Take-Two Interactive, the parent company ofGrand Theft Autodeveloper Rockstar Games, has been accused of intentionally dismantling theKerbal Space Program 2development team. Last month,Kerbal Space Program 2was officially delayedbecause of COVID-19, but nothing was said about the rumored staffing trouble.
A new report from Bloomberg alleges that Take-Two engaged in underhanded tactics to ruinKerbal Space Program 2developer Star Theory Games and bring development of the game in-house. Take-Two has owned the rights toKerbal Space Programsince 2017 and had contracted Star Theory to make the second game in the space flight simulation series but this contract was reportedly nixed in December 2019.
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Private Division, which is also the Take-Two publishing label behindThe Outer Worlds, is said to have tried to hire the entire Star Theory Games development team to keep working on the game. From December, Take-Two has been sending out recruitment messages to Star Theory developers, and after just a few weeks more than a third of these developers had begun working at Take-Two.
It’s also reported that Take-Two had previously tried to buy Star Theory Games but that the developer’s founders didn’t like the proposed terms. The implication is that doing things this way provided Take-Two with a much cheaper solution. The in-house team is now making theKerbal Space Programsequel as Intercept Games.
The report has also revealed that COVID-19 damaged Star Theory’s efforts to save the company. The developer officially closed on August 09, 2025, after plans to show new games to publishers at theGame Developers Conference, which was canceled because of COVID-19. Several other major gaming events have been canceled since, such as E3, leaving Star Theory with no option but to close down.
Private Division has only published a handful of games since its founding in 2017 withKerbal Space Program: Enhanced EditionandAncestors: The Humankind Odysseybeing just two of them. This month, it will also be releasing theNintendo Switch version ofThe Outer Worlds. It’s unclear whether acquiring these development teams or poaching developers from this is part of a long-term strategy for Take-Two and the label.
The allegations are likely to cloud over the other announcements that the company is planning to make this month. Private Division will also be part ofSummer Game Festwhere it is likely to announce several new games but fans may expect some sort of official comment on this report before they are ready to celebrate the publisher’s next big reveals.
Kerbal Space Program 2is expected to launch in fall 2021 for PC and later for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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