Star Citizen fans sigh deeply, rub their foreheads as developer casts doubt on Squadron 42's 2026 release: 'I don't know if we're going to make it'
Shocking exactly 4 people on the planet, Squadron 42 might not make it's just-recently-confirmed-absolutely-rock-solid 2026 release date. 😂
Although I will say that at this point even laughing about it becomes difficult. It's been so many years, every joke has been made and every laugh has been had.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/star-citizen-fans-sigh-deeply-rub-their-foreheads-as-developer-casts-doubt-on-squadron-42s-2026-release-i-dont-know-if-were-going-to-make-it/Open linkView original on piefed.world357
Comments88
At this point, I'm just looking at all this as an interesting social experiment on sunk cost fallacy
I wonder how long they can go without delivering on anything
I think the fact that they are very very glacially slowly delivering on things at least, all the while self-discovering software development instead of learning it, that aggravates me even more. Bloober Team could finish this faster and more competently than these clowns...
Glacially is OVERstating how much and how quickly.
Especially compared to their original predictions.
It's not even about predictions or estimations - everything's so many years late everyone stopped counting. They just... don't seem to understand "scoping"? The pitch is "ultra-realistic life-size universe sandbox simulation" and they keep hitting walls because they're using tech that's completely inadequate for the task at hand but they won't let that deter them. They've probably reimplemented every subsystem of the Crysis 3 engine a dozen times by now, and it's still not anywhere near capable of achieving even a tenth of their ambitions. Fuck, they just very recently got their server meshing thing barely working after like a decade of development (at the cost of rewriting everything again of course).
It's like watching a team raising billions to build the Burj Khalifa but all they have is a bunch of dry sand and some spoons. Deadlines aren't really the issue.
well, they are still slowly actually adding more stuff to the game. I dont think they intend to scam anyone since they occasionally allow people to play the game for free and without that i would have been inclined to buy it many times now to see what kind of game it is (and would have felt scammed). Now i just keep waiting for them to add enough stuff for the game to be worth getting, but after hearing they might add somekind of p2w shop crap i think i might just forget about the whole thing if it really bad.
Its too bad if the game collapses at some point since it really has promise. I resent them for first fucking around with the money they were given and making it all seem like a scam even when there is potential for it to not be.
No one denies the game has promise. The problem is that it does not have much else. Having ideas is the easy part in game development.
the promise i see comes from things that are actually in the game. Though it still needs more to be worthwhile, so i'm not risking my money yet. They just need to add more fun things to do and fix the problems with what they already have and it would already be kind of ok, provided they keep adding stuff.
We already know what happens with long term sunk cost fallacy. It is a scam.
Game development as a service.
Hahaha, at this point they can coin the term.
They may have been the first, but the sheer amount of failed disaster projects on Kickstarter, Paetron, wherever is staggering.
Some of them end up being "successful" failures, just stringing their patrons along on hopes and dreams and donations until the well dries up. Star Citizen is definitely the most successful venture of its sort, but only because it's the highest profile with a bunch of known talent in the mix.
Just to give a more shit show example there's also Yandere Sim. Theres so much to that shit show that I can't even get into, mostly cause I'm fucked up on Tylenol. Point is there are multiple documentaries on YouTube about how that fucker just kept stringing folks along and self sabotageing for years.
damn that's good, we should have been using it for this game particularly but also pretty much every pvp survival game as well.
My biggest problem with survival crafting games is the balance is always horrendously unfair and is just irritating as fuck, or there isn't even anything to survive against because they didnt put any kind of antagonists in the game so the building part is completely aesthetic.
The PvP focused ones do both at once! There are no enemy NPCs, and the balance between the human players is stupid AF.
I got no sympathy for anyone that is disappointed and continues to "pledge" to this "game". I mean hell a few years ago they got me and I "pledged" $200 for a ship that I may or may not still have. but then afterwards I felt like a rube.
So I get it, I fell for it once, but still no sympathy for anyone that continues to do so.
