Key Takeaways
- Star Citizen has eclipsed $750 million in crowdfunding.
- There is no release date in sight for Star Citizen.
- Squadron 42, a single-player spin-off, is supposedly set to launch in 2026.
Star Citizen has officially passed $750 million in crowdfunding, since beginning the process in 2012. Star Citizen is by far the most crowdfunded gaming project ever and would comfortably be the most crowdfunded product ever if it wasn’t for EOS, a blockchain protocol funded by cryptocurrency.
Star Citizen has raised over $5 million in the last week, surpassing this massive milestone. Despite over a decade of consistent funding and an active community, Star Citizen has no release date in sight. In fact, Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) will be releasing a single-player spin-off of Star Citizen, Squadron 42, before they release the final version of the space sim.
All Aboard the UEES Barbary
Squadron 42 is in active development at CIG and is apparently “feature-complete.” Yet, CIG isn’t planning to release the game until 2026, which represents three years of additional polish. Given Star Citizen has been in active development for over 12 years, the lengthy development process of Squadron 42 isn’t too surprising. Squadron 42 was originally intended for release in 2014, before being delayed until 2016, and then indefinitely. Will we see it ten years later? It’s difficult to believe that, but at least we know what to expect.
CIG debuted the prologue of Squadron 42 during this year’s Citizen Con in Manchester. It’s certainly visually impressive, but the gameplay isn’t anything ambitious or innovative. It features an all-star cast in a science-fiction romp through space, though, and that usually tends to go down well with fans of the genre.
As for Star Citizen, who’s to say? CIG founder Chris Roberts had expected the game to be released in 2014 when he opened crowdfunding in 2012, but obviously, that didn’t materialise. Fans of the in-progress MMO are curious whether CIG will release the game before crowdfunding reaches $1 billion. It’s funny, but at this stage, it’s genuinely impossible to say whether this will be the case.
Star Citizen is a grand space game from Chris Roberts, creator of Wing Commander. known for having raised over half a billion dollars in crowdfunding. It is a mix of genres, from MMO to FPS and simulation.