Squadron 42 Delayed to 2027 Because Chris Roberts Doesn't Want to Fight GTA 6
Cloud Imperium Games has pushed its long-awaited single-player space game Squadron 42 to Q2 2027, and the studio's founder says the reason is simple: Grand Theft Auto VI.
In a "Letter From The Chairman" blog post on 27 August 2026, studio boss Chris Roberts wrote that launching Squadron 42 in late 2026, as previously planned, would mean being "drowned out" by the attention surrounding Rockstar's GTA 6, which is scheduled to launch in November 2026 (Eurogamer; Roberts Space Industries).
Roberts acknowledged that GTA 6 is not launching on PC at that time, but said gaming outlets and content creators would be focused on it regardless. He called Squadron 42 his spiritual successor to Wing Commander, the classic space-combat series he created in the 1990s, and said he did not want to release it into that noise.
The plan had been to ship the game in Q4 2026, around the time of the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, an in-universe annual event tied to Star Citizen's persistent multiplayer universe. Cloud Imperium had reaffirmed a 2026 target as recently as late 2025. At CitizenCon 2024, the studio's fan convention, Roberts announced a 2026 release window. Now the studio says it looked at early-2027 release windows and determined Q2 provides a better slot (Roberts Space Industries).
A Q2 2027 window would place the launch in spring of that year, assuming no further changes (Eurogamer). According to Kotaku, the delay moves the release to at least April 2027 (Kotaku).
Squadron 42 has been in development since 2014. Its cast includes Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Andy Serkis, Ben Mendelsohn, and Mark Strong — a roster that has only grown more expensive-looking as the years have passed. The game has slipped its release date repeatedly over more than a decade of production (Eurogamer).
Before the new date is set in stone, Cloud Imperium plans to preview Squadron 42 to a small group of content creators and early backers in October, with a firmer release date to follow (Eurogamer).
Squadron 42 is the narrative spin-off of Star Citizen, the crowdfunded space simulator that passed US$1 billion in funding in May 2025. Star Citizen itself remains in alpha, and its monetisation has drawn attention before — including the sale of a US$5,000 "Annel Odin" capital ship that was not yet flyable at the time of purchase (Eurogamer).
For fans, the delay is another wait in a project already known for them. For Cloud Imperium, it is a bet that a quieter release window will give a decade-in-the-making game room to breathe.