I'm in a similar boat. Pledged but it's been years since I gave them money and I'm not really following it closely anymore. Can't say I ever felt like a rube though, backing a crowdfunded project is always a gamble to some degree, and that money was so long ago that any impact on my situation from having it or not has long since faded.
I'm a little disappointed in the date potentially being pushed back, but it's not like I marked it on my calendar or anything. If they had said nothing and the date just slipped by I probably wouldn't even notice if no one else brought it up.
I'll play S42 if/when it comes out, and probably even enjoy it, but I'm not chomping at the bit.
People continuing to give them additional money now are simply deranged though.
When this game is released the setting is going to be ancient history.
Space, the we already did that frontier.
It's a bit fun to imagine that. People of the future playing a game that would be sci-fi to us, but really to them it's like Oregon Trail.
I very much doubt that when (if) the game releases, it will be worth the wait and live up to the hype.
And you can bet your ass that for how outdated it'll look when it releases in 2035 or so, it'll still chug at <30 FPS on your NVidia 35090.
I just hope i will have a good time at the old folks home.
I will put money down that it will not. A game that's in development for this long will not live up to any level of expectations
It's been in development for 15 years. Duke Nukem whatever was only in dev hell for 14. Y'all ever gonna admit you got scammed?
I got enough enjoyment out of it for what little I spent a lifetime ago. I go see whats new every couple years, which is usually quite a lot. The game is still a disaster, but it’s a strangely interesting disaster.
Duke Nukem Whatever sounds like the better version of what we got.
You can say it's a bad deal, they are mismanaging the project etc. but calling it a scam is just hyperbole.
You know, when they mentioned 8k textures 10 years ago, I laughed because it was so overshooting gaming standards that it was laughable. Now I'm think they will be just on track when it actually launches.
By the time they launch, they'll have a game with 8k textures and everyone else will be releasing games for Star Trek's holodeck.
Star Citizen may very well be the single greatest argument for Scrum Masters on Dev teams.
Talk about infinite scope, holy shit.
Competent Scrum Masters, 95% of the Scrum project that I've been part of caught on fire is because of an ass PO and an incompetent SM who can't rein in the PO.
As a very early backer of S42 way back in apparently 2012: It never ceases to annoy me that The Wing Commander Guy has once again managed to do everything possible to NOT make a fucking Wing Commander. This is, what, the third big clusterfuck and the first one where there was nobody to take it away from him and just finish it themselves? But, whatever.
As a big fan of elite games: I am really glad star citizen "exists" to contrast Elite Dangerous and has led to some truly amazing games in the genre. Some of which actually ARE more Wing Commander than not (Everspace 2 is basically the Freelancer that was promised). Now we just need some studio to make a proper Freespace game.
All that said: I don't like it but I weirdly keep coming back to the thought process that Star Citizen actually IS delivering on its "promise" to the backers... of the past decade or so. Not the OGs. Fuck us.
Because they were never sold on actually playing a game. They were sold on a dream. It is the same logic by which you watch Aisha Tyler do VO for a Tom Clancy game and think that you and your friends are also going to be super sweaty tier seven operators. Or how you watch your favorite group of online youtubers read off their pre-written jokes and pretend to be shocked while playing "friendslop" games. Or... you are a non-sicko who read too many AARs of Dwarf Fortress and thought you would boatmurder too.
Its the idea of spending money to Dream. You know you'll never actually do what you saw the pretty people do. But you THINK you will and, by owning a copy of Garry's Mod that you will never boot up, you think you will too.
Obviously the star citizen heads are spending WAY more than 20 bucks a pop and some are buying multiple megaships they'll never use meaningfully. But it is hard to not see parallels to the people who buy a DCS plane because they want to pretend that one day they will learn how to fly that jet.
And... truth be told, I think I've gotten my money's worth out of the annual charity streams where Drew Scanlon (The Blinking White Guy) and Vinny Caravella attempt to play Star Citizen and spend an hour or two crashing to desktop, getting confused, and accomplishing absolutely nothing. Hell, I think there were a few years where they never even found each other in the space station?
