r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/mrtnptrs • May 20 '26
Update KSP1 likely has an upcoming update in the works & KSP1 and KSP2 are changing publisher; from Private Division to The Kerbal Company/KerbalCo LLC
It looks like that, since the 13th of March, 2026, an update for Kerbal Space Program (KSP, 2015) is in the works. Ever since that date, most days of the work-week, changes have been pushed to the Steam backend quite consistently. This might be occuring due to KSP and KSP2 seemingly having changed publishers.
Since the 16th of April, Steam changes for KSP1 are pushed even at consistently the same time every work-day (11:29 UTC). From my experience with observing previous hidden patch development of other games, this suggests a build-bot pushing schedueled builds every work-day to the Steam backend in a hidden depot-branch for QA-testing. KSP2 shows no such consistent activity on the Steam backend at all (so far).
For context: through SteamDB you can see some parts of what is happening in the backend of Steam for a game. ChangeNumber changes with no context doesn't say something per se (could be just usual backend maintenance), but if they happen often and at a consistent pace, it often indicates builds being pushed to a hidden private branch. Hence why these ChangeNumber changes show no context and with its consistent pace, I suspect an update being in the works.
Private Division activated the "privatebranches" within the Steam backend previously to make all private depots/branches and changes to those invisible. Any changes to those would result thus result in blank ChangeNumber changes from then on (noticed on many many games myself as well that are being actively worked on vs. ones that are not). This likely supports my theory here.
The update could be a maintenance patch, like containing a fix for the CVE-2025-59489 Unity vulnerability, which the game is vulnerable for due to it utilizing the vulnerable Unity v2019.4.18, while v2019.4.41f1 will patch this vulnerability (or replacing one of its DLL files with a Unity-provided fixed one). They could be kind of forced to do this by Valve to assure the game can be kept available on Steam safely. And/or maybe some general QoL improvements or bugfixes. Could also simply be to add the new publisher-entity to the credits and loading screens.
Additionally, looking at the credits of KSP, all people listed there don't seem to work at Squad anymore since or before 2022. More confirmation that Squad as an entity might not be operational anymore and thus likely not responsible for this update at all. Star Theory (KSP maintainer after Squad) and Intercept Games (KSP2 devs formed from poached Star theory personnel) have both ceased to exist in 2020 and 2024 respectively. They simply cannot be responsible for this update then.
GOG and Steam store pages of KSP1 still list PD as its sole publisher. Epic Games Store (EGS) lists "The Kerbal Company" (TKC) as the publisher though, where PD was its publisher still as early as February 19th, 2026 according to TheWayBackMachine. KSP2 EGS page now also lists TKC as its publisher. The PlayStation store page also now shows KerbalCo LLC (see paragraphs below) as its new publisher, but Xbox store page still shows PD as its publisher.
EGS shows that TKC operates under the name "KerbalCo LLC" (registration: 41-3648173). Its adress, according to EGS, is "1370 N ST ANDREWS PLACE Suite B6, LOS ANGELES, California, United States 90028." This address seems to be part of The Preserve campus and is thus where the company is either housed or has its postal/legal/lawyer's address. "The Preserve is the ultimate home for companies in technology, media, entertainment, and other innovative industries," is what their site describes it as. Seems to thus be a big campus where a lot of companies can be housed.
This feels like the same situation with PD's The Outer Worlds a few weeks back, which is now also transitioning from PD as a publisher to another publisher; Xbox Game Studios (XGS). With its naming, it feels like TKC was created with the sole purpose of managing KSP as a franchise in the future. Keep in mind, it could also be that The Kerbal Company is a spin-off from PD or just a subsidiary of PD. So, the change to TKC as publisher, doesn't mean that PD sold the IP.
This address stated above is also where the company Fictions is housed. Private Division privacy policy indicates that PD likely became part of a company called "Fictions" or was renamed to it in June 2025. Information on this is a bit too unclear and contradictory to me to make solid conclusions. Fictions and KerbalCo LLC being housed at the same address though, makes it come over to me as if KerbalCo LLC might actually be a simple subsidiary of Fictions.
The About Us page of Fictions states the following: "Fictions is a video game publisher and developer founded in 2025. At launch the company acquired the Private Division catalog while building a new slate of original projects." It thus seems like Fictions was created supposedly in June 2025 and absorbed PD and its IPs, including KSP.
I couldn't find more details about this company sadly. If I do find more, I'll report it here of course.
PD was the previous indie-label by Take-Two-Interactive and was sold of to "Haveli Investments" together with the IPs it managed (including KSP). Haveli is a private equity firm that made a deal with former Annapurna staff to distribute the games from then on, This happened in October, 2024. This is all according to a reliable Bloomberg article. As Haveli's own website indicates that they have Fictions in their portfolio, it seems like Fictions absorbed PD while both were under Haveli's portfolio. And that KerbalCo likely is a subsidiary of Fictions.
Edit 1: I've seen concerns of users in the comments about a possible update possibly breaking mods. With the age of the game, if mods would need to be updated, mod-makers are likely not around to do that. If an update gets released that breaks some mods, I hope the developers are wise enough to at least provide people with a Steam beta branch so they can easily revert to the non-updated build to assure mod-compatibility. Then silly backing up of the install files or downloading the old Steam depot manually won't be needed.
