Kerbal Space Program 2 is now delayed to 2023

Kerbal Space Program 2, the game about developing a haphazardly dangerous space program and using it to fling little green weirdos into the cold void of space, has been delayed yet again. The long-awaited sequel was most recently expected to be out in the second half of 2022, but is now scheduled to launch sometime in early 2023.

“We are building a game of tremendous technological complexity, and are taking this additional time to ensure we hit the quality and level of polish it deserves,” creative director Nate Simpson said. “We remain focused on making sure KSP2 performs well on a variety of hardware, has amazing graphics, and is rich with content.

“We’ve built a spectacular team at Intercept Games—a team that includes, as previously mentioned, key members from the development team behind the original Kerbal Space Program. We have the perfect combination of experienced, passionate, and skilled developers to fully realize this game’s ambitious potential.”

The development of KSP2 has not gone especially smoothly—or at least, its release date targets have been off by about a galaxy's worth. When it was announced in 2019, it was slated for release in spring 2020, but it's been delayed three times since then and was actually moved to an entirely new developer—from Star Theory Games, which took over the series from original Kerbal studio Squad, to Intercept Games, a division of Take-Two's Private Label that was established specifically to work on Kerbal Space Program 2.

This most recent delay isn't a huge pause, running just a few months beyond the end of the previous launch window, but the lack of specificity in the new launch window makes me wonder if this will really be the final delay before Kerbal Space Program 2 lifts off for interstellar parts unknown.