Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has pushed the release of Squadron 42—the single-player campaign sold separately from the MMO Star Citizen—from Q4 2026 to the second quarter of 2027. In a letter to backers, studio founder Chris Roberts cited calendar positioning and media saturation surrounding Grand Theft Auto VI as the primary reasons for the shift, rather than the game’s state of development.
Roberts stated that he refuses to release Squadron 42 during the “attention grinder” of GTA 6, which is set to launch on November 19, 2026. Although GTA 6 is not launching on PC in November, CIG determined that press coverage and content creator focus would be entirely consumed by Rockstar’s title.
After evaluating early 2027—a window featuring major releases including Fable, Tomb Raider, God of War Laufey, Metro 2039, and Lords of the Fallen 2—CIG chose the second quarter of 2027 as the optimal launch period.
Originally announced in 2014 with a target release of 2015, Squadron 42 has undergone numerous timeline revisions. Alongside technical hurdles, Roberts admitted that internal resource reassignments significantly delayed the campaign:
In response to community criticisms regarding development focus and engine performance, Roberts disclosed internal metrics regarding CIG’s player base and studio staffing:
| Metric / Category | Reported Figure / Detail |
| 2026 Peak Concurrent Players | 35,890 |
| H1 Daily Average Players | Up 7% |
| Monthly Active Players | Up 11% |
| Tech Team Staffing | 146 personnel (including 106 engineers) |
| Additional Studio Staffing | 611 personnel across four studios |
| Resource Allocation | ~50% split between Star Citizen and Squadron 42 |
| Star Engine Status | CryEngine updates ceased in Oct 2015; entity system, renderer, physics, audio, and networking have since been rewritten |
To contextualize the project’s scale and costs, Roberts referenced Companies House filings indicating that Rockstar Games Ltd spent over $2 billion on UK personnel and offices between 2019 and late 2025. By comparison, CIG surpassed $1 billion in total crowdfunding early this year across its 13-year development history.
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