The developer of Star Citizen and Squadron 42, with a large UK studio in Manchester, founded by games designer Chris Roberts.
Cloud Imperium Games makes the space game Star Citizen, an online universe players can explore, and Squadron 42, a single-player story game set in the same world. It was founded in 2012 by Chris Roberts, who is chief executive and who began his games career in Manchester at 14. The company has studios in several countries, and its biggest UK base is in Manchester.
We did not find a formal mission statement in the pages we read. A 2021 article says the company develops its games in partnership with its community of players, who follow and support development. Squadron 42 is described as a story-led game set in the same universe as Star Citizen, while Star Citizen is an online world where players can fly ships, trade and explore. Both are large projects that take many different specialists to build.
In 2021 the company announced a large new studio in Enterprise City, Manchester, opening in 2022, to bring together staff previously based in Wilmslow, Cheshire. At that time about 700 people worked for it worldwide, around 400 of them at the UK headquarters in Wilmslow, and it planned to grow to 1,000 in the UK within five years. Other offices are in Los Angeles, Austin and Frankfurt. In February 2024 the company reported a small number of job losses as it moved to co-locate teams, so headcount is not fixed. The Manchester connection is part of the company's story, and the Prolific North report places the new studio in the Enterprise City area of the Manchester Goods Yard, with recruitment planned to start in early 2022 and to include entry-level positions.
Publicly available information about day-to-day culture is thin. The company stresses working closely with its players, and its games are made over many years, so teams work on a long project with a very engaged audience. Studio roles span game programming, art, animation, audio, writing, design, production and administration, so people from many backgrounds can find a fit.
The 2021 hiring plan named programmers, artists, animators, audio specialists, writers, designers, producers, administrative staff and entry-level positions. That shows how many kinds of job a studio of this size offers. If this appeals, learning a game engine, building a portfolio of 3D art or code, and following the company's careers pages are good starting points.
Website: cloudimperiumgames.com
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