Star Citizen is a multiplayer space trading and combat simulation video game being developed by Cloud Imperium Games for Windows. It is based on old ideas from a previous game called Freelancer (2003) that were not completed. The game was introduced in 2012 and received support through a Kickstarter campaign that raised over US$2 million. However, after more than 10 years of development, no specific end date for the early access phase has been announced. In August 2025, the game's director, Chris Roberts, stated that Star Citizen aims for a release in 2027 or 2028. A single-player version of the game, Squadron 42, is expected to release in 2026.

In 2013, Cloud Imperium Games started releasing parts of the game called "modules" to let players try gameplay features before the full release. The "Persistent Universe" module was tested by pre-purchasers in 2015, and the game entered early access in 2017. Updates continue to be added. The game has faced criticism for not providing a clear end date for early access and for challenges backers faced when requesting refunds after leaving the project. The original release date was expected in 2014, but the game has been delayed multiple times.

After the initial Kickstarter campaign, Cloud Imperium Games raised additional funds by selling in-game items, such as ships. The game's funding methods have caused further criticism and legal problems. Star Citizen is known as one of the highest-funded crowdfunding projects. As of December 2025, total crowdfunding and early access sales have reached nearly US$1 billion, making it one of the most expensive video games to develop and among the most expensive single pieces of entertainment ever created.

Gameplay

Star Citizen includes elements from space simulator, first person shooter, and massively multiplayer online games through its four playable sections. These sections, called modules, offer different experiences for players. Three modules—Hangar, Arena Commander, and Star Marine—show gameplay features found in the Persistent Universe module, but each has its own unique rules.

In the Hangar Module, players can look at or change their purchased ships that are publicly available. They can also arrange decorations inside the hangar, but they cannot fly the ships. As of May 19, 2021, the Hangar Module is not working because of ongoing problems.

Arena Commander is a space combat simulator where players can fly ships in different game types against other players or AI opponents. In Free Flight, players can fly without fighting. In Vanduul Swarm, up to four players fight waves of computer-controlled enemies. Capture the Core is a game where teams try to take the opposing team's core and move it to their side. A racing game lets players fly through checkpoints to beat others' times. Battle Royale and Team are game types where players compete directly, earning points by destroying enemy ships. Pirate Swarm is a game where players fight groups of enemies, similar to Vanduul Swarm but with different enemy types.

Arena Commander introduced G-force effects that can cause players to pass out if their ship moves in ways that apply strong forces. Players can rent equipment to improve their ship's combat abilities. A feature allowing multiple players to control a ship was announced in 2015 but has not been added yet.

Star Marine is a ground combat simulator where players fight with weapons. Two maps and two game types—Elimination and Last Stand—were available at release. Last Stand is a game where teams try to capture control points to earn points. Elimination is a game where players compete individually to get the most kills before the match ends. Both game types last ten minutes or until one team reaches a higher score.

The Persistent Universe includes three systems—Pyro, Stanton, and Nyx—and combines gameplay from the Hangar, Arena Commander, and Star Marine modules into one multiplayer environment. Players can move freely across four planets, nine moons, a planetoid, and a gas giant.

Players can choose male or female characters for the Persistent Universe. When entering the mode, players start at a space station or on a planet. Once there, they can choose activities like trading, bounty hunting, mining, or completing missions. A law system tracks player actions and penalizes criminal behavior by limiting access to certain areas or causing bounties and law enforcement reactions. Players can lower their criminal rating by hacking the law system or paying fines.

Players can move in both gravity and zero-gravity environments. Different planets have different gravity levels that affect jump height. In zero-gravity, players move using thrusters on their backs. If a player enters a ship, artificial gravity helps them move inside.

The final game will use a currency called UEC (United Earth Credits), but the current version uses a temporary currency called aUEC (Alpha United Earth Credits), which resets periodically and will be replaced by UEC at release.

Players can summon purchased or rented ships at landing zones using ASOP Vehicle Retrieval Terminals. Ships can be bought with real money or in-game credits at kiosks. Rental ships are available for short or long periods. If a ship is destroyed, players must report it and wait for it to be fixed. Players can fly ships in space and on planets, with smooth transitions between environments.

Planets are created automatically with different environments and areas of interest. Each planet has a landing zone, often in a city, where players can walk and explore. Some cities have transit systems to connect different areas. Stores in these zones sell weapons and items for players to buy and trade. Most planets have cave systems where players can complete missions or mine for rare materials.

