Kerbal Space Program 2 Was Given to a Different Developer so Work on the Original Could Continue

During Gamescom’s Opening Night Live show, Take-Two Interactive’s publishing label Private Division announcedKerbal Space Program 2. The most surprising aspect of the game’s announcement is that it is being handled by a different developer than the original:Planetary AnnihilationandDino Frontier’sStar Theory. In a recent interview withGamesIndustry,Kerbal Space Program 2’sCreative Director Nate Simpson discussed why this is the case.

For those that aren’t aware, the originalKerbal Space Programwas created by a Mexican developer named Squad. The game became a runaway success shortly after its release in 2011 and the IP was eventuallyacquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2017. The series was subsequently handed off to Private Division, who now handles publishing for both the original and its sequel. To this day, Squad is still supporting the original Kerbal Space Program with new content like this month’s"Moar Boosters!!!“update.

According to Simpson, Star Theory is handling theKerbal Space Program 2’sdevelopment so Squad can solely focus on adding to the original game. “The original game… has an incredibly robust modding community and very passionate fans of its own. They’ve continued to release expansion content… and I don’t think Private Division wanted to interrupt that in any way. So they made the decision to bring in a new team to start working on the sequel while continuing to support the original game.” He also mentions that “more than one studio was given the opportunity to make it,” so it was an IP that Private Division was shopping around.

Simpson went on to compliment the current state of support for the originalKerbal Space Programand hopes that the same with happen with their sequel. “The original game is on year eight now, and it’s thriving. It’s as vibrant a community as it’s ever been, and we’re hoping we have another decade ahead of us working with this new platform we’ve created forKerbal Space Program 2.”

For now, we can only wait forKerbal Space Program 2to release for PC in Spring 2020. It will also make its way to PS4 and Xbox One later next year.