Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is hiring Cinematic Animators at two of its five global offices (Frankfurt and Manchester), with the specific request that candidates have prior experience developing for current/next-generation consoles.
As a Cinematic Animator, you will be part of a team of Animators and Cinematic Designers dedicated to bringing to life the performances of some of the best actors in the industry and tying them into the Squadron 42 narrative. You’ll be developing scenes with multiple branching options, deep and emotional narrative, and exciting action. Founded in 2012, Cloud Imperium Games creates cutting-edge videogames that defy expectations. We’re currently developing Star Citizen, a record-breaking multiplayer online space sim, and Squadron 42, a cinematic single-player adventure set in the same universe.
- Professional experience in game animation development, ideally on current/next-gen consoles.
Fans have taken this as a potential indication that Cloud Imperium Games intends to port Star Citizen, or at least its single player campaign Squadron 42, to consoles such as Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox.
So far, CIG hasn't announced any console port. Indeed, the two games have been proudly developed from the beginning only for PC, with Game Director Chris Roberts openly stating that the incredibly ambitious project would only be possible on this platform.
However, we have to consider that it's been a long time since those early days. Consoles have made great strides since, and what was once cutting-edge technology that could not run on PlayStation 4/Xbox One may be feasible on PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X, or at least on their successors, which should launch between 2027 and 2028.
After many years of development, Squadron 42 has received a 2026 release window alongside a new gameplay demo during the latest CitizenCon event. The campaign will feature high-profile actors such as Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong, Henry Cavill, Ben Mendelsohn, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Liam Cunningham, and Gillian Anderson.
Just a few days ago, a report revealed that Cloud Imperium Games had recently lost key staff with expertise in 'server meshing', a feature that the developers has described as one of the 'key technologies to get the jump points working in-game by allowing star systems to seamlessly move in and out of memory without the need for loading screens'.
This wouldn't affect Squadron 42, since it's single player, but it could damage Star Citizen. We reached out to CIG about that report, but have received no response so far.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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