Also, as much as Freelancer hurt, I'll never stop laughing/being annoyed that he managed to take a sci-fi movie starring Freddie Prinze Jr AND Baby Busey AND Matthew Lillard and turn it into a charisma-free void with no redeeming qualities. Like, you gotta put some fricking effort into that. Those guys could make reading the dictionary be entertaining.
Elite Dangerous has its faults, but goddamn, did it pull something epic and historical with a ten-years-in-the-making final event.
Store Citizen missing deadlines like that is to be expected.
Just a few more jpegs and they'll have the money to finish it!
I do remember them spending a lot of money on Star-Trek style doors for the their HQ and now they're moving, so I guess that was money well spent.
After much careful reflection on this news, here is my response: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I think I could have written this headline 6 years ago.
I remember them announcing that SQ404 was entering a "polishing" phase in late 2023.
At that point and to this day, they failed to finalise a flight model, develop an armour/shield system and implement engineering gameplay.
Arguably these are critical elements for a release with space sim gameplay. Although if SQ404 does release, I think it will be 30 hours of Wing Commander The Movie level cut scenes (space bulldozer) and script, with bored sounding Hollywood actors counting the seconds till they can leave Chris Roberts' mocap studio.
Inside Chris Roberts' Mocap Studio:
Roberts: Hehehe. Hey, Mark! You know how I came up with the Vanduul? Hehe.
Hamil: No, how?
Roberts: Ehehe. Vandals to Vanduul! Get it? Hehehe. Pretty smart, right? Hehehe.
Hamil: Very original.
Roberts: Did you know the Vandals were a Germanic tribal grouping that raided the Roman Empire? Bet you didn't know that! Hehehe.
Hamil: I am in awe of your creativy!
Roberts: I know, right! Hehehe.
Ok Mark, enough farting around. Pretend you are riding a space bulldozer!
It never existed!
Things I've done in Elite Dangerous since Star Citizen started development:
Everything there is to do.
Meanwhile I've done five or six playthroughs of Freelancer while this game has been in development and had more fun than I'll ever have with Star Citizen.
Sigh deeply, rub their foreheads, and open their wallets.
Rub their nipples*
The scam is eternal.
I've spent hardly any money on that game. I did the first 20 bucks. Then a 15 to get a tiny mining ship to help get in-game money. But I wouldn't have even gotten it if it wasn't for my partner REALLY liking the "game."
I might like it too... if it actually worked and every bug I've ever encountered being perfect for setting all my progress to zero or even backwards. Because you have to buy supplies to do a mission.
So fuck that. I'm not playing it until I can make progress- which will be never.
It'll be released when the original backers grandchildren have kids 😂
My old boss was a backer back when he had a young child.
That child is now in high school.
💀
I remember hearing this joke in 2020.
Joke?
I was this 🤏 close to buying squadron 42 years ago, as it was just about to get released. dodged that bullet.
I heard it's been in development for a long time but didn't know it's this long.
this is why you should buy games that are released
Right. Never pre-order games. Ever.
I think it's high time we just ghosted any news of this scam of a game and studio.
I write this under YouTube videos that keep referencing it in their "Upcoming Space Games" lists.
Seems like an outright lie for the past...decade or so.
Color me surprised. I still think this whole thing is a big scam, like a money laundering scheme or some grift.
If you look into the history of Chris Roberts you'll know it's not a scam. Roberts is one of the few creatives I'd say actually needs an executive board to hold him back, because he'll never stop and actually finish something.
I don't think there's a single project Roberts has finished on his own accord. He has always been made to finish.
All I really wanted was SQ42 back when I supported it on Kickstarter. With my 20 bucks there's no regret, but it's quite funny where things have gone since then.
I install the latest alpha once every year and am both amazed and disappointed.
I don't expect SQ42 to be released before 2030 and I do expect it to be a buggy, unoptimized mess when it finally arrives.
I've been thoroughly entertained all those years, though.
What an insane and unprecedented surprise.
