Squadron 42 Gets A 2026 Release Window As Report Circulates Describing Financial, Management Woes At

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Squadron 42 Gets A 2026 Release Window As Report Circulates Describing Financial, Management Woes At CIG | MMORPG.com

At Star Citizen's annual Citizencon, Cloud Imperium Games showcased the first hour of gameplay of its Star Citizen spin-off title, Squadron 42, announcing a release window of 2026. This is amid reports that the studio is facing financial woes, mismanagement, and more.

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2TonGamer

So many aspects of the linked article have already been proven false such as the mass layoffs of 100-150 people not to mention that CIG will hit an even higher milestone of funding this year. Yes the game has taken too long and been managed poorly many years, but to make it sound like the game is in trouble based on that article or that they do not want the anything to come out to receive unlimited funding is just sensationalism for clicks.

MaxBacon

btw the new trailer 

2TonGamer said:

So many aspects of the linked article have already been proven false such as the mass layoffs of 100-150 people not to mention that CIG will hit an even higher milestone of funding this year. Yes the game has taken too long and been managed poorly many years, but to make it sound like the game is in trouble based on that article or that they do not want the anything to come out to receive unlimited funding is just sensationalism for clicks.

This is about a yearly thing for this project. You can go grab articles from 2015 that are pretty much a copy/paste of this one. 

The same way that SC wins the "Most Likely To Fail" MassivelyOP award every year, yet it never does...


The problems of this project and CIG are nothing compared to the insanities going on within the gaming industry in recent years. If SC hasn't raised the amount of money it did, and does, I don't think anyone would care.

Slapshot1188

Well… either I FINALLY get to play my dream game in 2 years, I FINALLY get to kill all hope because it’s hot garbage, or I get to hear Babs give more excuses because they yet again miss the date.


We will see. 1 in 3 chance from my point of view is not too bad odds.

Asm0deus

Would be nice if SQ42 finally released....

MaxBacon

Slapshot1188 said:

Well… either I FINALLY get to play my dream game in 2 years, I FINALLY get to kill all hope because it’s hot garbage, or I get to hear Babs give more excuses because they yet again miss the date.


We will see. 1 in 3 chance from my point of view is not too bad odds.

I was expecting 2025 date many were too, 2026 was like oof.


But the campaign finally getting a release date after I think 7 years is still a W, it's been really a "no-dates MIA" for a looooooong time.

It also did not open pre-orders, so I am assuming it's still too soon to make a marketing push for it, so see you SQ42 again 12 months xD

ZenJelly

2TonGamer said:

So many aspects of the linked article have already been proven false such as the mass layoffs of 100-150 people not to mention that CIG will hit an even higher milestone of funding this year. Yes the game has taken too long and been managed poorly many years, but to make it sound like the game is in trouble based on that article or that they do not want the anything to come out to receive unlimited funding is just sensationalism for clicks.

Man I wish I could live in this level of delusion. This is the kind of guy that has 1 website that tells him everything is okay, when reality is being reported everywhere else. Also the kid of person that blocks people on Facebook and X because they can't handle someone thinking different then them.

MaxBacon

ZenJelly said:

Man I wish I could live in this level of delusion. This is the kind of guy that has 1 website that tells him everything is okay, when reality is being reported everywhere else. Also the kid of person that blocks people on Facebook and X because they can't handle someone thinking different then them.

It's not untrue these articles tend to be manipulated for the "doom and gloom" narrative.


We hear of financial woes articles since the 2015's "90 days tops" meme, this type of article has happened so many times before it doesn't have any impact or merits discussion anymore.


The layoffs also here put on the "gloom" type of tone with the financial woes on the mix, when the company has ACTUALLY GROWN since the layoffs, and it was even announced at the time, they were downscaling on the US, and moving positions to the UK studio, which they visibly been doing, but for the media they paint this as forced downsizing due to financial struggles.

