Star Citizen’s single-player spin-off Squadron 42, has been delayed for the indefinite future, according to Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games. The delay was announced on a livestream yesterday during CitizenCon, a community-focused event held in Los Angeles, where developers gave presentations about the game’s status to fans and Kickstarted backers.
“As much as we wanted to have Squadron 42 for this year, it’s not going to be this year,” said Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts. “Because from the polish we need to do, it still needs a bit more time.” Cloud Imperium will attempt to finish a complete mission, which will be shown to backers and fans at the earliest possible opportunity.
Cloud Imperium cited many technological reasons for the delay, including unfinished AI combat and pathfinding logic, and “full animation integration.” This news comes after Kotaku UK quoted Roberts as saying Squadron 42 would be released in 2017, rather than the previously announced ‘2016’ release window.
In the tradition of Roberts’ Wing Commander series, Squadron 42 stars many familiar Hollywood faces, including Wing Commander alum Mark Hamill (Star Wars Holiday Special) and John Rhys-Davis (Sliders), in addition to Gary Oldman (Air Force One), Mark Strong (Kick-Ass), Sophie Wu (Kick-Ass), Gillian Anderson (ReBoot), and Andy Serkis (Flushed Away), all in motion-capture roles.
If you still want to get in on Squadron 42 and Star Citizen as a whole, so you can hypothetically own two oft-delayed video games, players can get a Star Citizen starter kit and a pre-order for Squadron 42 for $60. Based on Kotaku UK’s long-running Star Citizen investigative series, I would not recommend spending any money on the in-development project until it is finished and in the hands of the public. All evidence points away from the game being a scam, but it’s certainly gorged itself to excess — to quote Arrested Development, this one’s a “risky*.”
(*I couldn’t find the actual clip)