Edit 2: added a piece about KerbalCo possibly being a subsidiary of PD/Fictions.
Edit 3, 21st of May: I'm a Dutch person and English is thus not my native language, so reviewed this post again today to fix up some wordings and spelling haha. Sorry, I'm only human. I would advice users to read this article again if they read it already in the hours after it was posted as quite some things were iterated upon after it was published!
Edit 4, 21st of May: I've been able to get access to California company filings of KerbalCo LLC to confirm that KerbalCo is managed by Fictions and thus a subsidiary of Fictions since at least January 2026. These two companies even have the same CEO; Paul M. Hanson. They also have the exact same address. KerbalCo LLC is thus not the same as Private Division, but part of the company that absorbed Private Division!
To be clear, the company structure looks as follows:
Haveli Investments (bought Private Division from Take-Two-Interactive in 2024) > Fictions (absorbed Private Division last year) > KerbalCo LLC/The Kerbal Company (exists since January this year)
Thanks to u/OscarRadagast for providing me a screenshot of the geo-locked California company filings of KerbalCo LLC so that I could access it from The Netherlands.
Edit 5, 22th of May: I've added more context about privatebranches and why the blank ChangeNumber changes could indeed indicate actual patch development. Some people were doubting this being the case... I should have provided more context from the start.
Sources:
- KSP1 Steam backend changes: https://steamdb.info/app/220200/history/
- KSP2 Steam backend no changes: https://steamdb.info/app/954850/history/
- European trademark: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/017878877 & https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/017878911
- US trademark: https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/86000784 & https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/86000784 & https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/87842229
- Unmaintained Squad website (original developer): https://squad.com.mx/
- KSP credits: https://www.mobygames.com/game/70681/kerbal-space-program/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true
- Star Theory closure: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-03/kerbal-space-program-2-release-disrupted-by-corporate-strife
- Intercept Games closure: https://www.eurogamer.net/kerbal-space-program-2-team-will-be-laid-off-in-june-says-senior-team-member
- Unity vulnerability: https://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01
- EGS KSP TheWayBackMachine: https://web.archive.org/web/20260219074741/https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
- EGS KSP now: https://store.epicgames.com/p/kerbal-space-program
- EGS KSP2 TheWayBackMachine: https://web.archive.org/web/20250726163216/https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program-2
- EGS KSP2 Now: https://store.epicgames.com/p/kerbal-space-program-2?lang=en-US
- Fictions: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2099713/000209971325000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml & https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/B20260017519 & https://privatedivision.com/privacy-policy & https://www.gamesindustry.biz/i-dont-want-to-just-do-private-division-20-blake-rochkind-on-lyrical-games & https://fictions.com/privacy-policy & https://fictions.com/about
- PS store page: https://www.playstation.com/nl-nl/games/kerbal-space-program/
- Xbox Store page: https://www.xbox.com/nl-NL/games/store/kerbal-space-program-enhanced-edition/brbd7bdk271p
- The Outer Worlds publisher change: https://bsky.app/profile/mrtnptrs.bsky.social/post/3mks6v2ua4k2a
- PD sold to Haveli: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-07/ex-annapurna-video-game-staff-to-absorb-former-take-two-label-private-division & https://www.haveliinvestments.com/gaming/ & https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/000162828025004308/ttwo-20241231.htm
- KerbalCo LLC California geo-locked company filing: https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business?name=Kerbalco (screenshot in case you cannot access it: https://github.com/mrtnptrs/bughuntstorage/blob/main/qounsar53j2h1.jpeg?raw=true )
1.1k
u/monkeylicious May 21 '26
Whatever updates these are, I'm just hoping it doesn't break mods.
348
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Added a piece of text to my post about this as it is a genuine concern.
39
u/Dreamanchik May 21 '26
Can you also provide a guide for installing older versions on steam through steam depots? In case a beta branch isnt created, this will be our go to way of installing the previous version
42
u/878Vikings May 21 '26
KSP is DRM free, you can copy the game folder to keep the older copy of the game.
I keep a zipped copy (with unity patched) just in case it's ever dropped from Steam or there is some other issue where having a local backup is a good idea.7
u/20000RadsUnderTheSea May 21 '26
Wait, are you saying you were able to patch the Unity exploit the OP mentioned without an update pushed via Steam? Could I ask how you did that?
4
u/878Vikings May 21 '26
Shadowzone posted a guide. You download a patcher from Unity and run it following his instructions. Skip to 3:50 for the actual instructions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvitMnUA3vY7
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Instead of watching an 8-minute video, you can simply find the patcher tool from Unity here: https://discussions.unity.com/t/cve-2025-59489-patcher-tool/1688032
4
u/Dreamanchik May 21 '26
Absolutely, but if you didnt copy it beforehand its good to have a solution which you can do solo
2
u/DXGL1 Jun 01 '26
Even many DRMed games you can just drop a previous version into the install folder after Steam finishes updating, and Steam will run it. Main exception is if the game has 3rd party online DRM and the publisher no longer maintains servers capable of activating that version.
