Chris Roberts hopes Star Citizen's Squadron 42 launch will be 'almost as big an event' as Grand Theft Auto 6, still targeting 2026 for release

Star Citizen Squadron 42 - Gillian Anderson in a sci fi uniform on a ship — (Image credit: Cloud Imperium Games)

Star Citizen is unique among videogames. It's been in development for well over a decade—hell, it was a decade ago that Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, and Mark Hamill got on board—yet still has no release date. It's also raised more than $858 million in crowdfunding (yeah, you read that right), yet the money is still flooding in: It only surpassed the $800 million mark in April of this year. Some people are adamant that the whole thing is some sort of scam, but plenty of others are playing the alpha and seemingly enjoying it.

A recent La Presse interview (Google translated) with Star Citizen director Chris Roberts doesn't shed a whole lot more light on what exactly is going on over there, but it does provide a hint—very vague and unspecific, but a hint—of when this unique beast will finally hit the 1.0 finish line. The report says Star Citizen is now set for a full release sometime in 2027 or 2028 (I told you it was vague), preceded by Squadron 42, the singleplayer part of the game, which is targeting a launch sometime in 2026.

When in 2026 remains an open question, but it will apparently be timed to avoid the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. That's not super helpful given that the next GTA is coming in the middle of the year—May 26, 2026—but I would imagine that the second half of the year is the better bet, if it actually happens.

That much, at least, is no doubt true, but all of this should be taken with a grain of salt. The 2026 release date for Squadron 42 looks relatively solid-ish, because it was first brought up in 2024: The fact that it's still the target a year later, and with 2026 edging ever closer, is about as close to firm on launch timing as Star Citizen has ever been. The 2027 or 2028 window for Star Citizen 1.0 is obviously less reliable: Notwithstanding the game's drawn-out development thus far, a two-year window that's still well over a year away from even opening is pretty much meaningless.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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