Cloud Imperium Games Announces 2026 Launch Window for Squadron 42

[TheLostSwede]

Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) surprised fans with a live playthrough of Squadron 42, their upcoming epic single-player narrative space adventure. Revealed onstage at CitizenCon 2954, the live showcase of the opening moments of the game offered attendees the most in-depth look at the visually stunning Squadron 42 yet, demonstrating action-packed space combat, grand cinematic storytelling and incomparable scale and fidelity. Squadron 42 is in the polish phase of production, with developer CIG revealing their intention to launch the game in 2026. Following the conclusion of the presentation, CIG released the full recording of the live playthrough on their YouTube channel.

Squadron 42 is a cinematic, single-player sci-fi adventure set in the universe of Star Citizen. Fight the good fight in an epic and immersive narrative full of action and intrigue; facing off against ruthless enemies in strategic FPS battles on foot and intense space combat from a cockpit. The epic space adventure will be experienced alongside a stunning all-star cast including Mark Hamill, Eleanor Tomlinson, Gary Oldman, John Rhys-Davies, Sophie Wu, Jonathan Bailey, and Henry Cavill.




Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), developer of Star Citizen and Squadron 42, is one of the largest global independent studios dedicated to delivering unparalleled AAA games. Founded in 2012 by renowned game developer Chris Roberts, CIG is shifting the paradigm of game development towards a more inclusive process by offering its global community an unprecedented level of visibility and engagement as well as breaking new ground with revolutionary technology.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Space Lynx]

I really wish I could get my $25 back from when I kickstarted Star Citizen like 10 years ago or however long its been now. What a joke.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I really wish I could get my $25 back from when I kickstarted Star Citizen like 10 years ago or however long its been now. What a joke.

Well, this is the side game, no idea when yours will be done, 2030 maybe?

 

[Space Lynx]

Well, this is the side game, no idea when yours will be done, 2030 maybe?

I know, maybe they should make the game that got them funded though...

 

[the54thvoid]

I bought a $75 ship way back in god knows when. Shoulda bought bitcoin instead.

 

[Space Lynx]

I bought a $75 ship way back in god knows when. Shoulda bought bitcoin instead.

$25 is a lot easier to swallow as a loss than 75, damn that sucks man, I guess whenever it does launch, probably in 2030 you will still have a cool ship at least. my dinky $25 ship will still let me enjoy the game at least. If I can find my login, I don't even remember.

 

[Vayra86]

I believe my purchase agreement said I was going to get SQ42 and the PU, so I'll be checking this out. I've also got lifetime insurance on my ship for god knows whatever reason or point it eventually will have.

Or did those terms change a few dozen times at this point? I care about this much

Video does look neat

 

[JIWIL]

Got a free movie out of it I guess. Just kinda seeked around and wasn't too interested though. Whatever happened to Roberts Space Industries... or should I go back under my rock?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Got a free movie out of it I guess. Just kinda seeked around and wasn't too interested though. Whatever happened to Roberts Space Industries... or should I go back under my rock?

Still there, but seemingly the company sort of changed name to Cloud Imperium Games.

Roberts Space Industries​

The publishing arm of Cloud Imperium, Roberts Space Industries, maintains the player forums where fans and backers discuss a variety of topics related to the project’s development. It also publishes a regularly updated project roadmap designed to keep players informed about what features are scheduled to be released in upcoming patches.

Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.

robertsspaceindustries.com

https://cloudimperiumgames.com/

 

[HM_Actua1]

Wing Commander and strike commander player from the 90s
Backed this Project back on 10-10-12 for the hopes of a sprawling Wing Commander experience.
12yrs later. NADA

 

[FoulOnWhite]

So this is what he spent the millions he grifted on then. What do you do, pay now and get the game in 2030.

 

[64K]

Seems like ancient history now but there was a day when I really looked forward to Squadron 42 and believed that it would be great but for years now I have seen Chris Roberts for what he is. A dreamer and dreamers make great ideas but not so great executive managers.

So this is what he spent the millions he grifted on then. What do you do, pay now and get the game in 2030.

731 million dollars in funding so far for the whole project and it's not even slowing down. 104 million dollars last year alone.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Seems like ancient history now but there was a day when I really looked forward to Squadron 42 and believed that it would be great but for years now I have seen Chris Roberts for what he is. A dreamer and dreamers make great ideas but not so great executive managers.



731 million dollars in funding so far for the whole project and it's not even slowing down. 104 million dollars last year alone.

What really amazes me is that, despite all the evidence presented on how Robert is, at minimum, a misguided creative with terrible money management, and at worst, a swindling scam artist shoving out crypto-tier games to the tune of OVER $700 MILLION, people still willingly dump money into the furnace that is cloud imperium games. Just....why? At this point there's no way any release could impress.

 

[Cifu]

I laughed too hard. Announced?
Again?
How many dates they announced in the past 12 years and missed every one of them?

Yea, I give myself money for this vaporware too.... Shame on me....

 

[sepheronx]

I really wish I could get my $25 back from when I kickstarted Star Citizen like 10 years ago or however long its been now. What a joke.