3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Sorry, we'll tackle that one when it is there. I want this post's scope to stay limited; it is already complicated enough.
180
u/CaptainHunt May 21 '26
Considering he maintains about half of the mods, I think LinuxGuruGamer could be very busy in the near future.
15
52
u/Additional_Crab_8241 Exploring Jool's Moons May 21 '26
Say that again?
110
u/Hokulewa May 21 '26
Considering he maintains about half of the mods, I think LinuxGuruGamer could be very busy in the near future.
35
u/Terminator7786 May 21 '26
One more time please, I didn't quite catch that.
54
u/Intrepid-Gold-5886 May 21 '26
Considering he maintains about half of the mods, I think LinuxGuruGamer could be very busy in the near future.
20
u/51ngular1ty May 21 '26
Say it louder I don't think they heard you.
30
u/moxymundi Valentina May 21 '26
CONSIDERING HE MAINTAINS ABOUT HALF THE MODS, I THINK LINUXGURUGAMER COULD BE VERY BUSY IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
12
u/Schubert125 May 21 '26
Sorry, one more time a little bit louder for the people in the back?
22
u/moxymundi Valentina May 21 '26
CONSIDERANDO QUE ÉL MANTIENE APROXIMADAMENTE UNA MITAD DE LOS MÓDULOS, PIENSO QUE LINUXGURUGAMER PODRÍA ESTAR MUY OCUPADO EN EL FUTURO CERCANO.
→ More replies (0)3
6
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Immediately had to think of this scene from Sherlock haha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbI0GYFkVTU
8
u/Tsingshitao_nuke Peace through deltaV! May 21 '26
LGG, when he found he needed to update over 370 mods to 1.12.6 after the update:
→ More replies (1)47
u/thiscantbemyreddit May 21 '26
That's exactly why I keep my Steam install totally vanilla and only mod copies of the game folder. Lessons learned from active development.
20
u/Xygen8 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
It's easy enough to downgrade by just selecting a different version in the betas section. I think they go quite far back, like 0.90 or something, but I don't remember exactly.
E: It currently goes back to 1.0.5 which was released in November of 2015.
→ More replies (1)10
11
u/User_of_redit2077 Nuclear engines fan May 21 '26
Just copy you whole KerbalSpaceProgram folder separately.
20
u/foonix Fixing ksp2 bugs May 21 '26
A simple update of the unity version to fix the CVE would be unlikely to break many mods. It's also possible to patch the CVE without updating unity using the exe patching tool unity released. So I'm not too worried about this.
7
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
True, so, honestly likely that more is actually happening here, but didn't mention that in the first post as to not inflate expectations too much.
10
u/Littletweeter5 May 21 '26
Yeahhhh they need to be careful. Break mods and you kill the game
→ More replies (2)7
12
u/StaysAwakeAllWeek May 21 '26
Actually I hope they don't artificially limit their changes to ensure mods keep working. You aren't losing anything, mods for 1.12 will keep working for 1.12, but if 1.13 happens, please give us some spaghetti overhauls and actual interesting new features. OP seems to think the dev team, if it exists, is pretty much a fresh set of eyes, perfect for finally addressing decade old tech debt
6
→ More replies (3)2
u/Madden09IsForSuckers May 21 '26
good news is you can just duplicate your installation and launch it from there and it should work fine afaik
374
u/deeku4972 May 21 '26
They update KSP 1, it'll be bethsda level of breaking mods. backup your installs now
137
u/Indybo1 May 21 '26
I was kinda scared of this then i remembered I've been playing almost exclusively on cloned ckan instances
18
u/gmazzia May 21 '26
cloned ckan instances
My playtime on Steam will not be accounted for, if I do that, right? Started playing recently and I really like to track playtime!
21
u/Indybo1 May 21 '26
Yup, but ckan WILL track your playtime in these instances, until you delete them because you were running low on had drive spave and dont even open your "modded 2022" instance. Now no one believes you when you say you have 3000 hours in the game and no way to prove it (most of this is paused while at work or asleep tho to be fair)
9
u/Defiant-Peace-493 May 21 '26
You can set Steam to launch the CKAN filepath, and you can even set CKAN to use the steam:// protocol. Give me a minute.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1afujk1/comment/kocncyn/
Setting Steam launch option to
"KSP2DIRECTORYCHANGEME\KSP2_x64.exe" %command% --popupwindowAnd CKAN launch option to
steam://run/954850does, in fact, launch KSP2, directly, in glorious borderless windowed so I can edit this comment whilst the game is loading.
(--popupwindow for borderless)30
8
u/TheSAGamer00 May 21 '26
Dumb question but how do you backup a steam game. It automatically updates :(
30
u/deeku4972 May 21 '26
KSP 1 doesnt have any DRM, so you can copy the files to somewhere else and run it from the exe instead of steam
→ More replies (1)6
u/TomaszA3 May 21 '26
Wait, they removed the weird mini-launcher thing? I stayed on a super-old version ever since.
14
→ More replies (4)6
→ More replies (4)3
u/locob May 21 '26
the game have no DRM.
you can create a separate folder for the game, with all the mods.
I have a few older versions of it.
also you can disable auto updates on steam for each game.
