There is a big part of me that doesn’t really believe any aspect of Star Citizen is real. It’s never really a game I’ve given all that much of my attention to, the thing gives off pyramid scheme energy in a way I can’t quite explain. Probably something to do with the numerous promises developer Cloud Imperium Games have made over the years that haven’t always come to fruition in the way they said, or when they said, they would. And here’s yet another example of that: Squadron 42, the story-based single-player spinoff of Star Citizen, has been delayed in 2027, all because of a pesky game called GTA 6.

“At CitizenCon 2024 we announced we would ship in 2026,” a blog post from studio head Chris Roberts explains. “Our plan was to release in Q4 around IAE. But much like the rest of the industry there is no way I want to launch my spiritual successor to Wing Commander, a game that has had twelve years of blood, sweat and tears invested into it (we started Squadron 42 development in 2014 as 2013 was opening studios, hiring people and getting the Hangar module out for Star Citizen) launching into the attention buzz saw of GTA6. While GTA6 isn’t launching on PC this November, pretty much all outlets and most content creators will be all over it, not leaving a lot of room for other coverage.”

As a result, the release window has been shifted all the way to Q2, 2027. The post goes on to explain that the devs are “allowing a small number of original backers and long-time Star Citizen content creators an opportunity to play Squadron 42 this October 9th and 10th. We’ll be making further announcements about our release plans during this time and a specific release date shortly afterwards.”

Squadron 42 was originally slated for release way back in 2014, so it’s going on more than a decade now since it was meant to be in folks’ hands. I’m sure that bodes well for the final thing. The game has a weirdly stacked cast, too, featuring the likes of Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Mark Hammill, Andy Serkis, Henry Cavill, and for some reason, amongst all of these big names, comic actor Eric Wareheim. If you want to know about space, you have to know about the planets, so I guess we better listen to Eric however he shows up.