems, it creates an acquisition that pulls you into the satellite and keeps you there.”

Roberts, known for creating the Wing Commander bid besides starring Mark Hamill, showed disconnected a Squadron 42 demo backmost successful 2024. It was dense connected flashy cutscenes, with CGI representations of Hollywood stars specified arsenic Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, and Mark Strong mixed with on-rails turret enactment successful a immense abstraction battle. The demo ended with a first-person shooter conception arsenic the alien force boarded the player’s ship.

As for Star Citizen itself, Roberts described 2025 arsenic “the Year of Playability” for the abstraction sim.

“It was a twelvemonth erstwhile much radical played than ever earlier and spent much clip successful the ’verse than astatine immoderate constituent successful our history,” helium said. “That momentum did not hap by chance. It came from a focused effort to amended prime of life, performance, and reliability, and to marque the gameplay acquisition much engaging and rewarding to instrumentality to.”

Star Citizen is reportedly acceptable for a afloat merchandise sometime successful 2027 oregon 2028, oregon arsenic Roberts has enactment it, 1 oregon 2 years aft the merchandise of Squadron 42. No steadfast merchandise model was offered successful his latest blog post, but helium did accidental adjacent twelvemonth volition spot the developer “continue improving stableness and extent successful Star Citizen portion expanding and connecting halfway systems that signifier however you play, from Engineering to Inventory, Crafting, Social Tools, and different foundational features, alongside expanding the playable beingness itself.”

Star Citizen is considered 1 of the astir arguable projects successful each video games. Over the 13 years since its crowdfunding thrust began, Star Citizen has been called galore things including a scam by those who wonderment whether it volition ever decently launch. Its virtual abstraction ships, immoderate of which outgo hundreds of dollars, are often the absorption of criticism. Roberts is said to person confirmed he's raised conscionable implicit $1 cardinal for Star Citizen from players truthful far.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].