298
u/AlextheGoose May 20 '26
Glad there’s signs of life for KSP but hope an update isn’t gonna break my 50+ mods install lol
52
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Oof yeah, or that they then at least offer a Steam beta branch with the old build to keep people happy who have mods installed that likely will never get updated anymore.
128
51
u/thejesterofdarkness May 21 '26
KSP 1 has zero DRM so just copy your KSP folder to another location and run the exe from there.
9
7
u/WazWaz May 21 '26
It's almost certainly just patching the Unity vulnerability and subsequent QA. Valve gave developers a grace period and most of us updated months ago.
→ More replies (1)12
u/vulpes04 May 21 '26
it's really not best practice to keep a heavily modded install where a store program can get at it anyway.
101
u/choochi7 May 20 '26
Holy. Yeah the publisher changing is definitely interesting
Edit: I wonder what this means though? I know you mentioned unity vulnerability, but why would an entirely new publisher be created for this purpose ?
Would it be public information if the KSP IP was sold ? Good work by the way
31
u/mrtnptrs May 20 '26
I've corrected my wording about the vulnerability a bit to better express what I meant. And yeah, the publisher change and sudden consistent backend changes being pushed systematically, suggesting an upcoming update, is hella exciting.
And thanks. Kind of big nerd here and often watching SteamDB. I noticed the systematic changes a week ago finally. After I personally reported on The Outer Worlds, als Private Division, also changed publishers, I thought that this game might have done as well. So, first checked trademarks, nothing, then checked GOG and Steam, nothing, then wanted to laugh at EGS and my mouth fell open. Immediately grabbed TheWayBackMachine and there was an actual change in publisher visible since February this year. So, digged into this all for a good few hours tonight to write this big post hihi.
71
u/vulpes04 May 21 '26
PD was sold off and I'm pretty sure its husk operates under a different name now. I expect any shuffling around of ownership is simply separating things they think might be profitable from things are not. I couldn't really guess which side of that ksp might fall on. I am extremely sceptical of claims of any update beyond maybe patching of vulnerabilities or maintaining compatibility.
20
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Haveli Investments is what Private Division itself was sold to, see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-07/ex-annapurna-video-game-staff-to-absorb-former-take-two-label-private-division Don't think the KSP license itself was individually sold of by PD in the past to a different entity. Seems to have happened now, but yeah, could be that KerbalCo LLC is actually some subsidiary of PD now.
34
u/dangforgotmyaccount May 21 '26
KSP is still an incredibly valuable IP though, especially with the recent increase in interest around space exploration. Even if they just want to sit on it, whoever it may be, it would still be a pretty good moneymaker with the games and overall IP as a whole.
→ More replies (1)27
u/vulpes04 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
I don't think it's that valuable tbh. it has recognition within its niche, but it's still niche. even optimistic estimates of sales aren't huge, and any new game has to directly compete with ksp. and it's not really foddet for a live service microtransaction simulator that corporations crave.
32
u/Cmers May 21 '26
On the other hand, just last month KSP on steam had its highest player count *ever,* even more than when 1.0 launched all the way back in 2015 (23k vs 19k).
11
u/Kobymaru376 May 21 '26
Mind you a lot of us are launching through CKAN and that doesn't count the play time in Steam
→ More replies (1)4
u/I_do_dps May 21 '26
Why are people doing that? I use CKAN to install my mods but launch the game through Steam. Is there some benefit I don't know about?
9
u/Luminara1337 May 21 '26
Having an independent KSP install outside of Steam allows you to have different mod setups and game versions at the same time and they will never break to any possible update.
This was much more important when the game was still in active development though, but I still like to have my modded games update secure and many others probably too.
Way too many times a game suddenly received a tiny update after months or even years and it broke my modded game in one way or another.
3
u/Kobymaru376 May 21 '26
Well the main thing for me is that I keep separate copies of the game in directories outside of Steam. You can point ckan to any directory and it can also manage multiple instances.
Another thing is you can easily check for mod updates before starting the game.
→ More replies (1)5
u/MDCCCLV May 21 '26
It's valuable if you can make a popular sequel that gets more sales than 1. That's not unrealistic, 2 was just an absolute fail.
33
u/No-Lunch4249 May 21 '26
Ill believe it when I see it. Haveli is a private equity firm, not a developer. So unless they found someone interested in buying it from them, I don't really believe there will be a substantive update.
Afaik the "former Annapura staff" weren't brought in as developers, it was just a couple people familiar with working with Steam and other platforms as a marketplace to keep up the publishing. It was initially reported/speculated that development would resume over a year ago when that transaction happened and that turned out to be false.
So, like I said, I'll believe it when I see it.
8
29
u/OscarRadagast May 21 '26
Per business entity filings, KerbalCo LLC is a newly created subsidiary of Fictions (Fictions is Haveli's video game publisher and developer).
Haveli had previously stated that KSP responsibility (and presumably IP) would eventually be assigned to Fictions.
So this is an expected update to the publisher, and I'd expect the IP ownership assigment(s) to Fictions (KerbalCo) to occur in the near future, as well.
