Star Citizen has received $46 million in private investment to get on with finishing its single-player component.

Project lead Chris Roberts followed this funding announcement with news that players should get their hands on the Squadron 42 campaign in just under two years time, in some form. The singleplayer game will enter “beta testing” by late-2020.

The substantial investment comes from billionaire record producer Clive Calder, along with his son Keith. Between them, the pair holds a 10 per cent stake in Cloud Imperium Games and take seats on the board of directors.

Roberts, as always, is defensive of the game’s seemingly-endless development time. Star Citizen’s star-studded Squadron 42 campaign was originally set for release way back in 2014, with the game’s initial Kickstarter campaign ending in 2012.

Even this current release window only suggests a Beta release by late-2020. There’s still time for Squadron 42 to be a full decade late.

“We are building two of the most ambitious games ever embarked on in gaming, with budgets that are unmatched by all but the very biggest projects,” said Roberts.

“We have been acutely aware that having a triple-A game that matches the biggest single player games out there only goes so far if no one knows about it. Because of this, we started to investigate ways to raise money to fund the upcoming marketing and release needs of Squadron 42.”

Total crowdfunding for the project reached over 200 million in November. This is split between both Squadron 42, and the game’s multiplayer “Persistent Universe” component. The latter hasn’t had a release date announcement since 2016.

Don’t worry, though. Fans are still extremely willing to pour money into the project, with the game’s Alpha 3.3 release drawing $1 million in crowdfunding over a single week.