Squadron 42

Squadron 42 is the single-player campaign set in the Star Citizen universe, developed and published by Cloud Imperium Games, with Foundry 42 as the lead studio. It was announced in October 2012 alongside Star Citizen and has been in active development for over a decade. Players take the role of a rookie UEE Navy pilot who joins the 42nd Squadron, mixing space dogfighting, ground combat, ship upgrades and crew interactions aboard a capital ship, with a branching story. Chris Roberts has described it as a spiritual successor to Wing Commander.

The cast is a major selling point and includes Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong and Liam Cunningham, with Henry Cavill and Andy Serkis also reported in the line-up. Roberts has said the campaign should take roughly 30 to 40 hours to finish. A 2026 release was announced at CitizenCon in October 2024, and the game was planned for Q4 2026 around Cloud Imperium's Intergalactic Aerospace Expo.

In an August 2026 Letter from the Chairman, Roberts pushed the launch to Q2 2027, saying he did not want to release into the attention generated by Grand Theft Auto VI, which is scheduled for 19 November 2026. A small group of original backers and content creators will still play the game on 9 and 10 October 2026, and a specific release date is expected to be announced after those sessions. Cloud Imperium has a long record of missed targets, so the Q2 2027 window should be treated as a goal rather than a firm date.