It’s been a while since we’ve had any substantial news on Squadron 42, the single-player campaign for Star Citizen, and during a recent AMA, developer Cloud Imperium Games did give an update of sorts. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one anyone wanted to hear.

To celebrate the space game‘s eighth birthday, Cloud Imperium Games organised an ask-me-anything on the official forums. Amid the questions submitted, the subject of if-and-when we can expect news on Squadron 42 came up, to which Cloud Imperium founder Chris Roberts responded development is still underway, but admits communication has been lacking. “We haven’t been happy with how effectively we’ve been showing progress on Squadron 42, as we felt the previous format didn’t do a good job of all in communicating just how much work is going on,” he wrote, later adding: “Squadron 42 is a tricky project to communicate on as we really don’t want to give the experience and story away which can make updating on certain content or features challenging.”

Updates are happening, he says, the team just hasn’t logged them in the Squadron 42 roadmap since the start of this year. According to him, Cloud Imperium communicates more than “any other developer or publisher”, the problem is that they can’t please everyone, and a new roadmap, and new quarterly video series centered on Squadron 42’s development called The Briefing Room, the first episode of which premiered today, are part of an overhaul in these practices to better serve demands.

Squadron 42 is, by the original planned release date as part of the Star Citizen Kickstarter, now six years overdue. The scope and promise of the action-adventure game has expanded significantly, essentially becoming a triple-A release all its own, with a cast that includes Mark Hamill, alongside Gillian Anderson, Andy Serkis, and more. The now-discarded roadmap had an alpha release for quarter two 2020, and a beta for quarter three.

Roberts’ comments drew some skepticism from the community, and he replied to one in particular to make it clear Squadron 42 will come out when it’s ready, and not before. “Squadron 42 will be done when it is done, and will not be released just to make a date but instead once all the tech and content is finished, polished and it plays great. I am not willing to compromise making a game I believe in with all my heart and soul,” he writes. “Even though everyone (including me) wants Squadron 42 sooner than later, it would be doing a huge disservice to everyone working really hard on the project and all of you that are looking forward to it to deliver something that isn’t great.”

You can watch the first episode of The Briefing Room below:



Posted: Oct 12, 2020 5:01 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.pcgamesn.com/star-citizen/squadron-42-update