While there have been questions about the potential release of Squadron 42 happening this year, creator Chris Roberts has revealed some more details about the sci-fi title. In an interview with Variety, he spoke about the current development status of Squadron 42 and how it was essentially developed by converting the technology that was originally created for Star Citizen.
He described the project as being a blockbuster “event” movie that stars the player, capable of seamlessly weaving between cinematic gameplay moments and storytelling, all while keeping the player in the first-person perspective.
“My pitch is, basically, you’re the star of this huge blockbuster event movie, and it seamlessly goes between the storytelling and the cinematic moments to you being in control and [in] first person,” Roberts explained. “It feels pretty epic. I’m actually very excited for when people—because we’re right at the end now, we’re in the closing stages and it’s coming together really well.”
Sandi Roberts – Chris’ wife – has also indicated that marketing for Squadron 42 is going to be kicking off soon, saying that “the heat is being turned up” for the game. However, she has noted that it has been a “difficult thing to deal with” due to the overall transparency practiced by developer Cloud Imperium Games with its community. However, she also said that the title is “imminently closer” to finally launching.
“At the moment, the heat is being turned up for Squadron,” she said. “That’s a difficult thing to deal with in terms of, we are so close to the community. And with all of these events that we do, it’s difficult. As we get imminently closer to launch – and I say that in game development language – it’s very hard to keep it under wraps.”
She went on to discuss how the marketing for Squadron 42 is going to be different from that of Star Citizen, with the former focusing on a larger audience than the latter.
“So the marketing campaign for Squadron is quite different from Star Citizen,” she explained. “It’s going to go for a broader audience. But I’m excited for the community to get on board, and they’re very keen to because they’ve been with us for so long on Star Citizen, and they really feel like they’re part of it, which they are. So for them to sing from the rafters that Squadron is launching, I think, is going to be an exciting moment.”
Back in December, Chris had said that Squadron 42 had made major strides in development, and was completely playable from start to end. He also revealed that the title will be more than 40 hours in length, with the studio’s focus having shifted to “remaining polish, optimization, and bug fixing.” He also went into detail about how the technology from Star Citizen was helping with the development of Squadron 42, with features like allowing players to seamlessly go from moving around on foot, to getting into a vehicle that players can fly, and even move around inside, to even landing down on a new planet in a different star system.