Squadron 42

Squadron 42 is a story-based single-player game set in the fictional Star Citizen universe, described by developers as a "spiritual successor to Wing Commander." It is being developed by Foundry 42 studio, with Erin Roberts overseeing the project. Erin previously worked with Chris Roberts on the Wing Commander series and led the development of games like Privateer 2: The Darkening and Starlancer. The game was first announced in 2014 during a Kickstarter campaign but faced multiple delays. In mid-2019, the developers planned a beta release by the end of Q2 2020, later adjusting to Q3 2020 on a roadmap that was later abandoned. In December 2020, Chris Roberts stated there would be no official release date or gameplay footage at that time. He explained that it was best not to share gameplay or set a release date until the game was nearly complete and met quality standards. At CitizenCon 2024, the first gameplay segments of Squadron 42 were shown, with a 2026 release suggested.

The game’s interactive storyline follows an elite military unit. Players enlist in the United Empire of Earth Navy and participate in a campaign beginning with a large space battle. Player choices may allow optional citizenship in the UEE and influence their status in the Star Citizen persistent universe. Neither game requires the other to be played. Features include space combat simulation, first-person shooter elements, and a conversation system that affects relationships with non-player pilots. A cooperative mode was initially proposed in the Kickstarter but later changed to a post-release addition. The game will be released in multiple episodes, with Episode One offering approximately 20 hours of gameplay and 70 missions. Episodes Two and Three will follow later. The cast includes Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Jack Huston, Eleanor Tomlinson, Harry Treadaway, Sophie Wu, Damson Idris, Eric Wareheim, Rhona Mitra, Henry Cavill, and Ben Mendelsohn, among others.

Development

Star Citizen is being developed by Cloud Imperium Games, a studio started by Chris Roberts, Sandi Roberts, and Ortwin Freyermuth in 2012. Before founding Cloud Imperium Games, Chris Roberts worked at Origin Systems from 1990 to 1996, where he created the popular Wing Commander series. After completing the game Starlancer in 1999, delays in developing Freelancer led to Microsoft acquiring the company, and Roberts left the project. The finished version of Freelancer was well received but lacked some of the features Roberts had planned. Roberts later said Star Citizen is inspired by both Wing Commander and Freelancer.

Pre-production for Star Citizen began in 2010, and development started in 2011 using CryEngine 3. Contractors and companies like CGBot, Rmory, VoidAlpha, and Behaviour Interactive helped create an early prototype and concept art. The goal was to gain outside investment, but after the success of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter campaign, Roberts decided to fund the game through crowdfunding. After hiring Ortwin Freyermuth, Ben Lesnick, and David Swofford, Cloud Imperium Games was formed to build the initial campaign. Star Citizen was officially announced at GDC on October 10, 2012, but the campaign website crashed during the event. A Kickstarter campaign was launched on October 18, 2012.

A modified version of Amazon Lumberyard, called StarEngine, is used to develop Star Citizen and Squadron 42. The game was originally made with CryEngine 3 but switched to Lumberyard in December 2016. Chris Roberts said the change was due to Lumberyard’s online features, such as integration with Amazon Web Services and support for live-streaming on Twitch.

When Star Citizen first launched on Kickstarter, it was described as “everything that made Wing Commander and Privateer / Freelancer special.” The game was planned to include a single-player story mode called Squadron 42 with co-op play, a persistent universe mode, and multiplayer features without subscriptions or pay-to-win elements. The initial release date was set for November 2014, with all features available at launch. Additional features included virtual reality support, flight stick compatibility, and a focus on high-end PCs. While the game was initially targeted for Windows, Linux support was a future goal.

In August 2013, Chris Roberts announced the “Hangar Module,” which allowed players to explore completed ships in an enclosed space. The module was released on August 29 and marked the start of Star Citizen’s modular development process, where smaller parts of the game would be released before the full game. During this time, the AI system Kythera, developed by Moon Collider, was introduced for use in the game.

Star Citizen is developed by Cloud Imperium Games and Foundry 42, with studios in Austin, Frankfurt, Santa Monica, Wilmslow, and Derby. Other partners involved in the project include Turbulent, Virtuos, and Wyrmbyte. Turbulent was acquired by Cloud Imperium Games in July 2023.

Arena Commander, the “flight combat” module, was released on June 4, 2014. It lets players test ship combat and racing against other players or AI in various game types. Initially, only a few players had access to multiplayer, but all players received access by August 2014. Updates added new game types, and by December 2014, Arena Commander reached version 1.0, a major milestone for the project.

Star Marine was the “FPS module” for Star Citizen. It was announced at PAX Australia 2014 with a planned 2015 release. Development was outsourced to IllFonic, a Colorado-based studio. The module was intended to include gameplay features like space-based combat and zero-gravity environments. However, the assets created for Star Marine did not match the scale of the rest of the game, and the contract was canceled in August 2015. Development was then moved back to Cloud Imperium Games.

