Space sim Squadron 42 is "feature-complete" and gunning for Starfield's lunch with massive new video

Ah, the annual whale fracking operation is in full effect.

The what now? 😆

I'm not a native speaker so some jokes / analogies just totally fly over my head
- Star Citizen is a game that's been in development forever, all while attracting money in forms of donations and sales of in-game ships. A single-player game by the same devs, Squadron 42, is a somewhat similar story, except that people can't even play it yet (as far as I remember).
  
  A whale is a tern that often means someone/something that brings you the substantial part of your revenue, so in case of the games above, whales would be the players that spend most money on the in-game ships or donations to support development.
  
  The "whale fracking operation" in this context probably means that the entire trailer is a yet another bait for the community to go crazy and bring in the money so that the devs don't starve and finally deliver finished products.
  
  The punchline is, however, that it's likely not gonna happen anyway lmao

Always remember: SQ42 is only 2 Years away (since 2016)

Original release date was actually announced as 2014 originally (during the 2012 Kickstarter), iirc.
- Always. Two. Years. :)
Early Access when?

I admit, they fooled me into contributing to the Kickstarter. But at this point, anyone who has anything positive to say about this project is a paid shill (paid for by us!) or heavily in denial thanks to sunk cost fallacy. They say you can "play" it now, but it's still not a game, it's a tech demo and sandbox.

I'm perfectly happy to write this off as a failed Kickstarter, it happens from time to time. But when they keep trying to con money out of new suckers, it really pisses me off. Enough is enough. Assholes.

It’s still the best spaceship sim I’ve ever played. It does a ton of things no other space game does. Just because you don’t enjoy it or you completely clueless of the current state of the game doesn’t change the fact a lot of people enjoy the game.
- I didn't pay for a spaceship sim. I paid for the next Wing Commander and Freelancer game. Whether I enjoy it or not, the product they're making isn't the product they sold me. Perhaps ~~wasting your money~~ buying the "game" now gives you a better chance of receiving the product you think you're paying for, but I wouldn't bet on it. They've already proven themselves to anyone paying the slightest attention.

Wouldn't it just be perfect irony if they run completely out of money before managing to release something/anything? Though with how many people put in money over and over even though progress over the years has been slow to say the least I guess the more likely outcome is nuclear holocaust putting a damper on the release schedule.

I still remember being in college and hearing people in the lab next to me excitedly proclaim that they were able to pay $100 for a rare ship that has X Y Z features including handling, top speed, and fashionable interiors.

They weren't able to use the ship yet, but oh man was it a great investment for when they'd one day be able to ride them.

So fucking bizarre. But, if you have people out there thinking like my then peers, you're guaranteed to have a long term stream of income based on loose promises alone.
- They lost me like exactly after I put in money and started the insurance idea. I regret heavily putting money directly to the main site instead of kickstarter, at least I might have chance to get a refund or something since the pitch content changed.
Haven't they made close to a billion dollars when counting the Kickstarter, starter packs sold via the website, and the "microtransactions" for things like ships (which are more macro than micro with the prices often being way over 100€)? I doubt they'll run out of money any time soon, although hookers and blow definitely aren't free
Scientology has been running strong from their grift for decades.

They are going to eventually run dry when they've burned through every ounce of their reputation. But it's a long, long path of riches and broken dreams in the meantime. By the time it's finally done, Chris and the other COs will have retired with their hundreds of millions, and they won't care.

I was expecting 25 minutes of gameplay. I skimmed the video, but it looks like around 5-8 minutes of cut-up gameplay, maybe another 8-10 minutes of cutscenes, and the rest looks like the "making of". I did not see any evidence of a product that is anywhere near completion.

It's more gameplay than they've shown in the past decade, they've been very tight lipped with anything to date
- 10 years of development for this part of SC, correct? If so, that's very little to show for it.
- That's easy when you consider that there hasn't been basically any sort information about S42 for a long time now. Still doesn't really prove anything about a potentially finished product.
Was there really any gameplay footage released? Looked like the same cinematics they always released.
- I was skimming it, but there did appear to be a couple of E3-type gameplay footage clips. I can't say if they are new or not because I haven't been following SC closely.