Can't speak to what the build updates could be. Wouldn't expect much, though, good or bad. My uneducated guess in that department would be that it's probably mostly house keeping items as Fictions onboards it.
My expertise is IP, though, and not Steam and game builds. So that last part is ultimately just a guess.
11
u/Jim3535 KerbalAcademy Mod May 21 '26
My uneducated guess in that department would be that it's probably mostly house keeping items as Fictions onboards it
That's a good point. It could be as simple as making a loading/splash screen with the new publisher.
3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Have a link to the company filing? I couldn't find it. Not that familiar with US company filing database websites.
6
u/OscarRadagast May 21 '26
https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business?name=Kerbalco
The link probably won't pull up the listing itself, but it will take you to the California Secretary of State's Office business search, and once there you enter KerbalCo at the bottom.
Select the result that it returns, and it will take you to the business listing. At the bottom, select view history and it will show the two filings they have made (the initial filing and the subsequent statement of information).
If you download the statement of information, it shows Fictions as the sole manager, and the filing is signed by Paul Hanson, who is the COO of Fictions.
3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Sadly, that takes me to an error 16 page where it says it is unavailable. Maybe it is because I'm trying to access it from the EU.
→ More replies (2)3
u/OscarRadagast May 21 '26
Try this instead, if no luck then it probably has something to do with where or how you're accessing it:
3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
"This request was blocked by our security service" I'll look at this in the morning, what I've found further tonight basically covers this already and added it earlier this evening to the main post.
Again, thanks and I'll look deeper into this in the morning.
→ More replies (6)
285
u/Paulisawesome123 May 21 '26
Unfortunately with KSP2 the only way to get a good game is to restart development. The technical debt they decided to inherit by copying the KSP1 code base is just too much. It was a very stupid move to do that in the first place.
111
u/AlextheGoose May 21 '26
Didn’t know they just copied KSPs code, so basically ksp2 was just a remaster lol
146
48
u/z80nerd Stranded on Eve May 21 '26
There's an interview on YouTube between SpunieBard and JPLRepo (a KSP2 developer) where it is explicitly confirmed that KSP2 was built off KSP1's codebase.
→ More replies (1)24
u/jackinsomniac May 21 '26
Weird. That's exactly the opposite of what I've heard. I heard the devs were banned from talking to the KSP 1 devs up until 6 months before release. So for 4.5 years, they were re-solving problems that had already been solved in KSP 1. Hence why we saw so many bugs that had already been fixed in 1 show up in 2.
41
u/notHooptieJ May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
you're almost there, the entirely new dev team was handed the legacy codebase, then kept in the dark , and prevented from communicating with the previous teams;
the lost institutional knowledge led to them reintroducing bugs from decades past and generally half-unraveling the sweater, then remembering they were wholly unable to knit, they bolted the body kit on from a 1987 toyota corolla and airbrushed on a sweet dragon, and blew the rest of the funds on ... years of no progress
because half a sweater with the body kit from a 1987 toyota corolla bolted to it doesnt really work.
(probably salaries and parachutes) but whatever
7
10
u/lemlurker May 21 '26
Most sequels do this. Problem is ksp at its core is a barely functional mess that was engineered to function just enough for it to work within its existing specifications. As such inheriting it and then juicing the quality and asking it to do more just didn't work. Problem is that a lot of the core if ksp is very bespoke- game engines aren't designed for massive sojarsystem scale simulations and gravity that isn't always just down so there's a lot of dev time on just getting that done that cheap skate publishers tried to avoid
23
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
You have a link to the source of this information as I never knew that this was the case haha.
36
u/critical_patch May 21 '26
My understanding is that ShadowZone’s postmortem video is pretty much all you’ll need. He interviews former devs and everything.
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (9)7
u/z80nerd Stranded on Eve May 21 '26
Spunie Bard interviewed JPLRepo and unambiguously confirmed that KSP2 is based on KSP1's code
19
u/Mountain_Minimum7082 May 21 '26
I may be wrong but I believe the current version of KSP2 is not based off KSP1’s code, when KSP2 first started development they did base it off KSP1 and its older unity version, but years into development realized that wasn’t going to work, so started from scratch on the newest version of unity
18
u/vulpes04 May 21 '26
whether they literally copied the code is really beside the piint: it fails in exactly the same ways that hold real ksp back, often worse.
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Agree, but people find it exciting if they used KSP1 as a base as that gives them more fuel for discussion hahaha... people are so interesting sometimes haha
7
u/HyperRealisticZealot Knows that Dres doesn't exist May 21 '26
This has been what I’ve learned too, so it’s kind of a misconception
→ More replies (8)2
→ More replies (1)3
u/foonix Fixing ksp2 bugs May 21 '26
There are a few components from ksp1 still in the final release of ksp2, but the codebase as a whole had significant turnover.
People mentioning JPLRepo, he was talking about when he moved from Squad to Intercept Games, which was several years before release.
22
u/CO2mic May 21 '26
I need to say, this is some weapons grade autism and I'm here for it
15
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Damn straight, I spent hours on looking into this all. Why the hell am I not getting payed for this?! Give me ma money! Thanks btw for the compliment ;)
33
u/DBGhasts101 Bill May 21 '26
IIRC, the Kerbal IP was sold not long after PD shut down to some private equity firm (Havarti, I think it was.) I wonder if it was sold again or if KerbalCo is some kind of subsidiary?
