Squadron 42, Star Citizen's single-player FPS spin-off, is targeting a Q2 2027 launch and has already reached over 100,000 Steam wishlists. Find out more about the latest details about the game and a recap of its 14-year development.
Squadron 42 Targets a Q2 2027 Release
Squadron 42 Reaches More Than 100,000 Steam Wishlists Within 12 Hours
Squadron 42 is targeting a Q2 2027 release, with developer Cloud Imperium Games opening Steam wishlists alongside a new trailer. In an October 11 X (Twitter) post, the long-awaited single-player game with a 14-year-long development cycle set in the Star Citizen universe now has a storefront listing that matches the release window announced in August, when the studio pushed its 2026 launch back.
More details emerged from an October 11 town hall, where developers answered questions from invited backers and content creators. YouTuber tenpoundfortytwo, who attended the event, shared the panel discussion in his SQ42 Town Hall Infodump recap video.
According to his account, CIG plans a 42-day marketing campaign ahead of release, with preorders expected to open soon. He also reported that Squadron 42 attracted 100,000 Steam wishlists within 12 hours, had already sold roughly one million copies through CIG, and that Valve declined to provide Steam keys to existing owners because of the number of copies already sold.
The campaign is also intended to tell a self-contained story. Relaying comments from writer Dave Haddock, Squadron 42’s main story arcs would conclude without leaving players on a cliffhanger. While CIG has ideas for further stories in the universe, it has not commented on any plans to continue. CIG reiterated that Squadron 42 stays a single-player campaign, with no plans for co-op, despite including the feature in its Kickstarter pitch more than a decade ago.
Squadron 42 Backers Held the Line Since 2014
While longtime backers are celebrating another step toward release, years of delays have left other players cautious about Squadron 42’s latest launch window. The wait began in 2012, when the game was introduced as Star Citizen’s single-player campaign. The earliest Kickstarter pitch outlined 30 missions, drop-in co-op, and a finished PC game estimated for delivery in November 2014.
In a July 2015 letter, Chris Roberts described plans that had expanded from landing pads to cities and from squadrons to armadas. He defended that expansion while recognizing its cost, writing "Will it take longer to deliver all this? Of course!" Those cinematic ambitions also extended to the cast, with CIG beginning to unveil its celebrity lineup in 2015. Gary Oldman and Mark Hamill were among the announced stars, while the broader ensemble also includes Henry Cavill, Gillian Anderson, Andy Serkis, and Ben Mendelsohn.
By December 2018, CIG had published a more detailed development schedule, aiming to finish features and content by the end of 2019, then spend the first half of 2020 on alpha testing and polish before finally entering beta. However, those milestones slipped too; in October 2020, Roberts confirmed the game would not finish that year, explaining that Squadron 42 had grown beyond its simpler original concept to match Star Citizen’s ambitions and would ship only when sufficiently polished.
In October 2023, CIG announced a major milestone in a YouTube video, declaring Squadron 42 "feature complete" and moving development into its polishing phase. The video also included a substantial look at the game so far, including first-person shooting and dogfighting in space. A year later, the studio demonstrated a live gameplay chapter at CitizenCon 2024 and announced a 2026 release target.
Then, in August 2026, Roberts said CIG had planned a Q4 launch but opted for Q2 2027 to avoid competing with GTA VI for media coverage and content creators’ attention. In the same letter, he acknowledged that gameplay engineers had spent much of 2024 bringing Squadron 42 features into Star Citizen at the campaign’s expense before priorities shifted back toward finishing it.
For backers who helped fund Squadron 42 more than a decade ago, the Steam listing is a tangible step toward the campaign they've been waiting to play. Now the question is whether CIG can meet its Q2 2027 launch or leave another promised date empty.
Source:
SQ42 Town Hall Infodump
Letter from the Chairman July 2015
Letter from the Chairman December 2018
Letter from the Chairman October 2020
Letter from the Chairman August 2026
