Star Citizen’s single player side of things, Squadron 42, has been a thing for literally years now, but though we’ve known that it exists, is in development, and will release… some day, what we don’t know is when it will release. Though we’ve been getting updates on it recently, such as about its star studded cast, we still don’t seem to be close to an actual launch.
That might be about to change- well, we’re still not close to a full launch, but we at least know when the game will be going in beta. Recently, in an update posted by Cloud Imperium Games’ head Chris Roberts, it was confirmed that the the developers would hold an alpha for Squadron 42 in the first half of 2020, while a playable beta for the game will be made available later that very year.
Roberts spent a fair bit of time talking about financial matters, mentioning that Cloud Imperium Games recently sought out a private investment of $46 million in order to focus on the game’s marketing as they get closer to an actual release, which is something that they haven’t really focused on till now.
“When we started the campaign for Star Citizen and Squadron 42, I said that the crowdfunding would go towards development of the game, and that the amount would define the scope and ambition of what we were working on,” Roberts wrote. “That is a commitment I am proud to say we have been upholding; its why we have over 500 staff around the world working on the games and have spent very little on marketing.”
He then went on to talk about how this new private investment allows Cloud Imperium Games to maintain its independence while also getting access to the funds required for what they’ve got planned. “This investment helps secure our independence,” he wrote. “We may not have the resources that an Activision or EA have to launch one of their tentpole games, but we now control our own destiny in marketing Squadron 42, especially as we have a secret weapon: all of you! Between the power of the best community in gaming to help get the message out and these additional funds we will be well positioned to enable Squadron 42 to enjoy the success that it deserves.”
Finally, he moved on to the topic of the beta, mentioning what the team has planned for alpha and beta testing of Squadron 42. “The same caveats will apply to the Squadron 42 roadmap as they do to the PU [Persistent Universe] one, but our plan is to be feature and content complete by the end of 2019, with the first 6 months of 2020 for Alpha (balance, optimization and polish) and then Beta.”
Here’s hoping it’s actually worth the long wait- and that the game’s full launch doesn’t take too long after the beta stage.