Take-Two Interactive have announced that their publishing label Private Division has opened up a new studio in the greater Seattle area. The purpose of this studio is to be “wholly focused on bringing to life the next generation of the Kerbal Space Program franchise”. That means that Kerbal Space Program 2’s development has been moved in-house to this new studio, while earlier it was being developed by Star Theory Games (who also developed the first game).

Take-Two also stated in their announcement that some key members of the Kerbal Space Program development team at Star Theory Games would also be moving to the new studio, including studio head Jeremy Ables, creative director Nate Simpson, and lead producer Nate Robinson. Take-Two says they will continue to lead the development of Kerbal Space Program 2.

“Since we acquired Kerbal Space Program in 2017, we have consistently produced, high-quality content for our community, which in turn has resulted in strong growth, both in terms of new players engaging with the franchise, and our ambitions to take it to the next level,” said Michael Worosz, head of Private Division. “The opening of this new studio, whose purpose is dedicated solely to the ongoing development of KSP, is a reinforcement of our promise to bring the best experiences to our fans and players for Kerbal Space Program 2 and beyond.”

Kerbal Space Program 2 is due out before April 2021. Unlike most Private Division games, it won’t be exclusive to the Epic Games Store, and will also be coming to Steam.

Take Two Interactive reported some good news today with Borderlands 3 and The Outer Worlds being incredibly successful for the company. After its financial briefing, however, it announced in an investors call that Kerbal Space Program 2 will be out in fiscal year 2021. The space exploration sim was previously stated to release in 2020.

Take-Two Interactive president Karl Slatoff stated that, “Kerbal Space Program 2, the sequel to the beloved original space sim, is now planned for launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, in fiscal 2021, in order to allow more time to make the experience as terrific as possible.” While this means it could potentially launch by March 31st 2021, it could also arrive sometime after April 1st in 2020.

Kerbal Space Program 2 was revealed at the recent Gamescom Opening Night Live. While Squad is still working on the first game, Star Theory is in charge of the sequel, delivering new features like multiplayer, colonies that can orbit planets and much more. Unlike other Private Division-published titles like The Outer Worlds, it’s not going to be exclusive to the Epic Games Store and won’t have loot boxes or “purchasable in-game currency.” In the meantime, we’ll have to wait for an additional details.

One of the bigger surprise announcements at Gamescom 2019 was Star Theory’s Kerbal Space Program 2. Published by Private Division, it was rather unexpected, especially given the developer’s support for the current game. As it turns out, the development team has been excited to talk about the sequel for a while.

A new developer story trailer has been released, and various team members talk about their vision for the game. Kerbal Space Program 2 has been fully redesigned to meet “the demands of modern and next-generation space exploration” (which seems to hint at a cross-gen release for Xbox Scarlett and PS5). Players will still build spacecraft and venture through the galaxy.

New features have yet to be fully discussed, but the game is out in 2020, so there’s plenty of time. The developer has assured that there won’t be loot boxes or purchasable in-game currency in the sequel (and it won’t be an Epic Games Store exclusive either). Xbox One and PS4 releases can be expected following the title’s release on Steam.

The original Space Kerbal Program was an interesting little title. Originally conceived and released as an educational tool, it was eventually retooled into a commercial product that still tried to maintain those learning roots. Now a sequel is on the way for next year, and it seems to be retaining that fun atmosphere to the “Mun.”

Announced with both a trailer and a developer story trailer, both of which you can see below, you can see the Kerbals have gotten quite the visual upgrade, though the style has been retained by and large. The game will not maintain the same developer, as Star Theory has taken over for the Mexico-based Squad. The two developers have been in close contact, however, and hope to keep the same creative energy flowing that made the original special according to a blog post from Squad.

Kerbal Space Program 2 will release sometime in 2020 for PC with a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version to come “shortly after.”