How long has Star Citizen been in development? A timeline of promises, delays and milestones

Over the years, the mood around selling expensive ships than actually finishing the game. Which makes you wonder: just how long has Star Citizen really been in development? Did it start in 2012, or earlier?

Star Citizen through the years (and then some)

Let’s lay it out in a timeline to make things more transparent:

1. 2010: Chris Roberts begins sketching out a new space sim, a spiritual successor to Freelancer.
2. 2011: A small team, with some outside help, puts together a basic prototype in CryEngine 3 (a hangar and a simple spaceflight demo) meant to pitch the idea to investors. Instead of chasing a new Wing Commander, Roberts spent 2011–2012 focused on showing Star Citizen could actually work.
3. October 2012 (Announcement): Star Citizen is revealed at GDC Austin, and the response is so massive it crashes the website. A week later, the Kickstarter launches and smashes its goal, raising over $2 million. The hype convinces Roberts to go all-in on crowdfunding, skipping traditional investors. By the end of the year, CIG has enough money to move full speed ahead. At this time the game was estimated to be released in 2014.

1. 2013-2014: CIG kicks off a modular release plan so backers can try parts of Star Citizen early. In August 2013, the Hangar Module drops, letting players walk around and check out their ships. Then in mid-2014, Arena Commander launches, bringing space combat and racing. Around the same time, they announce Star Marine, an FPS module, but that one hits major delays and doesn’t come out for years. Despite the slow pace, excitement is still high, and crowdfunding blows past $15 million.
2. 2015-2017: CIG began combining modules into the open-world Persistent Universe, launching its first alpha in late 2015 – buggy but playable. Star Marine faced delays and finally released in late 2016. They switched from CryEngine to Lumberyard for better multiplayer . Alpha 3.0, with planets and more gameplay, was delayed until late 2017, kicking off early access with mixed results. After that, CIG started regular updates and roaps.

1. 2018-2021: They added the Chairman’s Club (Concierge) system, which is causing quite a stir these days. New planets, cities, and cool features like face-tracking (FOIP) and dynamic streaming tech were added to boost performance. By 2020, planets like ArcCorp and MicroTech expanded the universe even more. Updates kept coming with new gameplay (prisons, events, mining, and more) even through the pandemic. Meanwhile, they worked on big tech upgrades like server meshing to more players. But as the game kept growing, delays and frustration piled up. By 2022, with no release date in sight, some began to wonder if Star Citizen would ever fully launch.
2. 2022-2025: Alpha 3.18 added Persistent Entity Streaming, a key step toward a continuous universe, but the launch had major server issues. Through 2022–2023, gameplay improved, but Pyro and server meshing missed deadlines. In 2024, Roberts called server meshing the “last big hurdle” before a polished 1.0 release. Yet, by mid-2025, Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are still in alpha with no clear release date. Development continues, but the finish line is far off.

When it’s already taken forever, how much longer is too long?

A quick wrap-up: if you count from when Chris Roberts really started serious work in late 2011, Star Citizen has been in the making for about 13.5 to 14 years as of mid-2025. If you trace it back to when planning first began around 2010, it’s almost 15 years. Even from the 2012 public reveal, it’s over 12 and a half years.

So, you won’t be wrong to say Star Citizen has been evolving for well over a decade, from a small prototype to a big, still-growing online universe. The devs say the full release is coming once they finish the last features, but there’s still no set launch date. For now, it remains an alpha in progress. Whether that’s reasonable or not, they’re definitely redefining what a “long game development” really means.

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