So much people here thinking SQ42 will never release or will be crap or passable.
The thing is, we are probably all (or mostly) big fans of space games here, or we wouldnt be on this forum to start with. So a potential SQ42 would be sitting squarely in our shopping list if it existed at all. I dont think anyone thinks it will be "crap or passable" as one should only judge a released product, not vaporware..
But here's the catch. Since the time CRoberts started the development of his magnum opus, other studios have had the time to develop entirely new bespoke engines, and even progress across 2 generations (following the example of UE from Epic, but of course Decima Engine and others have come through as well), VR has not only appeared in modern form but also moved 2 generations, so did consoles... And from what we see from CiG we're just at the beginning ! So at each generational change, he's missing the target entirely, and has to start over his entire project by refactoring absolutely everything, spending tens of millions of $$ every time. He's chasing a target that he's been missing over and over again. His engine was just barely outdated when he started, now it's showing a lot of signs of age, compared for example to what UE5 can deliver (and dont start me on the actual technical capacities of UE5 vs the old CE that is still used at the core of Star Citizen). He's reached complete dead ends with that engine on several aspects a long time ago, and his project has made zero progress on these aspects as a result.
As a result, he probably knows his project cannot suffer the comparison to actual released products. Decima Engine showed how to make nature and characters looks realistic, and the new wave of UE5 games is redefining what is considered "good" computer graphics. He's now 2 generations behind and he knows it. As you said yourself, he wont release a product
he considers sub par. That means unless he switches to a modern engine, he's stuck and will never release it. That's why people say "never release" because that's the more likely option.
In your opinion, what are the chance that SQ42 could be a really good game at release ?
Really, no one knows. No one has ever seen even the slightest hint of gameplay. What we've seen are pre-rendered or predefined-path 3D animations that are NOT a game, but just machinima. You know, like that "sandworm demo" for SC that was shown, 6 years ago ? (cant remember). There's nothing behind these demos. Besides they have not aged well at all. The quality of characters and motion capture doesnt hold anymore compared to anything else that's being released these years, even compared to UE4 games (not even UE5). Will the game look like a Wing Commander episode ? A lot of us would like it, as long as space combat is enjoyable (which has been a tall order since Freespace & Freespace 2 kinda dominated the genre - and of course there's ED VR that has brought a completely new perspective on that too).
In any case, if he decides to release his project in whatever state it is at the time, it will be under the scrutiny as a half billion $$, 10+ years project. I know of another project that has been under that kind of scrutiny with that kind of budget, that was Rings of Power, and the result is terrible. Duke Nukem Forever was aptly named but also a complete dud. In the mean times, studios 10 times smaller released multiple AAA games that are actually fantastic, I could name a lot of em, like From Software genius "twitch combat+RPG" games to the whole Tomb Raider new trilogy and
multiple Bethesda games lol (and they are known for long dev times !) or two Horizon Zero Dawn games and the list is endless really, in 10 years of gaming we've seen a lot of really good stuff (and 2023 is the year of KSP 2!).
Any sign of that in SC yet?
