News archive and timeline
The biggest recent entry: on 10 October 2026 CIG opened Steam wishlists for Squadron 42, released The Oath trailer, and revealed the full cast - with the store showing a Q2 2027 window.
The dated record of Squadron 42's public signals, newest first - the trailers, letters and store launches that actually moved the story forward. Every entry here links to its source material, and the pattern to note is simple: every real date change so far has come from CIG itself.
October 2026 - wishlists open, the cast stands up
- 10 Oct 2026: The Steam page goes live with wishlist support, and The Oath - a three-and-a-half-minute cinematic trailer - lands on the official Squadron 42 channel. The full cast is revealed with it: Hamill, Oldman, Anderson, Cavill, Strong, Serkis and the rest of the ensemble. Outlets from Variety to IGN cover the launch the same day; the store page shows the Q2 2027 window.
August 2026 - the window moves to Q2 2027
- 27 Aug 2026: The Letter from the Chairman moves Squadron 42 out of its long-held 2026 slot and into Q2 2027, choosing a crowded year's second quarter over sharing attention with Rockstar's Q4 release.
May 2026 - closing stages
- 24 May 2026: Chris Roberts tells Variety the campaign is in its closing stages, describing Squadron 42 as the ultimate realisation of his Wing Commander instincts. On release timing he is careful - the year is the plan, not a promise.
December 2025 - the numbers back the plan
- Dec 2025: CIG's financial statements for 2024 name Squadron 42 the near-term priority with a targeted 2026 release, and the December Squadron 42 newsletter keeps that window alive.
October 2023 - feature complete
- 22 Oct 2023: At CitizenCon, CIG declares Squadron 42 feature complete - the "I Held the Line" milestone - and shifts the campaign into its polish era. This is the announcement every later date has been built on.
2017 - the vertical slice
- Dec 2017: A one-hour pre-alpha vertical slice demo is published as a holiday special - the most substantial gameplay reveal the project has ever put out, and still the reference point for how the campaign looks in motion.
2012-2016 - the long beginning
- 10 Oct 2012: Squadron 42 is announced together with Star Citizen, launching the crowdfunding campaign that would fund both.
- Feb 2016: Squadron 42 is split from combined Star Citizen packages and sold on its own.
- Oct 2016: The campaign's scope is confirmed at 28 chapters, equivalent to 60+ missions, as the original 2016 hope slips.
Where the next entries come from
Three sources, in order of reliability: the Steam news feed on the game's store page, the RSI comm-link (CIG's letters and monthly reports), and the official Squadron 42 YouTube and X channels. This archive updates the same day a signal lands - and the release tracker carries the distilled timeline if you just want the dates.
