At this point, eight years on, I don’t think anybody’s expecting Star Citizen to come out soon. The game is still in active development, using up the millions of Dollars of crowdfunding money to fund Chris Roberts’ seaside holidays add new features to the game. The game’ – at least, the great big, interconnected space ship game that people are keen on – has an indefinite release date. There was a little hope that there’d be some sort of release of Star Citizen sooner rather than later, ion the form f the game’s sprawling first-person shooter single-player campaign, Squadron 42.
That’s the hyper-expensive single-player game that stars Hollywood royalty. Pegged for release in the second quarter of next year, that mode’s beta has now officially been delayed for three months.
The delay comes as Star Citizen moves to a staggered release schedule that’ll have different teams working on different bits of content in stages, instead of everyone working together to get the next content update out. Effectively, half the team will work on the current update, while the other half works on the next one, and so on (probably ad infinitum).
Cloud Imperium Games is positioning this as a net positive though. While there’s a delay to the roadmap now, the staggered pace of development should mean that things come together more briskly.
“Ultimately, this is a really good thing for Squadron 42 development as well. Both Star Citizen and Squadron 42 share a codebase and as features come online for both games, they will be in a more stable/playable state, reducing potential blockers that can hinder and slow down development. You will of course notice that our target Beta date for Squadron 42 has moved back by 12 weeks in today’s Roadmap update, but this is a necessary step as a result of changing the overall development cadence, which we expect will create positive results in the overall delivery and experience of Squadron 42.”
Look, while I don’t hold much hope that Cloud Imperium will ever really deliver it’s grand, ambitious space sim in Star Citizen proper, I’ve been more keen on the single-player bit to tickle the Wing Commander nostalgia. With its smaller scope and constrained scale, it’s something that actually seems deliverable. Let’s hope that it does actually come out next year – because while it looked incredible and ground-breaking when we got our first glimpse of it, it’s been so long now that other games have catapulted past it in terms of graphical fidelity, and beyond next year, it’ll look a little humdrum.
Last Updated: September 3, 2019
Llama In The Rift
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
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Original Heretic
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
Speaking of space flight sims, does anyone know of a game that has awesome space combat stuff? I recently finished up Everspace. Loved it.
I thought NMS might scratch a similar itch, bit those space battles are terrible in comparison.
Llama In The Rift
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
Rebel galaxy Outlaws, give it a try or watch some gameplay. Was actualy suprised how good it was.
Admiral Chief Emissary
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
…EPIC store right?
Llama In The Rift
September 3, 2019 at 10:31
Unfortunately for now, yeah….Only on steam next year this time maybe.
Original Heretic
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
Available on console?
Llama In The Rift
September 3, 2019 at 10:31
Yeah…PS4 and Xbox
Original Heretic
September 3, 2019 at 10:39
Not on PS4 yet, did a quick Google.
Looks awesome, shot for the suggestion.
Admiral Chief Emissary
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
Warframe is going to have space battles later this year, with ship boarding etc
Original Heretic
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
Too much grind… I’m over Warframe.
Every time I install it again, it last 3 days, then I delete again.
Admiral Chief Emissary
September 3, 2019 at 10:40
I took a year break, came back, haven’t put it down since. You need to space it out, not overindulge!
Kromas
September 3, 2019 at 11:25
The only real option out there that competes with SC is Elite Dangerous. However that game does feel grindy after a while.
Original Heretic
September 3, 2019 at 11:51
How long is “a while”?
Kromas
September 3, 2019 at 12:01
for me … three months for some other friends about a year.
GooseZA
September 3, 2019 at 16:05
Elite: Dangerous is an option but it’s VERY sim and nothing like Everspace or NMS. It has no real single player story, you’re just one pilot out of many trying to make a living in a universe that has lore etc but it’s kinda delivered in news updates and player interactions. There are content events and that but they’re released quite far apart and generally short lived.
It’s a fantastic game though. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into it.
Llama In The Rift
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
Honestly just go play Rebel Galaxy Outlaws if you want that Wing Commander itch scratched.
Cloverfield
September 3, 2019 at 17:15
Seconded
RinceThis
September 3, 2019 at 10:24
I’d rather just play No Mans Sky
Original Heretic
September 3, 2019 at 10:24
NMS is actually quite fun at the moment, after all the updates.
It just lacks awesome space combat. Feels so clunky.
RinceThis
September 3, 2019 at 10:31
I am sure they will get there. It’s massively improved!
Pariah
September 3, 2019 at 11:14
And unlike one of our other favourite people’s darlings, hasn’t added a single egregious or P2W microtransaction, let alone 74 of them.
Kromas
September 3, 2019 at 11:25
I think you meant 76 of them. 😛
Pariah
September 3, 2019 at 11:25
I probably did. XD
Words of Ivory
September 3, 2019 at 10:39
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
The D
September 3, 2019 at 10:40
I am shocked and surprised at this turn of events. I think my monocle popped out in astonishment.
Guz
September 3, 2019 at 10:45
We are so sorry about the delay……… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81a19dfce9a33333e70a94e7de16cc5150db99792216f983a99b39e20626ed0e.png
RinceThis
September 3, 2019 at 10:07
Waiting for the obligatory defenders to arrive https://media.giphy.com/media/29HRejgahYenVsohB5/giphy.gif
Stoompot
September 3, 2019 at 10:15
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rePool
September 3, 2019 at 17:14
I’m a bit disappointed Joe Blobers hasn’t arrived yet. He’s not on top of his game lately.
Cloverfield
September 3, 2019 at 17:15
You obviously dont understand Joe Blobbers development. Quality white knight posts need time.
Mark Treloar
September 3, 2019 at 15:42
At this rate they will make it just in time to launch on the 1st of April 2020
Kromas
September 3, 2019 at 11:34
It will drop when it drops. At this point I have way too many other options.
Jake Timbers
September 3, 2019 at 21:28
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Jake Timbers
September 3, 2019 at 21:28
That in 6 months it’ll be free to play with micro transactions and loot boxes.
Josh Firicano
September 3, 2019 at 21:18
Yes let’s deny all devs any enjoyment while a game is in development. I’m not even a regular SC player and I even know this article is utter shit.