Delays in Star Marine’s development pushed its release beyond 2015. Before the contract ended, reports said the module was “delayed indefinitely” or “cancelled.” A game type called SATA Ball, an in-game sport played in zero gravity, was announced in 2015 but has not yet been added to the game. Star Marine was finally released on December 23, 2016, a year after its planned release date.

Earlier modules focused on specific gameplay aspects, but the release of Star Citizen’s Alpha 2.0 version, initially called Crusader, combined elements from previous modules. It was first released on December 11, 2015, a year after the project’s original completion date. Later renamed “Universe,” this module became the main focus of development, with future updates centered on expanding its content.

Alpha 3.0, a major milestone, was announced for December 2016 at Gamescom 2016. At the CitizenCon event in October 2016, Cloud Imperium Games said Alpha 3.0 would be split into four smaller releases. However, the team announced in December 2016 that they would switch Star Citizen to the Amazon Lumberyard engine. Alpha 3.0 was finally released in December 2017, followed by a public roadmap showing future development plans.

As development continued, Cloud Imperium Games released incremental updates that built on Alpha 3.0. Early updates focused on stabilizing the “barely playable” Alpha 3.0 and adding gameplay mechanics for the Persistent Universe module. Face-over-IP technology, developed with FaceWare Technologies, was added in Alpha 3.3. Updates continued through 2019, with Cloud Imperium Games adopting a quarterly schedule for updates. Concerns about the game’s long development time remained.

During the development of Alpha 3.8, the team discussed implementing a technology called Object Container Streaming. Due to the game’s large scale, challenges arose in managing its complexity.

Grey market

In 2014, Eurogamer reported that a grey market developed in Star Citizen due to the game's funding methods, including the sale of limited-edition ships and the lack of a system for players to sell or trade ships directly with each other. Some individuals began acting as middlemen to help with selling or trading ships, especially after changes in how insurance worked for newly purchased ships. Cloud Imperium Games adjusted the game's "gifting system," stating, "To stop scams, items can only be given as gifts once before being tied to an account." Middlemen avoided this rule by handling the money part of the deal and letting buyers and sellers trade their items directly. According to the report, "Chris Roberts does not want to stop the grey market in Star Citizen."

Reception

In 2016, a writer named Charlie Hall from Polygon compared Star Citizen to two other space simulation games, No Man's Sky and Elite: Dangerous. He wrote that Star Citizen was "a hope wrapped inside a dream buried inside a few layers of controversy." He also noted that each game offers unique features within the space sim genre. Another writer, Luke Winkie from PC Gamer, compared Star Citizen to No Man's Sky, calling it "the other super ambitious, controversial space sim on the horizon." He mentioned that some fans of the genre, who were disappointed with No Man's Sky, turned to Star Citizen, even though it was not yet finished.

Star Citizen's developers have faced criticism for continuing to raise money for the project while missing deadlines. Some people also question whether the game can be completed and whether the technology required is feasible.

Between September and October 2015, The Escapist magazine published two articles that claimed the Star Citizen project was in trouble. After the game's creator, Chris Roberts, responded strongly to the articles, Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) threatened The Escapist with legal action. This threat did not result in legal action. In March 2017, Derek Smart stated that both CIG and The Escapist had resolved the issue outside of court. A statement from Defy Media, which owns The Escapist, said that both parties agreed to remove their comments about each other and wished each other well. The article later tied for third place in an award given by the Society of Professional Journalists.

In September 2016, Kotaku UK published a five-part series about controversies surrounding Star Citizen. One article discussed a long-rumored disagreement between Derek Smart and Chris Roberts. In December 2016, Star Citizen won an award for "Vaporware" from Wired, which recognizes games that are announced but not completed. Massively OP also gave Star Citizen its "Most Likely to Flop" award for both 2016 and 2017.

Ongoing debates continue about the size of the project, how much money has been raised, and whether the game will be completed as promised. Some writers have received threatening emails for covering the project. At least one popular YouTube personality reportedly received death threats from a fan of the game.

In July 2015, Derek Smart, an early supporter of the project, wrote a blog post claiming that Star Citizen's growing scope and lack of proper technology made it impossible to complete as planned. After widespread coverage of his post, CIG refunded him and canceled his account. In August 2015, Smart’s lawyers sent a letter to CIG demanding financial records, a release date, and a refund option for backers. CIG’s co-founder called Smart’s claims "defamatory" and "without merit." Smart has continued to criticize the project since receiving his refund.

In 2017, CIG announced that players could buy virtual land in the game, even though this feature had not yet been added. This decision caused criticism from the press and the public, who worried about fairness and whether the feature would favor players who paid more. CIG responded by stating that players who bought land or earned money in-game would have equal opportunities, as long as they had enough in-game currency.

