Long-time followers of Star Citizen are likely familiar with the name of Turbulent: The company was named as a partner for developer Cloud Imperium Games in 2019 to help with its web presence and platform capabilities, then was taken on to help with development of the Persistent Universe in 2020, complete with a studio opening in Montreal, Canada. That partnership has now taken its next and most obvious evolutionary step as CIG has announced Turbulent as a permanent member of “the CIG family” as of this week.
“With Turbulent as part of the CIG group of companies, our headcount will be over 1,100, making us one of the largest independent game developers in the world,” crows the announcement. “As we approach some of our biggest milestones to date, we’ve never felt better equipped to realize the unprecedented ambition of Star Citizen and Squadron 42, especially now that we have added the firepower, talent, and decade of camaraderie from Turbulent to the fold.”
The announcement is loaded with braggadocio, with nods to Turbulent’s work to help CIG “disrupt the industry,” be a “disruptive force in gaming,” and push back against “the usual ‘consumer -> retailer -> publisher -> creator’ paradigm, which stifles innovation and holds the industry back.”
Sprinkled within the proud display is acknowledgment of Turbulent’s contributions to the game project, including creating its launcher, helping with cloud services, and assisting in efforts on server meshing and persistent entity streaming; it’s here that we remind readers of how that tech’s initial release in alpha 3.18 cratered the PU for about two weeks.
In other SC news, the game has offered its latest roadmap roundup, which commits to experimental game modes for Arena Commander, the law-breaking salvage mission, the Hull-C’s launch, and better handling for wheeled vehicles. The June development report for Squadron 42 has also been posted, with multiple AI behavior and pathfinding updates, efforts to cull needless animations, and level design work for the single-player title’s fifth chapter.
