Squadron 42 Skips CitizenCon 2025 as Cloud Imperium Pushes Toward 2026 Release
- Sagar Mankar
- Sep 14
- 2 min read
Cloud Imperium Games has confirmed that Squadron 42 will not appear at CitizenCon 2025, with the team focusing entirely on meeting its targeted 2026 release window.
Content Director Jared Huckaby explained during a recent Star Citizen livestream that the developers don’t want to divert resources from active production to prepare a showcase.
No Presence at CitizenCon 2025
“There will be no Squadron 42 presence at CitizenCon Direct this year,” Huckaby said. “That team is heads down. We drew a line in the sand when we said 2026. I don’t know that we’re gonna make it; I just know that we’re going to do every single thing possible to make it, and part of that is not taking time for the distraction of CitizenCon.”
A Star-Studded Campaign
For those who haven’t been following closely, Squadron 42 is the single-player, story-driven campaign set in the Star Citizen universe. The project is spearheaded by Chris Roberts, best known for creating the classic Wing Commander series.
One of the game’s biggest talking points has always been its Hollywood-level cast:
Mark Hamill (Star Wars)
Gillian Anderson (The X-Files)
Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight)
Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings)
Mark Strong, John Rhys-Davies, Liam Cunningham, and more
This ensemble has been brought to life through full performance capture, promising a cinematic space opera experience.
Gameplay Features and Design
According to previous presentations, Squadron 42 aims to merge cinematic storytelling with immersive gameplay across multiple styles:
Space Combat: Dogfighting in highly detailed ships with precise flight mechanics and smarter AI.
On-Foot Action: FPS missions, stealth sequences, and puzzle-solving via a multi-tool system.
Cinematic Storytelling: Branching dialogue and a living capital ship hub where players can interact with crewmates.
Immersion: Seamless transitions between planetary surfaces and space, with realistic atmospheric and zero-G flight models.
The goal, as Roberts often emphasizes, is to create an experience that can stand shoulder to shoulder with major AAA titles.
Timeline and Delays
Squadron 42 was originally announced in 2012 alongside Star Citizen. It was declared “feature complete” in 2023, but the actual release has remained elusive. The 2026 launch window was first presented during CitizenCon 2024 and later reiterated by Roberts in an interview with French outlet La Presse.
However, skepticism within the community remains high. The “always two years away” meme—born from repeated missed timelines—has resurfaced in forums and Reddit threads. Some backers applaud the decision to skip CitizenCon, seeing it as a way to maximize development efficiency, while others worry it’s another red flag.
Industry Context and Ambition
In his La Presse interview earlier this month, Roberts compared Squadron 42’s potential cultural impact to Grand Theft Auto 6, suggesting it could become one of the most important AAA-budget games of this era. That’s no small claim, especially when considering the financial scale behind the project.
As per official funding trackers, Star Citizen has raised nearly $860 million in crowdfunding, making it one of the most expensive productions in gaming history when combined with external investments. That massive budget has only raised the stakes for Squadron 42 to deliver something extraordinary.