Wing Commander, and more recently Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts recently delivered his BAFTA Masterclass presentation in Los Angeles and via Twitch, revealing target launch dates for each phase of the game. As reported by Polygon, the beta programs for the game’s first-person shooter and planetside components are due this spring, followed by arena commander 2.0 ships in summer.
Additionally, the first episode of the story-based Squadron 42 single-player campaign will arrive this fall, with the backers-only alpha program for the persistent universe part of the game due by the end of the year. Roberts expects that Star Citizen will see its commercial launch in 2016.
The designer discussed the community engagement and crowdfunding efforts of the space simulation game, noting that the developer is “now close to $70 million, and it’s likely the carry-on will probably be over $100 million by the time the game is close to public release.”
Roberts stressed that Star Citizen’s crowdfunding efforts “isn’t really about the money,” but rather “it’s really about bringing people in to create this community and have them sort of share that experience with you as you’re building it.”