So yeah... It's obvious the company has issues, it's also obvious this type of stuff is also exagerated, or else CIG and the SC project would have collapsed a long time ago.

Vrika

Weren't the CIG employees who do extra work now told that they aren't getting paid for that now and instead will get extra paid leave after SQ 42 is launched?

CIG should be financially ok because they are still getting good amount of income from crowdfunding. But it seems strangely desperate move to ask their employees wait that long time before they're paid for the extra time done.

meanieme

2TonGamer said:

So many aspects of the linked article have already been proven false such as the mass layoffs of 100-150 people not to mention that CIG will hit an even higher milestone of funding this year. Yes the game has taken too long and been managed poorly many years, but to make it sound like the game is in trouble based on that article or that they do not want the anything to come out to receive unlimited funding is just sensationalism for clicks.

The copium is strong in this one...

meanieme

Chris Roberts is a conman, plain and simple; and the cultists which keep feeding him money without question deserve to be fleeced.

Angrakhan

Well sounds like put up or shut up time, but knowing CIG they'll opt for door number 3 which is delay further. Seems like the obvious answer, really.

FrodoFragins

Three years to polish A "feature complete" game is pretty ridiculous honestly. I already discussed my reaction to the trailer and gameplay in Bacon's separate post.

It looks nice but gameplay trumps visuals for me and so far it looks mediocre in that regard. I also really didn't like how the game starts(before the battle).

It doesn't look like a "Dream game" from what was shown.

breygon

MaxBacon said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I was expecting 2025 date many were too, 2026 was like oof.


But the campaign finally getting a release date after I think 7 years is still a W, it's been really a "no-dates MIA" for a looooooong time.

It also did not open pre-orders, so I am assuming it's still too soon to make a marketing push for it, so see you SQ42 again 12 months xD

Those of us who signed-up/donated/pledged early (depending on the package you "pledged") are supposed to be getting both Sq42 AND SC. So theoretically, the game has been open for "pre-orders for over 12 years.

I have lost track of how long this has been in the "alpha" stage. Maybe, just maybe, it will progress to a "beta" stage in 2025 with the final release in 2026.

A caveat just occurred to me, since Sq42 and SC are supposedly two separate but interrelated entities, we may get Sq42 but not SC in 2026. Then it will be back to more shucking and jiving as well as more grifting.

I am glad that I am not like some folks I know who have sunk thousands of dollars into this scheme.

Slapshot1188

breygon said:

MaxBacon said:

Slapshot1188 said:

I was expecting 2025 date many were too, 2026 was like oof.


But the campaign finally getting a release date after I think 7 years is still a W, it's been really a "no-dates MIA" for a looooooong time.

It also did not open pre-orders, so I am assuming it's still too soon to make a marketing push for it, so see you SQ42 again 12 months xD

Those of us who signed-up/donated/pledged early (depending on the package you "pledged") are supposed to be getting both Sq42 AND SC. So theoretically, the game has been open for "pre-orders for over 12 years.

I have lost track of how long this has been in the "alpha" stage. Maybe, just maybe, it will progress to a "beta" stage in 2025 with the final release in 2026.

A caveat just occurred to me, since Sq42 and SC are supposedly two separate but interrelated entities, we may get Sq42 but not SC in 2026. Then it will be back to more shucking and jiving as well as more grifting.

I am glad that I am not like some folks I know who have sunk thousands of dollars into this scheme.

There is zero chance that SC launches in 2026. 

But yeah, it's been 12 years  for Sq42 and SC.

Stundar

2 more years 2 more years 2 more years!

Xiaoki

Hopefully at next years CitizenCon Squadron 42 can run without crashing.

Oh, who are we kidding, that'll never happen.

And they had the developers working 7 days a week to prepare for this. Embarrassing.

Scot

Correct me if I am wrong but after that article in the FT didn't that push SC into "Alpha"? Now we have this report and "SQ42 is coming out in two years", you do have to wonder if it will and how complete a game players will actually get.