In August 2018, CIG tried to charge people for watching the live stream of its annual CitizenCon event but later stopped after online complaints. Later, CIG removed a limit on in-game currency, which led to renewed criticism about the game’s fairness.

Legal issues

In 2015, some people who supported Star Citizen started asking for their money back from Cloud Imperium Games. A report from Polygon said that a survey on the Star Citizen message boards showed up to 25% of backers wanted a way to get refunds. The survey had 1,173 responses. At first, refunds were handled one case at a time. On June 10, 2016, the company changed its rules to remove a part that allowed refunds if the game was not released within 18 months of its original expected date. Before this change, backers could get refunds under that 18-month rule. After the change, refunds were only allowed if the project was abandoned by developers. Exceptions were made for backers who had already spent money before the rule change and wanted to use the 18-month rule for refunds. A month later, a backer filed a complaint with the Los Angeles County District Attorney and the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs after failing to get a refund following the rule change. The backer said they were interested in the project because it supported virtual reality, which helped them play the game with their disability. After delays in virtual reality support and the rule change, the backer said it was "the straw that broke the camel’s back for me." A DCBA investigator arranged for a $2,550 refund because the backer had not downloaded the game client and had not accepted the revised rules.

Other Star Citizen refund cases were covered by the media. In September 2017, a false claim by an anonymous Redditor that they had spent five weeks to get a $45,000 refund was reported by Ars Technica but later disproven, forcing the outlet to retract the story. In December, a backer spent three months trying to get a $24,000 refund and started a small claims court case against Cloud Imperium Games. Another backer was trying to get a $16,700 refund. The first case was sent to the Better Business Bureau.

After talking with the Better Business Bureau, Cloud Imperium Games updated their website and revised their rules again. Changes included clearer information about the project’s progress, labeling purchases as "pledges," and warning potential buyers about possible delays and the need to check the project’s roadmap before finalizing payments. New rules allowed refund requests during a 14-day "cancellation period," but the company said it still offered refunds within 30 days.

In July 2018, a backer started a small claims court case to get a $4,496 refund. The backer said they were disappointed with the game’s delays, broken promises, and changes that limited their ability to play due to a disability. In court, Cloud Imperium Games argued that the backer’s participation in an early tester program called "Evocati" showed they were receiving a product. When an arbitration clause from the rules was mentioned, the backer claimed they were covered by the original rules since they backed the project before the changes. Cloud Imperium Games said most of the backer’s purchases were made after the rule change and that they would have had to accept the revised rules for any new purchases. The judge ruled in favor of Cloud Imperium Games. A 2019 Forbes report said the backer continued to buy items after the lawsuit ended. The same report noted the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had received 129 complaints about Cloud Imperium Games.

In December 2017, Crytek, the developers of CryEngine, sued Cloud Imperium Games for copyright infringement and broken agreements. Crytek said Cloud Imperium Games continued using CryEngine after switching to Amazon Lumberyard, failed to share changes to CryEngine, used the engine for two separate products instead of one, and removed the CryEngine logo from game materials. Crytek asked for damages and a permanent ban on using CryEngine in Star Citizen or Squadron 42. Cloud Imperium Games called the lawsuit "meritless," while Crytek said it had "no choice but to protect its intellectual property."

As the lawsuit continued, Cloud Imperium Games argued that Crytek was "selectively" and "misleadingly" using agreements between the companies. They said exclusive use of the engine did not mean they had to use it, and the original agreement prevented either side from seeking damages. In January 2018, Cloud Imperium Games asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, but the judge denied the request except for one claim and the possibility of punitive damages. In December 2018, the judge dismissed claims about Cloud Imperium Games’ right to use another engine and their obligation to promote CryEngine.

After more than a year of legal battles, Crytek asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit without legal fees in January 2020, with an option to restart the case after Squadron 42 was released. Cloud Imperium Games countered by asking the court to dismiss the case with $500,000 in legal fees paid by Crytek. During this time, Cloud Imperium Games shared an email from Amazon to Crytek in 2019, stating that Amazon had given Crytek a license to use its Lumberyard engine, which included rights to CryEngine.

In February 2020, Crytek and Cloud Imperium Games proposed a settlement, asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit with undisclosed terms. A 2021 report from Cloud Imperium Games said they acquired a license for CryEngine from Crytek in 2020.

In September 2021, a customer complaint to the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about unclear marketing emails from Cloud Imperium Games was accepted. The ASA required Cloud Imperium Games to clarify that "concept ships" for sale are not yet available in the game. As a result, Star Citizen marketing emails now include a warning that concept ships are not yet playable.