Kerbal Space Program was once a renowned franchise. Released in 2015, it quickly garnered over 100,000 reviews on Steam, reaching an overwhelmingly positive score. This sandbox space simulator allows players to design, build, and test a variety of spaceships capable of exploring the outer reaches of our solar system. I and other friends spent countless hours playing it, sending little green men on infinite journeys into the cosmos.
The charm, quirkiness, and an overall drive to build better starships jettisoned the first game in the series to sell over four million copies. The community was eager for more, and the publisher Private Division, alongside Take-Two, realized this and ordered a sequel years before the first game’s content was even finished. To them, this should have been an easy win.
Well, it’s been an absolute disaster, and that might be putting it lightly: think ‘SpaceX failing to launch a rocket for a year’ bad. To date, Kerbal Space Program 2 has over 24,000 Steam reviews, with an abysmal 32% positive rating. Recent reviews have it even lower at a bottomless 5%, most likely conveying more current affairs like the developer being closed and Take-Two selling the game off. These issues spell doom for an early-access game, yet it’s still being sold at full price. Before diving into that, here is a little history of the development of Kerbal Space Program 2.
The pains of development
Pre-production began in 2017 with Star Theory before being swapped to another developer mid-production to Intercept Games in 2021. In June 2024, Intercept Games was closed by Take-Two, the former owners of Private Division, alongside the final bug update the game has since received. While the closure was announced earlier in 2024, the studio continued working on the title until its doors shut months later.
The story gets even worse once you start digging into the history of development. Youtuber ShadowZone interviewed former employees who worked on the project to better understand what exactly happened. While the entire video is well worth checking out, here are some highlights:
- Development started in 2017, but Star Theory wasn’t allowed to speak with Squad (the original KSP creators) until Squad finished KSP1, which wouldn’t be until mid-2021.
- Rather than starting from scratch, KSP2 was forced to use the original KSP1 code while trying to implement multiplayer and new colony systems.
- This led to issues the original developers had already solved showing up in the new code, as well as having to force features like multipliers into a codebase that wasn’t meant for them.
- After taking over development in 2021, Intercept Games was also forced to use the same code Star Theory had refactored from KSP1. This led to confusion and a fundamental lack of understanding of what the code did.
What’s going on now?
Since the studio’s closure, there have been zero updates to Kerbal Space Program 2. Making the situation even worse, there hasn’t been any additional content added to the game in over a year, dating back to December 2023. Yet the game is still being sold for the original launch price of $50, $10 more than the original. Kerbal Space Program 2 still lacks features from the first game.
A few months ago, in November of 2024, Take-Two sold all Private Division games and franchises to an unknown buyer. Nobody knew who the shopper was until a few days ago when it was revealed that a deal had been struck between Haveli Investments and former Annapurna employees. Those workers will supposedly take over former Private Division games, including Kerbal Space Program.
How do fans feel? You could go ahead and read Steam reviews yourself. If that’s not your fancy, you can browse through this Reddit post that inspired this piece.
- “It’s one of two games I’ve ever refunded on Steam in like 15+ years.” – FuzzeWuzze
- “Kerbal Space Program 2 should be removed from the store until it becomes clear that the game has at least any kind active development going on and will deliver on the features it was sold on.” – sympatheticallyWindi
- “This still infuriates me. Not only did they kill KSP2, but support for the original was also shutdown in anticipation of it.” – Kerlyle
Too little too late? Well, maybe
While hearing someone might be starting development back up, that’s still a might. It’s like a pile of technical debt that keeps getting thrown from one group to another. Players who paid $50 for a premium product that was once promised by the publishers of Grand Theft Auto sat idle for over a year, hoping for new content.
Publishers like Ubisoft had the wherewithal to refund players once they canceled development on XDefiant. Sony refunded all players and pulled the plug on Concord. Why hasn’t anyone done anything similar with Kerbal Space Program 2? Again, I understand that development might be back up, but why not pause sales until progress has been made?
As eager as I am to see Kerbal Space Program 2 make a comeback that could make even Sean Murray smile, I can’t recommend anyone buy this shell of a game. Someone like Steam needs to step in and, at the very least, remove Kerbal Space Program 2 from sale. Relist the game if work continues, but until then, customers need to be protected.
I realize players should know what they’re buying into, but if you’re not paying attention, how could you know that the game’s original developer was closed? The Steam description still lists the complete roadmap as though there’s someone actively developing the game. Even with Annapurna hopefully taking over development, until we have concrete information on how or if the development of Kerbal Space Program 2 will continue, people should stay away.
I don’t believe the average gamer should know that the game they’re potentially going to purchase has shifted between multiple development teams during early access, with the chance that they’ll never see another update. Maybe I’m the crazy one and just don’t understand. I just can’t help but feel like there’s something someone should be doing about this whole situation.
Does anyone reading this have buyer’s remorse? Maybe you’re like me, and you’ve been on the sidelines patiently and hoping for a savior to come along. Whatever the case may be, let us know in the comments below or on social media. I’ll make sure to check out what everyone has to say.