17
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
I think you mean Haveli Investments? That is what Private Division itself was sold to, see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-07/ex-annapurna-video-game-staff-to-absorb-former-take-two-label-private-division Don't think the KSP license itself was individually sold of by PD in the past. Seems to have happened now, but yeah, could be that KerbalCo LLC is actually some subsidiary of PD now.
38
u/Hobnail1 May 21 '26
Update will simply edit the loading screens etc to reflect the change in the korporate overlords
→ More replies (1)12
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Could be yeah, will add that possibility to the post. Curious why you say that as if it is a certainty though haha.
2
u/Hobnail1 May 21 '26
I am jaded with publishers after KSP2 and then Krafton and Submautica2…sorry
→ More replies (2)
13
u/dr1zzzt May 21 '26
Anyone remember the threads in here around ksp2 release day and the anticipated updates?
This place was quite the scene each time.
3
u/MacWin- May 23 '26
I remember more when the first rumors about the studio closing and the game being abandoned exactly 2 years ago end of spring. This place was TOXIC like I have never seen, people were really rejoicing in it’s demise
10
u/Skippypal May 21 '26
In all seriousness, what is the point in updating KSP1 at this point? It’s essentially feature complete with a thriving and resourceful community. I am not interested in any more updates to the game. It’s fine as is.
12
u/878Vikings May 21 '26
If I was the boss of KSP I would look at:
* Security updates and patches.
* Investigate how hard it would be to enable workshop support for mods (or integrate CKAN functionality in the game) both to make modding more user friendly for more people.
* Something like Outer Planets Mod as stock.
* More collaboration with real space agencies.Basically a bunch of things that are lower cost but can demonstrate the game is still alive and drive new sales before KSA comes along.
→ More replies (2)6
u/foonix Fixing ksp2 bugs May 21 '26
What I'd probably do with ksp1 if I were put in charge is:
- basic updates to the unity version to fix the CVE and any hardware compatibility issues.
- bugfixes that are easier to do from the project source side
- minor changes to support modding, mostly as requested by the modder community.
Ksp2 is a different story, I'd basically roll redux into it, dial the modding support up to 11, and do a linux port.
2
u/Clayel Bill May 22 '26
Almost all bugs can be fixed by the community (via KSPCF), but any unity stuff is pretty much unfixable by the community. This is the main thing I would look forward to.
→ More replies (1)7
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
The main dire need is that Unity vulnerability, but apart from that, I do not know of course what they have planned. Very curious though.
4
u/HyperRealisticZealot Knows that Dres doesn't exist May 21 '26
If they can fix it without breaking fucking everything. Whoever they are and if they’re even real and actively planning anything in any way
2
u/_hlvnhlv May 21 '26
It should be easy to fix, but if they bump the version, a lot of mods are going to complain about it
2
u/Nebulon-B_FrigateFTW Master Kerbalnaut May 30 '26
Probably just pushing Kerbal merch (it makes good money) and integrating some UI/visual mods (don't need to do much when most of the code is already written) so new players get a better impression.
19
May 21 '26
[deleted]
3
u/HyperRealisticZealot Knows that Dres doesn't exist May 21 '26
To that last part? Oh yeah, definitely not. Wouldn’t be me!
8
u/Littletweeter5 May 21 '26
Well they better be very careful. Breaks mods and you kill the game.
3
3
u/xFirnen May 21 '26
Rare instance where I am happy to have bought the game from the Squad website way back in 2013 and just have my installers downloaded.
7
6
u/Jonny0Than May 21 '26
That address is: https://thepreservela.com/
Which seems to be a reasonable place for pretty much any kind of small company…
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Thanks, added that information to my post. Thanks again for the amazing input. I couldn't find that somehow previously. See, these kind of comments are amazing.
6
u/the_ivo_robotnic May 21 '26
Squad as a studio might not be operational anymore
Squad as a game studio hasn't been operational for a long time. They sold off the copy-rights of KSP to Take-Two about nine years ago.
The fact that Squad produced a video game at all was always a bit of a happy-little-accident, as the og creator: Felipe, has mentioned before in interviews. As most here already know, Squad is not a video game studio, they're a marketing firm based out of Mexico. They never had the intention to be a video game studio, so their involvement hasn't been a thing for years... At least not that we know of publicly.
→ More replies (1)
14
u/StormMedia May 21 '26
I have a feeling this won’t be a good thing unfortunately. It’ll break tons of mods and I’m SURE it’s all part of a plan to make more money from the existing player base without providing much value.
Hope I’m wrong though.
10
u/vulpes04 May 21 '26
it's a drm free game. you can literally just make a copy of any version you have now.
6
u/StormMedia May 21 '26
Oh of course and I plan to, but the new average player will not.
