Kerbal Space Program has come a long way since its initial release in 2011, moving to Steam Early Access in 2013, launching fully in 2015, and being acquired (along with developer Squad) by Take-Two in 2017. Take-Two announced today that development of Kerbal Space Program 2 has been taken over by a new studio formed under its boutique "indie" publishing label Private Division.

This change does not necessarily mean a complete overhaul, and existing Kerbal 2, including Star Theory's former studio head Jeremy Ables, creative director Nate Simpson, and lead producer Nate Robinson team "key members" will move to the new studio and continue working on the game. Job postings for the new studio range from workday systems analyst to associate producer, lead artist, test lead, and even KSP community manager.

"The opening of this new studio, dedicated solely to the continued development of KSP, reinforces our commitment to providing our fans and players with the best possible experience for Kerbal Space Program 2 and beyond," Private Division head said Michael Worosz, head of the Private Division.

In a statement to VGC, Private Division officials stressed that the purpose of the move is to allow developers to focus solely on Kerbal Space Program 2.

"The decision to open our own studio and move development in-house allows us to provide our development team with the time and resources necessary to complete the development of KSP 2 at the quality level we all want to deliver to our players. Our goal, and the goal of our developers, is to provide the community with the highest level of gaming experience with Kerbal Space Program 2."

Take-Two did not say how the change would affect independent developer Star Theory, which has previously worked as Uber Entertainment on games such as "Monday Night Combat" and "Planetary Annihilation" and other games. We contacted Private Division for more information and will update if we hear back; KSP2 is expected to be released in Take-Two's fiscal year 2021 (April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021).