I watched the whole video trying to keep an open mind, but what they showed off just looks so generic. Quick time events, very basic looking fps mechanics, flight looks like War Thunder arcade battles. At least the gfx and animations looked pretty cool, although imo this is the least important factor of a good video game. Will probably be a skip for me, if it ever releases that is.

Honestly even if SQ42 ends up being a great game, it can never live up to the anticipation they've built around it at this point. People are expecting something so completely revolutionary that it will be unlike any other game they have played, but the reality is that it won't be that. Which isn't to say it can't be a good or even amazing game, it just won't be anything different or revolutionary gameplay wise.

I've got very minimal interest/expectations for SQ42 and I'm far more interested in Star Citizen which is still a pipe dream (although pretty fun to play in it's current state too, bugs willing) but has much more potential to offer something different than other games in the genera are doing.

Is the RPS writer a Star Citizen whale? Only Star Citizen victims fall for this shit.

I mean, most of the article is them clowning on how it will never be released.

Ha ha ha!

I will believe it when I see it....

I mean, if they pull it off it will be great, but until it's in our hands, there are no expectations.

I watched the video and what they showed certainly looks impressive. The level of detail in actions, variety of gameplay, immersive first person perspective, and visual details all look good. I hope the game looks and plays as good as what's shown and actually releases sometime soon, but I'm not holding my breath. Even if you ignore all the baggage the game has, gameplay trailers to games still in development are lies more often than not. I stopped following the development like 8 years ago, now it's off my radar until it actually releases.

I wouldn't put too much stock in pre-release gameplay videos. Remember what the pre-release hype videos for Cyberpunk or No Man's Sky looked like, and what the end results actually looked like?
- Check out Watch_Dogs for some pre release insanity
- In case anyone forgot: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=4KxRp8jeliQ (I know they fixed it, but that video will never fail to make me laugh)
I'm expecting another 1.5-2 years on the release for this. They've announced it's feature complete and moving to the polish stage. That where they will fix bugs and ensure gameplay functionally feels correct.

Considering the number of chapters they had announced in the roadmap I imagine they have a lot of have to cover.

Backed the game, excited to see it when it comes out!

When it comes out.

Until then, zero expectations of quality, or timelieness.

Right after headlines of SC losing the faith of the community. lol
Also, Starfield has already launched. Not that I would even compare the two titles but Squadron 42 has still to prove its actual existence.

Thats part of it because everyone interested already doesn't like them and is getting this game for free. If it doesn't have legs outside of everyone who has effectively ore-ordered, its going to be a real issue for CIG
- I essentially got Starfield for free (bought a laptop and it came with a code). For $0 it was worth every dollar spent, but I do feel bad for the people who pre-ordered.
  
  I can't imagine why someone would pre-order a game like this one though, these devs don't exactly have a great track history. At least for the people who pre-ordered Starfield, we know Bethesda will at minimum deliver a game lol.

Backed the kickstarter, still excited. Even in its current state it's one of the more interesting games I've ever played. There's probably a reason no one else has tried to make star citizen before. If SQ42 ever launches, hopefully in a decent state, assets will start getting moved to the multiplayer side of things.

What exactly is Star Citizen? And how does it differ from everything else?
- It's a space MMO sandbox game that's been in development for like 11 years now I think? It's still in the alpha stage. I think at one point it was the highest backed Kickstarter in history. Some people think it's fraud and they'll never deliver, others think they're working on it just slowly. I think at this point universally though, people are just starting to give up hope. The game is available and in a playable state, it's just nowhere near the promised state.
  
  It also doesn't help that a lot of ships in star Citizen can be bought with real life cash for pretty exorbitant amounts. A cursory Google search (haven't played the game) tells me that the "600i Executive Edition" is the most expensive ship in the game, available for $25,000 real life USD.
  