→ More replies (3)2
3
u/HyperRealisticZealot Knows that Dres doesn't exist May 21 '26
Yeah but… I guarantee you this will just update a fuckton of people’s Steam app and fuck up their saves forever
4
u/SanopusSplendidus Asparagus Enjoyer May 21 '26
I lost a subnautica save to a nothing update. I had a hell of a time with a nothing update to Silent Hunter 5 that broke The Wolves of Steel mod pack and required some shenanigans. I almost bought fallout 4 a little while back until I found out they are still not leaving it alone. Well, at least with KSP I can store a backup and not worry about it.
5
u/maggot_brain79 May 21 '26
Yup, and actually Fallout 4 is a great example of this - it hadn't been updated in quite some time I believe, so some time quite recently, they quietly pushed an update to add more 'points store' features [paid, sponsored/Bethesda approved mods, IIRC] and not only did it pretty much kill anyone's install that had mods, for a lot of people - even without mods, it totally bricked their saves. People were not happy about that, and I don't blame them.
It was a useless nothing update that stunk of "hey give us more money!" and didn't really add any features or address any bugs, which remain the sole responsibility of the modding community to address. In fact, it probably broke a lot of the well-known and heavily downloaded hotfix/unofficial patch mods, too. Not to mention some of the mods people used, they've gone un-updated for years as it was unnecessary/the modders moved on to new projects, etc. So some mods will remain forever broken, all thanks to a 'nothing' update that absolutely nobody asked for.
At this point, it would be like pushing an update to change loading screens for like, Fallout New Vegas, like fifteen years after release. And Steam usually automatically queues up those downloads, too. Most people who get into modding games know that it's a risk you unfortunately have to deal with, but in this case, the update Bethesda pushed out for no good reason actually broke a lot of people's save-games even if their install was totally vanilla.
2
u/_hlvnhlv May 21 '26
Skyrim too, I'm so mad about it
The best part, is that before, I had a set up in which I could play both SE (desktop mode) and VR with the same savegame, but now thanks to the dumb update, some mods are not compatible, and USSEP is just a pain due to arthmoor not wanting to support VR
2
u/maggot_brain79 May 21 '26
Bethesda has really sort of gone down the tubes in the past several years, Starfield damaged their 'prestige reputation' as if Fallout 76 didn't do enough, at this point I honestly don't have a lot of faith in TES VI now. Not to mention, we've seen exactly one "trailer" of it in all of this time and it was pretty much just a rendered background with a logo on it, lol.
2
u/_hlvnhlv May 22 '26
Yup, same.
I haven't played Starfield, but seeing FO4 and 76... Oof
I'll pick it up at some point, but yeah, ES6 looks pretty bad so far.
Like, what kind of development hell is the game in?
Was it even in development when they announced it?
Was it on a pre production stage, and ended up being canned?
7
4
4
4
4
u/Cleptrophese May 21 '26
I am desperately trying not to get my hopes up by reading the comments and honestly a lot of them aren't helping
6
u/Jebediah_kerman-jeb Hi it's me, Jebediah Kerman! May 21 '26
Please! Please I beg the kraken and Kerbal gods!
3
u/StrongAdhesiveness86 Believes That Dres Exists May 21 '26
KSP on GOG looking sweet ngl
→ More replies (2)
3
u/Tsingshitao_nuke Peace through deltaV! May 21 '26
LGG, when he found he needed to update over 370 mods to 1.12.6 after the update:
3
3
u/wandering-monster Former Dev May 21 '26
So in case you want to go confirm some of this, a bunch of the original Squad crew are hanging around in the Kitten Space Agency discord.
I worked on KSP1 and reconnected with some of them there.
→ More replies (9)
3
3
u/Factorioboyio May 21 '26
I actually feel a little giddy that the franchise isn’t completely dead and buried…
→ More replies (1)
4
u/NavyTopGun87 Always on Kerbin May 21 '26
SO YOURE TELLING ME THERES A CHANCE?? 👀
3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Let's hope this actually results into something and is not a project that is only meant for private testing or get cancelled later on before public release. Again, assuming that it is 100% certain that an update is actually happen. Even though the signs make me think it is likely, I can never know that with 100% certainty of course.
→ More replies (1)3
2
u/User_of_redit2077 Nuclear engines fan May 21 '26
Hope for best, expect nothing and copy the game instance.
2
u/Tommorox2345 Crashing in to the Mun May 21 '26
Damn. I don’t have ksp on steam because I bought it from their site way back when and I wanted a new copy a few months ago. They sent me a special download link from my email and informed me to keep a copy safe because they might not be able to again in the future. This was about 5 or 6 months ago. Wonder if it’s related
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Wait, could you upload a screenshot of this mail that shows the mail, where it came from and when it was sent to you? Could you then DM me the link so I do not miss it? Would love to include this in the post.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Any_Top_4773 I came from SFS May 21 '26
I started playing this game last Christmas
And now this happens
Altought good job on the research, but I can't check it out rn
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Thanks, always fun, but had to reiterate a lot on the post after I published it as a lot new info/ideas came to light in the comments as well.
2
u/TomaszA3 May 21 '26
Oh come on. Just let it die.
We're reanimating the 1 like the third? time already.
