Fans of the Star Citizen game have some good news. The devs recently came forward to announce that the single-player campaign, Squadron 42, of their MMO title is now in the final stages of production. This announcement has rekindled the hopes of fans who wanted to experience the MMO title in its entirety.

However, this announcement of entering the final stages of production has arrived after 10 years of the game’s development process. With this long period of development, a question arises – are the fans still interested in playing the space-based MMO? Further, Star Citizen now has increased competition, with titles like Starfield and Star Wars Jedi already in the market.

Star Citizen: a multi-million dollar game in development hell

Star Citizen is the ambitious space-based MMO being developed by Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) which was announced in 2012. The game’s life cycle started with a Kickstarter campaign launched in 2012, asking for funds to develop the game. They initially set a goal of $500,000 but reportedly crossed a massive $230 million! The devs initially asked the money to develop both the MMO and single-player story campaign. Since then the single-player story campaign, Squadron 42, has split off from the main game to become a standalone campaign. The launch of the game was originally anticipated for 2014 but was delayed constantly.

In 2015, the devs at CIG brought some good news for the fans looking forward to Squadron 42. CIG announced a heavy-weight Hollywood cast including the likes of Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, and Andy Serkis, among many others. Furthermore, they showcased the cast in stellar cinematic trailers. Since then, however, both parts of the space-based game have suffered from delays and radio silence from the developers. 

A plus point for the fans is that there have been constant rollouts of versions for the game since 2013. People who have funded the game and are looking to buy it can test it out themselves. However, now these modules by CIG are proving ineffective as fans demand the complete game. But even 9 years after its planned 2014 release didn’t happen, Star Citizen is still in the alpha phase. While the devs claim the game is “feature complete” and are working towards beta, the fans are now waiting for an eternity. This raises the question of whether the fans have lost their interest in Star Citizen.

Alternative titles of the space-based MMO title already present in the market

Since September 2023, Star Citizen’s long-running development has raised over $600 million from almost 5 million backers. This has arguably made the title one of the most expensive games to be in development. However, it looks like the backers have started to lose faith in the development of the game. Many netizens have begun to speculate the game is going to be vaporware. 

And the devs are yet to announce a release date for the title. Even with Squadron 42, CIG released a statement claiming, “As we move into the polishing phase, we’re fully focused on optimizing and fine-tuning all aspects of the gameplay experience to deliver an unprecedented cinematic adventure.” This statement also does not contain any release date or a timeline for the game’s expected arrival.

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This lack of communication from the developer’s end has left fans with a sour taste. This will prompt them to claim their refund for backing the title and migrate towards other space-faring games already available in the market. And the biggest competitor for Star Citizen right now is Bethesda’s RPG, Starfield.

Starfield offers many features available in Star Citizen minus the multiplayer aspect. This would look like a fair tradeoff for gamers looking to enjoy the space alone. Further, fans also have the space-exploration game No Man’s Sky.

With No Man’s Sky: Beyond update coming next year, along with its VR compatibility, Star Citizen surely has a lot of competition to face.

Will Star Citizen be able to justify its development cost?

And the growing development time has made fans wary of the space-based MMO even more. This is evident from the lawsuits filed by the backers in the past. Since then, CIG has changed its user policies, allowing a refund only within 14 days. Further, they make the new backers pledge that “there may be product delivery delays and to check the roadmap site before he/she chooses to click the final OK box and provide payment.”

On the other hand, CIG has acquired Turbulent, which means they have over 1100 people working towards making Star Citizen and Squadron 42. Plus the people who have tried the Alpha releases of the game have given a positive review of the space-based MMO title. Despite having a generally positive review, one thing is for certain – if the developers keep delaying the release window of the title, fans are surely going to start looking at other avenues. Hopefully, Star Citizen rolls out before the hype dies down.

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