Cloud Imperium Games’ long-running space sim Star Citizen is on pace to pass $1 billion in player funding sometime around July or August 2026, even as the studio admits its singleplayer campaign, Squadron 42, may not arrive next year.
At the end of 2025 the cumulative total for the project sat at about $925,647,996. That figure comes from Cloud Imperium’s own funding tracker on the Roberts Space Industries site, which lists pledge goals and the running totals on ships, packages, and other sales. See the official funding page on Roberts Space Industries.
Star Citizen’s money comes from a mix of paid alpha access, microtransactions, and expensive virtual ships that some backers buy for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. At the current rate of sales, observers project the game will cross the billion-dollar mark in mid-2026. That’s a staggering amount for a project that is still in alpha.
The other headline is Squadron 42, the star-studded singleplayer campaign that Cloud Imperium has been promising as a companion to the persistent universe. The campaign was once targeted for 2025 and then 2026, but core team members signaled caution at this year’s CitizenCon presentation and in follow-ups.
Content director Jake Huckaby put it bluntly in October: “We drew a line in the sand when we said 2025. I don’t know if we’re going to make it, I just know that we’re going to do every single thing possible to make it. And part of that is not taking time for the distraction of CitizenCon.” That statement underlines why a 2026 launch is now looking uncertain.
Meanwhile, Chris Roberts has discussed a wider timetable for Star Citizen reaching full 1.0, projecting a 2027 or 2028 window for a more complete launch. The project has also weathered intermittent community pushback over monetization and development decisions, yet players keep funding it in large sums.
Cloud Imperium has been trying to keep the community engaged, and you can see see our earlier story about the developer’s referral program covering the referral program.
Watch the developer video for Alpha 4.5 here:
Star Citizen’s funding momentum and Squadron 42’s uncertain release make 2026 one of the most unusual years in modern PC development.
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