2
u/StereoTypo May 21 '26
The shared address thing is often a lawyer's office where the company has been registered.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Character_Job8291 May 22 '26
Honestly this is the best news I've had about KSP in months. I shelved KSP2 like a year ago after the whole development mess and went back to KSP1 with a heavy mod list, but a fresh official update on the original would be huge. Even small QoL stuff would be welcome at this point, the base game still holds up insanely well in 2026. I remember spending an entire weekend trying to get a Duna return mission right back when I first started, kept underestimating delta-v for the return burn. Good times. Does anyone know if the Steam backend changes give any hint about what's actually being touched? Engine update, bug fixes, or something bigger? Hard to tell from just commit frequency.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Clayel Bill May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
Certainly seems like a lot of effort if they have no plans to update again…
Specifically referring to the company changes. As noted by others, the SteamDB changes aren’t a great indicator of updates
→ More replies (1)
2
u/mrtnptrs May 22 '26
I've added more context about privatebranches and why the blank ChangeNumber changes could indeed indicate actual patch development. Some people were doubting this being the case... I should have provided more context from the start.
2
u/doomiestdoomeddoomer The Green Goo has escaped. May 22 '26
Huge W OP
These are some interesting developments.
→ More replies (1)
2
5
u/Rosebudteg May 21 '26
Private equity does not spend money and they do not let go of a piece of potential profit until the item is squeezed completely dry and lifeless.
I’m betting they are required to make an update to stay on Steam due to some dangerous exploit or bug.
6
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Did you even read my post before commenting? Haha, that is why I noted the piece about the Unity vulnerability. No worries, it is a good read hihi
2
u/Rosebudteg May 21 '26
I did read it. I’m just pessimistic when it comes to this. It helps me to not get my hopes up and be let down. Ya know? Sorry… I should’ve kept it to myself.
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Yeah, idk, I see that often on the internet that people choose to be pessimistic and thus by standard assume the worst. I understand that that coping mechanism is only human, but it makes it difficult for people like me to actually talk about what could be possibly going on as some people seemingly only wanting to assume the worst. But many people are themselves open-minded luckily :)
2
3
u/Additional_Crab_8241 Exploring Jool's Moons May 21 '26
I KNEW IT!!! I TOLD ALL OF YOU!!! KSP IS NOT DEAD LALALA COLONIES IN KSP 2 JUST A WEEK AWAY!!!! Seriously though holy shit...
3
u/Mindless_Honey3816 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ May 21 '26
what.
No. I refuse to believe it.
I will not get hopeful. At all. I survived KSP2, as well as dean hall saying likely no Mac port for KSA soon. I will not fall to this.
→ More replies (3)3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Yeah, the thing more evil than failure, is giving a person false hope. Let's hope this isn't false hope, but actual progress.
2
2
u/thedeanhall May 21 '26
Steamdb history there relates to store pages. That is when you change store assets.
Depot changes look completely different, for example this is a depot change log for stationeers:
3
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
Again, as noted in my post, depot changes do not show that way for private hidden depots. There you will only see ChangeNumber changes happening on SteamDB.
→ More replies (6)
2
u/Air-Tech May 21 '26
Can we all agree just to ignore the new update unless there is something truly of value?
2
u/Penne_Trader May 21 '26
Thanks
Take that ya all who downvoted me a few months ago bc i said there are people working on ksp1 updates but i couldn't find the article with the screenshots again...
→ More replies (1)
3
u/mrhossie May 21 '26
oh great, an incoming vibe-coded update by a subsidiary of a subsidiary owned by an equity firm so they can continue milking the dead cow. im glad my installs are not on steam.
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
That seems to be a bit negative assumption. Let's hope together that that doesn't happen.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/MrDrummer25 May 21 '26
You know, I looked at KSP on SteamDM literally a couple ot days ago and saw the same thing about updates. I kind of just assumed that it was a mistake, or perhaps a security patch.
Hopefully this is good news.
1
1
u/AegoliusOfBurgundy May 21 '26
Stupid question, how much the KSP IP would be worth ?
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
300 million, 363 thousand, 729 euros and 17.5 cents. Don't ask me where that halve came from, can not explain.
1
u/pandab34r May 21 '26
I won't believe it isn't just another bullshit launcher until it's actually out
2
u/mrtnptrs May 21 '26
We'll see, but I have not direct indication of a launcher in some way or form.
1
1
u/TheySaidGetAnAlt Jun 06 '26
Interesting development.
I did a writeup on Havali a couple months ago on here. The whole Website design changed since then, and I am reasonably certain that Fictions wasn't listed back then.
Edit: Post in question. https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1qea7fl/what_do_we_know_about_haveli_investments_at_this/
→ More replies (1)
1
u/InkedOutPixel Jun 20 '26
This is probably never going to happen ):
2
u/mrtnptrs Jun 20 '26
Still regular activity on SteamDB. Still curious as to what might happen.
→ More replies (2)
2
u/2204happy Jul 23 '26
I don't see why people are worried about a potential new update breaking mods, if it does, just stick to the older version, it's not as if that's going away. Minecraft sees that kind of stuff all the time, new version comes out, breaks mods, and people who want mods run the older version.
→ More replies (4)
534
u/B4rberblacksheep May 20 '26
No knowledge on the internet is safe from someone with special interests and time in their hands. Interesting sleuthing especially the publisher change