After Raising Over $1 Billion From Players, Star Citizen Dev Chris Roberts Hopes Squadron 42’s 2026 Launch Will Be ‘Almost as Big an Event’ as GTA 6

Chris Roberts, the chief developer of Star Citizen, has made a bold claim about next year’s single-player spinoff, Squadron 42, comparing it to the launch of behemoth Grand Theft Auto 6.

Cloud Imperium Games’ space sim is considered one of the most controversial projects in all video games. Over the near 13 years since its crowdfunding drive began, Star Citizen has been called many things including a scam by those who wonder whether it will ever properly launch. Its virtual space ships, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, are often the focus of criticism.

Indeed, Star Citizen has now raised an eye-watering $859 million, according to figures from CIG. The developer makes revenue publicly available on its website. CIG calls this money “funds raised.”

In March last year, CIG began talking about Star Citizen’s 1.0 launch being within sight, although there’s still no release window for it. 1.0, Roberts has said, “is what we consider the features and content set to represent ‘commercial’ release.”

Squadron 42, meanwhile, launches at some point in 2026. If it makes that release window, it’ll come out an incredible 14 years after CIG first launched Star Citizen’s crowdfunding drive.

Roberts, known for creating the Wing Commander series, has said Squadron 42 will offer 30-40 hours of gameplay. A demo shown off in 2024 was heavy on flashy cutscenes, with CGI representations of Hollywood stars such as Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, and Mark Strong mixed with on-rails turret action in a huge space battle. The demo ended with a first-person shooter segment as the alien enemy boarded the player’s ship.

Now, in a new French language report by La Presse (thanks, PC Gamer) focusing on Cloud Imperium Games Montreal, the new name for subsidiary Turbulent, Roberts compared the release of Squadron 42 to the release of GTA 6.

Squadron 42 will launch at a point in 2026 where it won’t be overshadowed by GTA 6, the report claims, before handing over to Roberts: “We’re hoping it’ll be almost as big an event. Other than GTA 6, it’s probably the biggest-budget AAA game.”

In the same report, Roberts was said to have confirmed he’s raised just over $1 billion for Star Citizen from players.

It’s worth noting that Squadron 42 is so-far confirmed only for PC, a platform GTA 6 is set to skip when it launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on May 26, 2026. But Roberts’ outlandish claim is already being torn apart by the internet, which has issued a collective ‘no chance’ response. Analysts predict GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, making more money in its first 24 hours than any video game or movie before it.

La Presse did highlight, however, that Star Citizen has over one million returning players every month, and at least 25 million people playing at least once. So that should give Squadron 42 a decent audience to launch into.

As for Star Citizen itself, the report reveals it’s now set for a full release sometime in 2027 or 2028, or as Roberts put it, one or two years after the release of Squadron 42.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.