Star Citizen has now secured over $400 million!

It's available to play for free until the end of the month.

Star Citizen has now raised over $400 million in crowdfunding, less than 18 months after breaking the $300 million barrier. According to the game's financial objectives website, 3,364,629 players have given a total of $402,657,305.

The free-flight period in Star Citizen is presently running till December 1, coinciding with the in-game Intergalactic Aerospace Expo on the planet microTech. Every 48 hours throughout the expo, ships from various manufacturers are available for rent. It's similar to a car show, except without the hoons doing donuts in a field off to the side. It also correlates with a massive increase in funding, which climbed from around $200,000 each day on average to well over $700,000 on the first day of the event. The current amount is close to two million.

If you're wondering if that number means we'll hear more about Squadron 42, Star Citizen's singleplayer companion, the answer is "probably not." "Squadron 42 will be done when it is done," Cloud Imperium Games founder Chris Roberts wrote in his annual letter from the chairman near the end of last year, "and will not be released just to make a date, but instead only when all the technology and content is finished, the game is polished, and it plays great."

Alluding to the then-fresh release of Cyberpunk 2077, he went on to say, "Over the past few years, I've seen more than a few eagerly awaited titles release before they were bug free and fully polished. This holiday season is no exception. This is just another reminder to me of why I am so lucky to have such a supportive community, as well as a development model that is funded by people that care about the best game possible, and not about making their quarterly numbers or the big holiday shopping season."

"It's prudent not to display Squadron 42 gameplay publicly, nor to disclose any release date until we're closer to the finish line and have strong confidence in the remaining time needed to finish the game to the standard we want," he concluded.

Progress on "critical backend systems, AI behaviours, and cockpit communications" was highlighted in a September update on Squadron 42's development. The progress tracker in both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen allows you to keep track of what's being worked on. Massive bombs and hospitals to recover from getting big bombs placed on you were included to the alpha's most recent patch.

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