  I've heard the best comparison for the game is the presently finished game Elite: Dangerous. Star Citizen is basically saying they're E:D but better.

It's been 11 long years since the unveiling of Squadron 42, Star Citizen's singleplayer campaign

It’s basically a small portion of Star Citizen

"As we move into the polishing phase...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_Forever

On May 24, 2011, Gearbox announced that Duke Nukem Forever had "gone gold" after 15 years.[16] It holds the Guinness world record for the longest development for a video game, at 14 years and 44 days,[17] though this period was exceeded in 2022 by Beyond Good and Evil 2.[18]

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-protracted-game-development/

I assume that the reason that the Guiness Book of World Records doesn't accept Beyond Good and Evil 2 is that they probably require an actual release.

Duke Nukem Forever was released on June 14, 2011, and received mostly unfavorable reviews, with criticism for its graphics, dated humor and story, simplistic mechanics, and unpolished performance and design. It did not meet sales expectations but was deemed profitable by Take-Two Interactive, the owner of 2K Games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_and_Evil_2

Beyond Good and Evil 2 has been referred to as vaporware by industry figures such as Jason Schreier due to its lengthy development and lack of a release date.[3] In 2022, Beyond Good and Evil 2 broke the record held by Duke Nukem Forever (2011) for the longest development of a AAA video game, at more than 15 years. In 2023, the creative director, Emile Morel, died suddenly at age 40.

But there is a big difference to all those games: Star Citizen (and therefore Squadron 42) is backed and payed by customers already.
- And in SC's case, in their hands.
  
  I've been playing it with my wife for years, so it rankles me when people show up with the "will it ever release!?" takes. Go play it and see for yourself; they have free-fly events every quarter, so you don't even have to buy anything.
  
  "Will Eve Online ever release? They haven't shown us any progress on Walk In Stations in years!" /s
Has there even been video or screenshots of BG&E2 to prove it has even been in development at all? I thought it was simply a joke or a rumor since I haven't seen anything even being shown off.
- Ubisoft has a promo video on their website. No gameplay, but I assume that they aren't gonna pay what it'd take to make that as a joke.
  
  https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/beyond-good-and-evil-2
  
  https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/16/23557146/beyond-good-and-evil-2-not-canceled-development-hell
  
  The good news is that work on the game is still under way. The bad news is that its actual release date is just as unclear as ever.
  
  For those keeping track, that means it’s been almost fifteen years since Ubisoft released its first trailer for the game, which is longer than it took to get gaming’s other development-hell classic Duke Nukem Forever out the door.
  
  The company made a big splash when it released a new trailer for the game at E3 2017, but at the time director Michel Ancel cautioned that the team was still at “day zero” of development. Following his departure from the company in 2020, reports emerged that Ancel was under investigation for his allegedly toxic management style.
  
  It sounds a lot less like a joke and more like enormous project management problems.
- So far I believe there have only been 3 or 4 pieces of media related to it. The 2008 car breakdown teaser, the gameplay teaser shortly after where she's running along the rooftops, then the 2018 trailer with the monkeys or whatever and like a gameplay overview or something around that time. There hasn't been anything of note since 2018 (i think) and I believe the creative director actually died this year.
  
  It's basically the most cursed project in gaming at this point. Very disappointing too. BG&E was an absolute masterpiece.
The Guinness Reason is actually because Beyond Good & Evil 2 was teased in 2008 as a prequel to a game from 2003, while Star Citizen was known in 2012. Both haven’t released.

I have written off my Kickstarter „donation“ several years ago…

Have they ever said how many people are working on this game?

They have about 1300 devs, working on 2 games (SC and SQ42).
I think they've mentioned how many devs are working on Squadron 42 exclusive content, but then you have all the content and features that are shared with Star Citizen, as well as the engine devs.
Not sure how you'd split things to get a proper number for only Squadron 42.
I think they said last night that CIG has about 1500 employees in total.