'I Don't Know If We're Going to Make It': Star Citizen Dev Casts Doubt on Squadron 42's 2026 Release

In today's least surprising news, the game that was supposed to be out in 2014 might not be out in 2026, either.

I can almost feel the collective, weary sigh of the entire Star Citizen community. Just a short while after developer Cloud Imperium Games "reaffirmed" a 2026 launch for the eternally-in-development single-player campaign, Squadron 42, a key developer has already poured a gallon of cold, pragmatic water on that promise.

The Freudian Slip

The verbal grenade was tossed by content director Jared Huckaby during a recent Star Citizen Live showcase. While explaining why the nearly $865 million project wouldn't be shown at the upcoming CitizenCon, he let slip a line that sent the community into a predictable spiral.

"We drew a line in the sand when we said 2026," Huckaby said. "I don't know if we're going to make it, I just know that we're going to do every single thing possible to make it".

Now, I'm no expert in corporate communications, but "I don't know if we're going to make it" is generally what you say when you are pretty damn sure you are not, in fact, going to make it.

The Predictable Backpedal

The fan reaction was, of course, immediate. Reddit threads popped up with users already penciling in a 2027 release, with one commenter noting, "My son is 5 months old, and I expect to see him walking and talking before I play this game".

Huckaby quickly jumped into the thread to perform some damage control. He clarified that he wasn't hinting at a delay, but was just being pragmatic. He argued that he personally can't know the future of game development, for any game, and that his comment was meant in the "most literal manner possible".

Fool Me Once, Shame on... Wait, What Number Are We On?

Look, Huckaby's clarification is a nice sentiment. In a vacuum, it's a perfectly reasonable statement. The problem is that Squadron 42 doesn't exist in a vacuum. It exists in a decade-long vortex of missed deadlines and ever-shifting goalposts.

This is a game that was originally supposed to be out in 2014. Its beta was scheduled for 2020. It was declared "feature complete" last year. Forgive me, and the entire community, for not giving them the benefit of the doubt this time around.

At this point, does another delay even matter? The funding is approaching $900 million. The believers will continue to believe, the rest of us will continue to watch in morbid fascination, and the great, lumbering beast of Star Citizen's development will shamble on. We'll all just wait and see what 2027 brings.