Star Citizen developer aims to nearly double headcount by 2026

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games aims to move its UK studio to Manchester and have more than 1,000 active employees by 2026, 600 more than the company currently has in the UK.

The company currently has about 700 employees worldwide. After the planned move and expansion in England, that would amount to 1,300 employees; almost double the total. Other employees are located in offices in Los Angeles, Austin, Frankfurt and Montreal. CD Projekt Red had 1,100 employees in 2019, Rockstar Games has more than 2,000 and Activision Blizzard has about 10,000.

Cloud Imperium Games is known for Star Citizen, the crowdfunded game that raised just over $2.1 million on Kickstarter in 2012. Fundraising continued with this game and the studio has raised over $350 million for the game to date.

Space game Star Citizen itself, despite the crowdfunding campaign started almost ten years ago, is not completely finished and out. Parts of the online experience are available in early access, but the single player campaign, called Squadron 42, is not yet. There is still no release date for this and the intended release period has already been missed more than once. According to the current planning, this part should consist of at least 28 chapters.