Your 25 went to pay for Gary Oldman

 

[Fokker]

And the grift goes on...

 

[Easo]

So who is betting that this date also won't hold?

 

[the54thvoid]

I just checked and I have a 325A fighter that I bought on April 26th 2014.

Back then, it was only a couple of years until release. Pretty sure I was also meant to get Squadron 42 as an early backer.

 

[Ketadine]

I really wish I could get my $25 back from when I kickstarted Star Citizen like 10 years ago or however long its been now. What a joke.

I have paid $77 in 2014 and haven't tried Scam Citizen since 2015.

If it ever gets released, it will get the Duke Nukem Forever treatment: highly anticipated, highly disappointing.

 

[Gungar]

Still there, but seemingly the company sort of changed name to Cloud Imperium Games.

Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.

robertsspaceindustries.com

https://cloudimperiumgames.com/

The name of the company always was Cloud Imperium Games. Roberts space industries is the name of the website and one of the ship manufacturer of the game RSI for short.

 

[kapone32]

Star Citizen was $50 that I can't have back. As the person behind Wing Commander I was excited with what was coming. Then something happened. In the Space we got excellent Games like Elite Dangerous. Even to the point where you could land and walk around on planets. Then No Man's sky became something of a cartoon version of a Deep space Game. Then we got Games like Everspace 2 and Spacebourne 2 to make it even better. Squadron 42 hearkens back to Starlancer but Freelancer was taken over by MS and not released to Roberts satisfaction. It is obvious that he he incapable of running out of ideas or money depending on how much you spent on this promise.

 

[Vayra86]

What really amazes me is that, despite all the evidence presented on how Robert is, at minimum, a misguided creative with terrible money management, and at worst, a swindling scam artist shoving out crypto-tier games to the tune of OVER $700 MILLION, people still willingly dump money into the furnace that is cloud imperium games. Just....why? At this point there's no way any release could impress.

Did you watch the video? I'm not here to propel Roberts to godhood but let's appreciate what's shown for a minute.

I saw a Star Trek-like production quality cast, long cutscenes interjected with play sessions in various settings, you're manning gunboat turrets, flying ships, or running through a crashed ship trying to escape, which transitions into a zero G movement sequence we know from Dead Space.

It looked really good, and what I saw of storyline/events was gripping. If they turn this into an actual game, it will most certainly impress and it honestly does look like its in-game, or at least- all in-engine; as there is occasional stutter and framerate variance and at one point it takes a split second to place a character in a cutscene, he pops in. Production value is incredibly high, even if some voicing is decidedly B-movie material and minor cringe, but then, Star Trek was no different in that sense, perhaps its part of its charm.

I also noticed the 'work in progress' in the left bottom corner and frankly I'm surprised they're releasing in 2026 now. This was supposed to be done too, for many times now, wasnt it... Its kind of becoming a sick joke, with Chris holding up a massive juicy sausage in front of you, but keeping it just out of arm's reach every time.

Star Citizen was $50 that I can't have back. As the person behind Wing Commander I was excited with what was coming. Then something happened. In the Space we got excellent Games like Elite Dangerous. Even to the point where you could land and walk around on planets. Then No Man's sky became something of a cartoon version of a Deep space Game. Then we got Games like Everspace 2 and Spacebourne 2 to make it even better. Squadron 42 hearkens back to Starlancer but Freelancer was taken over by MS and not released to Roberts satisfaction. It is obvious that he he incapable of running out of ideas or money depending on how much you spent on this promise.

Both ED and NMS I think saw the Star Citizen success and jumped on it, with ED keeping its scope very tightly under control, and NMS being on a wild goose chase and doing both an early release and epic fail, plus a long recovery period to get all the promised features in the game. ED works for what it is, but what's there, really isn't all that much and its all procedural content too, and that shows. The procedural part is done quite well, but really, there are just systems with random numbers and locations that form up a game, and there's mechanics to fly ships. That's all it is. Still, flying those ships feels great, the procedural stuff is immersive enough, so the whole thing does work.

They clearly were both inspired by Chris Roberts, but also had clear vision they wanted to not fail like him. Its really funny to see how both projects turned out and became products at this point while Chris is still promising so much more than what both of them can ever offer, even together, but has nothing substantial yet.

I just checked and I have a 325A fighter that I bought on April 26th 2014.

Back then, it was only a couple of years until release. Pretty sure I was also meant to get Squadron 42 as an early backer.

Exactly, I was in on the early days too, but with the cheapest package of 25,- and all of those perks mentioned. So I'm expecting to be able to play SQ42 for 'free' now.

 

[erocker]

I know, maybe they should make the game that got them funded though...

Squadron 42 was on the Kickstarter and got them funded. It was the reason I funded it in 2012.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The name of the company always was Cloud Imperium Games. Roberts space industries is the name of the website and one of the ship manufacturer of the game RSI for short.

Ah, fair enough, I got it mixed up and I doubt I'm the only one. But it's clearly their publishing arm as well, as per their website.

 

[Athlonite]

This game will never launch if the goalposts are being continually moved and so far all they've proved is that suckers will be happy to give them more and more money for nothing but the world's most expensive vapourware