BrotherMaynard

FrodoFragins said:

Three years to polish A "feature complete" game is pretty ridiculous honestly. I already discussed my reaction to the trailer and gameplay in Bacon's separate post.

It looks nice but gameplay trumps visuals for me and so far it looks mediocre in that regard. I also really didn't like how the game starts(before the battle).

It doesn't look like a "Dream game" from what was shown.

For a game there was shockingly little gameplay and instead what we saw was ~80% cutscenes. In the parts where the guy was actually playing, most of it was just turret shooting stuff. The rest was Mass Effect 2 intro, navigating a dying ship on fire, overdone to the point of looking tedious and exhausting. Roberts himself does not seem to know if he is making a game or a CGI film.

And yeah, 2026 after last year confidently announcing it is feature complete means 3 years of polish (whatever that means in this case) - of a 40 hour long game. And I strongly suspect when he said 40h (and possibly 2026), that was the usual 'Roberts number'.

Scot

BrotherMaynard

For a game there was shockingly little gameplay and instead what we saw was ~80% cutscenes. In the parts where the guy was actually playing, most of it was just turret shooting stuff. The rest was Mass Effect 2 intro, navigating a dying ship on fire, overdone to the point of looking tedious and exhausting. Roberts himself does not seem to know if he is making a game or a CGI film.

And yeah, 2026 after last year confidently announcing it is feature complete means 3 years of polish (whatever that means in this case) - of a 40 hour long game. And I strongly suspect when he said 40h (and possibly 2026), that was the usual 'Roberts number'.

I foresee a lack of content myself in what will be a good space flight sim.

Arglebargle

Didn't they previously say they were going to divvy up SQ42 into two or three parts?  Now I saw something about 20 episodes or adventures?  Anyone know how much of SQ42 they claim to be releasing?  Of course, the accuracy of that is, as always, subject to considerable...stretchiness.

waveslayer

all this time and the still have 2 more years to go on a side project...if the studio isnt in trouble it needs to be

Scot

Arglebargle said:

Didn't they previously say they were going to divvy up SQ42 into two or three parts?  Now I saw something about 20 episodes or adventures?  Anyone know how much of SQ42 they claim to be releasing?  Of course, the accuracy of that is, as always, subject to considerable...stretchiness.

Exactly the sort of thin content at launch issue I was thinking of, indeed could it be launching to early access? 

olepi

Wow, 12 years of development work on a single player game and the demo crashed during the convention. Glitching and then crashing is not problems with "polish", it's fundamental gameplay failure. Didn't they test the demo before showing it? How embarrassing.

Hard to believe actually. The supposed release date of 2026 is even harder to believe.

Slapshot1188

Arglebargle said:

Didn't they previously say they were going to divvy up SQ42 into two or three parts?  Now I saw something about 20 episodes or adventures?  Anyone know how much of SQ42 they claim to be releasing?  Of course, the accuracy of that is, as always, subject to considerable...stretchiness.

There are supposed to be 2 sequels.  The next one is called Behind Enemy Lines or something like that.  Originally if you pledged for the game it was supposed to come with a SQ42 mission disc.  This is similar to the original Wing Commander that had a Secret Missions disc for pre orders.  Somewhere along the way Chris changed it to a full sequel instead of an expansion pack.  

Odds of seeing that sequel while I’m alive… pretty low.

vanderghast

even gamers aren't dumb enough to keep funding a game for 14 years. Of course it was going to dry up eventually with this vaporware never seeing the light of day. They wont make the 2026 release date and pretty much everyone knows that. This SC saga is actually pretty funny at this point. This is beyond even derek smart and duke nukem forever territory now. I feel bad for folks that actually put real money into expecting a finished product at some point. If they enjoyed what they got then good for them i guess. As much as i'd LOVE to see a wing commander type game these days....even if this releases in 2026 i'm gonna pass just out of principle.