We are gonna get gta 8 before we get star citizen.
Scam Shitizen.
I guess if it's any consolation, our real world space efforts are also largely even more behind schedule than usual, thanks Elon.
Since i saw that gameplay footage which was released like somewhere in the last 5 years its all i can think about when Sq42 is in the news again. Until that point i just hoped that maybe somehow someday an unpolished but interesting game will come out. But that footage looked so unfun and ass after ~10 years of development i lost all hope.
We'll see Shenmue 9 before Star Citizen's release.
Not to worry, I'll have GTA 15 to keep me entertained until then
Will we even make it to the 35th century?
1: '97
2: '99
3: '01
VC: '02
SA: '04
IV: '08
V: '13
VI: '25
So, 2 -> 2 -> 1 -> 2 -> 4 -> 5 -> 12... Taking the first 2, 2, 1 as a downwards arc of the parabola, we should be seeing:
VII: '42
VIII: '71
IX: 2122
X: 2227
XI: 2376
XII: 2544
XIII: 2795
XIV: 3060
XV: 3410
We'll be star citizens ourselves before Star Citizen releases
The big problem is how to make it fun for those who are not space nerds. They are making a game for hundreds of thousands of players with a budget of a game for tens of millions. They are getting funded for a feline-shaped bag, once it's out chances are it'll be so aggressive, mangy and moody no one will want to play with it. Aiming at a reticle projecting where the enemy will be when the shots land for 30 hours with occassional explanations by hollywood b-listers is not everyone's cup of space tea.
Yeah.. all I wanted was Freelancer 2.
Then I realized, Microsoft had to step in, get rid of Roberts so Freelancer could see the light of day. And it dawned on me, we're not seeing Freelancer 2 from this guy.
No Man's Sky is the modern closest to that Star Citizen wants to be.
hahahahahaha
We will probably be back at the moon before this is release.
Will probably have an actual galactic empire before this game releases. Assuming they never does release because I'm not convinced that the guy isn't totally in on the idea that it's a scam.
Ok, so preordering what promises to be a motorcycle but years later getting a bicycle instead that you happen to enjoy riding is also acceptable?
Last time I hate the patience to soldier through a sad attempt at playing this game felt more like buying some next gen bike, but getting the chassis that looks like the bike I ordered, but had tech from 10 years ago and every time you try to park it in your garage, both wheels fall off.
It’s pretty sad really.
What does you having fun with friends in star citizen have to do with the discussion about it being a scam?
These things are unrelated.
There are companies with 50K employees with working delivery (no JPEG of an oil barrel) where the management was found to engage in fraud.
It's not like the only type of scam possible is a day 1 rugpull.
Umm, I bought it because Gary Oldman said squadron 42 was coming out next year. I want a modern freelancer. That was over a decade ago. That really seems like a scam...
Mark Hamil said that something called "Squadron 54" was coming out soon, this was half a decade ago.
Horribly mismanaged? Incompetent project management? Horrifyingly bad predictions, even lying? Big mess of a project? Sure.
Scam? No. They really are trying to do the thing they said they are.
And as you say, even though they're never, ever going to deliver what they promised because they can't, they have delivered a thing that a lot of people like
But god DAMN. They said most of the PU features would be done in 2016/17. 9 years later 80% of what they promised still isn't there. Multi crew has been walked back. Etc etc.
A scam would be that Chris Robert just took the kickstarter money and ran away. They are actually trying to make the game... Poorly.
Having said that, It amazes me that they get away with selling ships for 1000s of dollars. That feels somewhat scam-ish
I'm fine with this. They took so long already, might as well give them as much time as they need to finish the job.
I'm more interested in the PU, anyways.
You fit in.
No one agrees with you
I read this comment in 2015.
Sunken cost fallacy in action.
I really hope you break away from this some day, SC doesn't deserve your
moneydedication.You fit in.
You are a kind soul. Your grand grand grand kids (assuming you have them) will be very greatful for your sacrifice (when they get their hands on the production alpha release candidate 2 build).
You fit in.