Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games hosted its CitizenCon Direct 2025 event, and revealed the plans for the next major update, Alpha 4.4, next month, and more that will come in 2026.
The livestream started with a message from Chris Roberts, who expressed pride in the fact that the development team has overcome many technical challenges and is now delivering plenty of content for players to enjoy in a more populated and active game environment.
Server performance has also “greatly increased” thanks to server meshing, delivering a “much more responsive player experience.”
Interestingly, Roberts shared some player metrics, with average daily users in 2025 up 45% year-on-year, and play time is up 15% year-on-year, showing that more people play Star Citizen and “stay there longer than ever before.”
He then announced that the next star system, Nyx, is actually coming next month in Alpha 4.4.
Speaking of Nyx, we learn that new content in the system will be added throughout 2026, starting with the return of Levski.
Levski is a location dear to Star Citizen veterans, as it used to be located with the Delamar asteroid in Stanton when the game first became playable, but it was then removed when the star system received its own content.
We get to hear from the developers what we can expect in terms of story and content. Interestingly, since Nyx borders Vanduul space, you can see a red area of space corresponding to where the jump point to the Vanduul system Virgil would be. That’s also where players will find rather dangerous content.
At the beginning, it’ll have two jump points, to Pyro and to Stanton. One of the jump points should actually lead to Castra, the fourth system revealed last year, but it’ll be temporarily bypassed until that’s implemented.
We get to take a new look at the rebuilt Lebvski and Delamar, which certainly look very different compared to what we had years ago in the game. The biggest difference is that now Delamar is properly an asteroid, while initially, it used a planet-like model.
Interestingly, there will be plenty of EVA areas. They’ll have walkways, but you can simply drift away if you want. While some areas a recognizable, the rework has been extensive, which isn’t surprising considering how much time has passed.
Interestingly, we learn that there will be a lot of mining-related content in the area.
In the Welcome to Nyx operation, players will work for InterSec Defense Solutions, which is working for the Navy and is hiring players to investigate some tech that is illegally sold in UEE space.
Once we reach Nyx, we’ll find a facility under attack by the Vanduul, and it’ll be the first time we get to fight against them in the Persistent Universe. This will come with the introduction of the Vanduul Stinger heavy fighter alongside the existing Glaive and Blade.
After fighting the Vanduul, we’ll get to fight a new human faction and explore their space station.
This won’t be a one-time event, but it’ll be permanent content that will always be available and replayable, with variations added along the way. Incidentally, this all will be available in alpha 4.4.
The next segment focused on what’s coming to Nyx in 2026, starting with Genesis, the new procedural group of technologies used to create planets from datasets.
The presentation focuses mostly on Nyx I, which is considered the hero planet of the system (Nyx III is a gas giant without a surface, while Nyx II is an extremely dangerous planet with high-risk, high-reward gameplay).
We see the introduction of the Medium Tiles that add complexity to the terrain at a ground level, which is missing in the current planets. Cliffs will finally be introduced, and a new rock scattering algorithm will place them in a way that makes sense instead of randomly.
The grass technology has been improved, allowing the creation of dense meadows and more. On the other hand, the Virtual Terrain technology helps the environment look good from all distances and perspectives.
We then hear that the mission system has been changed to support missions between different systems, starting with interstellar hauling missions.
Another interesting additions are the Rock Cracker operations, focused on massive structures dedicated to breaking apart asteroids, that players will get to explore, fight for, and even bring back to life.
Once you break apart the asteroid, you can fly into it with your ship and search for the content you want to mine.
The next segment focused on three new ships coming to the Persistent Universe-
We start with Anvil and the Paladin gunship. While it’s designed for a small group, it’s still capable as a solo ship.
The second ship is predictably the Vanduul Stinger heavy fighter replica by Esperia. This time around, most of the weapons are swappable, differently from previous Vanduul fighters. The only one that can’t be changed is the size-5 plasma cannon.
The third ship is the Grey’s Market Shiv, a ship true to its name, created by hammering together battle-proven parts from various popular combat ships.
Incidentally, all three ships will be added to the PTU today, and they’re coming soon in Alpha 4.3.2.
On top of the ships, we also get to see new weapons that will be introduced soon, alongside the much-awaited binoculars.
Next, we take a look at crafting, which was introduced last year. We also hear that the first version will be introduced “in the next few months.” We get to see how it works and how we’ll be able to create items that are better than those sold in shops.
Upgrade and research features are still coming, but they’ll be in a subsequent release. The initial version should be playable in a tech preview by the end of the year.
Instancing will also come in 2026. This will allow developers to create curated challenges that are tailored to specific groups of players. Accessing instances will be seamless, like the current instanced hangars.
The first instances will be the return of Siege of Orison. It’ll be dedicated to groups of people fighting with different roles.
We also see a major content drop coming next year and set into a massive facility deep inside Levski. It’ll be mission-driven and repeatable, offering a variety of roles and a narrative sandbox.
Instancing will also let players log off mid-content and then return to it, picking up where they left off.
We then hear that the content of the “Road to 1.0” presentation from last year is still fully relevant, and all that content is still coming.
While 2025 has been a successful year in adding new content and creating a more stable and fun experience, new features are still being worked on, and they’ll be coming very soon.
Among these is the return of physical mission givers that players will be able to interact with.
Lastly, we take a look at “tactical Strike Groups,” a new type of content coming in mid-2026. They’re operations designed to be tackled by fleets of players using a diverse range of missions.
You’ll even have to fly trench runs by bringing your fighters inside the stations to bring down shields. There will also be the introduction of rearming and refueling in the hangar of your capital ships.
You can watch the whole presentation below.
If you’re unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it’s a PC exclusive, crowdfunded project directed by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame. It’s a multiplayer sandbox space simulator that has been in development for over a decade and in alpha for several years.
In the meantime, the crowdfunding total continues to grow, and it has recently passed $874 million. To be precise, it’s currently at $874,578,767. The game also has 5,953,343 registered users, albeit not all of them are paying customers. Many simply create an account to enjoy the free-to-play periods.
A single-player campaign titled Squadron 42 is also in active development with a 2026 release window, starring an exceptional cast of famous actors, including Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Gillian Anderson, and more.
Since the project has been in development for over a decade, you can see how Squadron 42 has evolved since its first reveal.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign.