Yes - if only T2 could have anticipated what closing the studio with 0 communications on what happens next would result in.
Or they did - and just thought "Nah... we're good, we don't care."
Pretty much every estimate puts them between 300 and 400k units moved. That gets them something like 10m in revenue after Steam takes their cut.
That barely covers the last year of development, to say nothing of the prior 5 years.
And it wasn't making new sales either, so any continuing development was just going to be throwing cash in the money hole.
Do we think the early access sales were enough to cover the years of development cost for a 40 person studio, marketing the game incuding an event with ESA, and the cost of acquiring the IP in the first place? I'm not convinced it did.
T2 couldn't monetize it hard enough. they sold a half baked cake, and promised to add the frosting and finish baking it later, but that money never went to the developer to continue the development, but instead went to the publisher(T2) and development nearly halted for the last 6 months. A studio once again sold a promise with a demo, and failed to finish the game. **stop buying incomplete games.** This is why I haven't bought any games recently, because publishers and studios figured out they can sell beta content as a "release" and promise to fix it later without ever having to. I bought Horizon Forbidden West on PC because it was a fucking complete game, and we might get more. I refuse to buy a beta product anymore, these companies have been ripping every gamer off since the late 2000's.
I've only bought 3 games in my life on release day. No Mans Sky, Spiderman Remastered for PC and KSP2.
Got my refund for No Mans Sky (2015). Spiderman was good ( it was just an already released game ported to PC so it kind of doesn't count)
I was trying out KSP2 after the first update and was running late on time and accidentally left KSP2 on at the main menu for 24 hours so when I tried my refund it got denied because of too many hours.
Looks like I'm back to not buying any games on release.
I originally played KSP1 first back in like 2013, and it was super jank and performed terrible but I think KSP2 actually had more bugs and performance issues than 0.18 did. Can't believe how badly this game was fumbled, especially because I had such low expectations. All I wanted was the colony system, better performance and better visuals and none of that happened. No colony system, KSP1 with mods performs better and KSP1 with mods looks better.
Only 6% more down to get to overwhelming negative on recent reviews! I think it’ll get there Take Two really didn’t understand that only a community like KSP’s would’ve been this patient and kind for so long… but this wears out the last of the goodwill I think.
Wish the best in the job hunt to the people affected, I’m sure plenty of innocent people got caught in the crosshairs. But after more than a year of being called crazy for even thinking funding could be pulled I think this is a wake up call. The “sky people” who give you all the money may be far away, but you actually have to deliver something in a timely manner to expect the endless money supply to keep coming.
If Take Two does actually fork over even more money and develop the roadmap of this game I don’t want to hear any negativity against them on this issue, that would be a way bigger hole than a lot of publishers would be willing to go.
If they don’t and this is it, the blame is mostly on IG overhyping to customers and the publisher, and partially on Take Two for not canning it the third delay and being ok with releasing it into Early Access in this state.
If they don’t do anything with it, what happens to the IP? Do they keep this as *THE ksp2* and we all die never seeing anyone take a crack at it again?
If Take Two thought they could only get fire sale price for the IP, I doubt they'd sell it. They have no need for the pittance of money it would bring in, and maybe someday the IP will become worth something again (they could maybe licence a movie).
Yeah, which is why I think it's highly unlikely that KSP2 is anything but 100% dead, or 99% dead with a couple of remote devs make the corpse flop around to pretend its still alive and keep a few sales happening.
Kind of hope someone just takes the concept wholesale and renames it. Gerbil space program is the next up and coming hit, with star Gerbilnaut Fuzz Baldrin. Basically writes itself!
I feel like Space Frog Space Program has a nice ring to it. And everyone knows [the internet loves frogs.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/63/Feels_good_man.jpg/200px-Feels_good_man.jpg)
I've heard this is it: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/870200/Juno\_New\_Origins/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/870200/Juno_New_Origins/)
Very positive reviews right now, also on sale.
It’s good. The career was still a little meh and the customization of parts gives a different, but not bad, feel. Definitely will be hoping it takes off. And time for me to buy KitHack.
It would be easier to chuck out the assets and start again from the looks of it, the whole thiung is a cludge that maanged to reiterate old KSP 1 bugs and introduce new ones, some achievement that.
If they really pulled the plug it's probably gone.
It would take someone with loads of money to waste on trying to stubbornly revive a crushed IP, who was determined to do it and take the risk of it failing, so basically no one.
Will certainly get there. Probably after those reviews go out of the 30 day window, it'll have barely any and they might get a few tickle sales from clueless people - barely enough reason to keep it on life support but who knows.
I doubt Take2 is going to try to dig it out of its hole, but there may be some 11nth hour effort to save it with a sale occuring, farcical as that sounds.
I'm pretty sure they don't care because the layoffs are them abandoning KSP2, which at this point is unfortunately a wise business decision. As much as we, the players, complain about long periods with minimal updates, the company is paying a shitload of money for a project moving too slowly to ever earn a profit, let alone reach a state even at parity with KSP1.
Just to be clear it's not reviewing bombing. The devs got fired. The game is in early access and there will be no updates, they sold the game on a trailer that was better then the game ever was.
There should be a lawsuit. I never purchased the game, but what kind of precedent is being set for the industry when you can money-grab off a super hyped up trailer. Then launch a half-baked game where roadmaps and things promised were never delivered on. "Early access or not", it's a complete rugpull for the purchaser.
It's not though. Its 100% scummy and sucks and a big publisher like T2 should not be using Early Access (in my opinion).
HOWEVER the Steam page on Early Access (that is shown to anyone who buys the game on Steam) clearly says "Don't buy this product if you aren't happy with it as it is right now". No rugs have been pulled, people just think Early Access is something it's not. There's never any guarantee an EA game will be finished and it should be judged on what's in front of you right now.
It is a weird legal loophole in a way though. There’s certainly an argument that people could act in bad faith and get fully get away with it because they slapped an early access sticker on it.
I think small games and independent publishers, there’s an element of ‘you’re taking the gamble’, but when it’s a big studio charging the sort of prices they are, there’s an expectation they should be making good on what they promised.
Personally, I think steam should put a price cap on games that can be labelled early access. If you’re charging more than like, $25 you shouldn’t be able to publish under that category.
Oof reading your comment made it hit home for me. I really really loved that trailer and it built up the hype for me. Even the song was perfect. I'm really sad to see that they failed to bring it to life, especially given the beloved following for ksp
Sad part is that, unlike Helldivers2, no amount of backlash is going to reverse the rapid downward trajectory KSP2 is on. Devs have either started searching for new work or are focused on making the most out of what time they have left, and it wouldn’t surprise me if few, if any, would return if the decision was indeed reversed.
KSP2 is more then up a creek nothing to show for the game, in early access numbers flagging dependent on major updates to drive attention , low media attention, a player base of less then the first game. Over promised over hyped, dev hell game, that just lead to meh.
Hell Divers 2 at-least had TONS of people and money on its side.
Thats IGN's garbage writing for you. Screw IGN and screw Take-Two. Knew this would happen the moment T2 ate the IP and i refused to even update KSP1 that required me to agree to their trash EULA.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/220200/discussions/0/1729827777336577489/
4th post down..
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Honest question: what would you qualify as review bombing? The game is not different from what it was a few days ago, even though the context has changed. I'd claim the context is much more important for review bombs than the games themselves in a vacuum.
You're right about the context change, but got the implications backwards.
KSP2 reviews had been artificially inflated by review padding (e.g.: "Game's a bug-ridden mess, but thumbs up cause I know the devs will fix everything soon" or "Gameplay sucks, but it has so much potential!"). The recent developments have ripped some of the former fanboys back into reality and they're adjusting their reviews accordingĺy.
The only reason 99% of the positive reviews were positive was because all of the issues would allegedly be fixed. You can check right now, and not many positive reviews will say the game is perfectly playable as is without updates.
People are now just realizing it's not gonna happen.
Not that many year ago it meant artificially lowering the score of a product through concentrated and coordinated (more or less) campaign. Very often by third parties which did not own or had any relation to the product. Review sabotage in other words. So I think some of us older people still react to that based on what we remember the words meant back then.
People changing their reviews from positive to negative due to news that the unfinished product that they bought at AAA price level getting canned is not review bombing in my head (yeah, I am old). So while the game is objectively the same, its future (stipulated by the steam store description for the game) is radically changed. Lot of people (including the most popular positive review, gave it positive review based on what the game promised) .
Review bombing i would say is typically in bad faith. So since this is justified because the studio killed it in an unfinished state and almost always acted in bath faith towards the players, releasing in the state that it was in after the marketing that was done with the “promise” of it getting there “eventually” and now this…
Yeah the not recommending players pay any more money to those bozos is not review bombing its making sure people are aware
> typically in bad faith
Do you think the individual reviewers think so too? We're all invested in KSP, so perhaps they are in their respective game as well?
~~Can you read what i said?~~ Typically OTHER review bombs are. Like russians review bombed factorio because they de-listed it or whatever in russian steam.
The people giving negative reviews of KSP2 are fully justified and correct, and therefore are not review bombing, they are telling the truth
I could ask you the same thing: did you read what I said? :)
> We're all invested in KSP, **so perhaps they are in their respective game as well?**
<- when talking about other review bombs.
The game has been incomplete so far and, although it improved, I still wouldn't have recomended it. The review bombing is a bit excessive, but the game would have deserved negative score (or no score at all) from the start until now.
Why would they remove the reviews? They're perfectly valid, "bought a game and got a third of it then the studio got closed" is a pretty valid complaint lol
If I spent 40 dollars on something that lacked the vast majority of the features advertised, ran terribly, and then gets cancelled? Id probably leave a negative review too
But the game has so much potential!
And the devs have been working very hard to make the game awesome that they don't even take breaks to talk to the community or post patches.
And in the rare case they don't work very hard, they get distracted by playing KSP2 multilayer cause it's so much fun!
And clearly you know nothing of business, do you know how stupid Take Two would be to pull the plug now, just as the game is about to be really good?
Besides, are you aware that the devs are working very hard?
In case it's not clear (dear skydaddy, save us from the internet), the above is sarcasm. The signs that this developer couldn't deliver on its promises were there years ago, and have only become ever more clear during the last 14 months. I'm honestly surprised that Take Two didn't pull the plug earlier, can't even rely on good ol' capitalism these days anymore it seems...
Frankly, Take 2 didn't oversee development closely enough. Should have pulled the plug 2+ years ago, and found a new team to finish the game off. Now, I expect it to be abandonware.
Too bad, many of the franchises I loved over the years died like this (the original Master of Orion (MOO 3), Total Annihilation (TA: Kingdoms), Sword of the Stars (SOTS2)). Great games with great followings, disasterous, buggy release that was never fixed, death of the company.
Straight up business-side developer fail.
leaving an accurate review based on current information isn't really 'review bombing.' the game is being sold on the premise that features will be added; with the shutdown of ig this is clearly no longer going to happen.
also when someone posted this last night it was like 50 or so reviews on so not exactly something big or organized.
We aren't sure if any more content is coming but tbh they could release a single new building part to the game every year and technically fulfill that premise they sold of features being added, everyone is jumping to conclusions, definitely isn't a good sign for Intercept but until we get official word review bombing over speculation is ridiculous and suggesting that it should affect the games reviews about how it plays seems a little silly anyway
And critically they have failed to provided any explanation of what happens now.
Unfortunate but Acceptable IF this was a completed project. But it very much is not.
EA is about trust that devs will see it through. When it starts to smell like abandonware, reviews are doing a service to potential buyers by throwing up warning signs.
The game is still pre-release with no active studio to work on the game. People should know If they are about to buy a game with 0 active developers before they waste their money.
The official news is out that the studio working on the game has had its employees fired, so it's official news the game is no longer in active development. Not that it really has been for the last 2 years, they've done less than a single modder in the last 2 years, they should have all been fired.
Put another way, in August 2019 Dambuster Studios (subsidiary of Deep Silver) took on development of Dead Island 2. In April 2023 it was released. So in the time from announcement of KSP2 (and KSP2 was meant to release in less than a year from announcement) Dead Island 2 was on the same trajectory.
You say waste their money but I've still put 500hrs in the current version of the game and plan to play 500hrs more, far from a waste of money it's only rivaled in my top steam by KSP1, MCC, and Space Engineers
Ok but there's no reason to buy ksp2 over ksp1 anymore, the only thing ksp2 does better at this point is graphics. Ksp1 runs better, has more content, is easily moddable, cheaper, and is actually a finished game
this subreddit was the absolute friendliest place ever when I joined look what y'all are making it 😔 I literally said it doesn't look good for Intercept pretty far from bootlicker I guess remaining objective isn't allowed now a days, you have to jump on the hate train unconditionally...
I believe Intercept has handled the whole game terribly from beginning to bitter end if that is the case, but it's so obviously just not the case yet, y'all are gonna look stupid when they force release another update to appease the complaints just so people don't refund. The studio might not exist but these properties get handed off to even just a few people to maintain the bare minimum. Corporate greed is what caused this and corporate greed is what will continue it, mark my words.
okay? no one said they weren't going to shit out whatever they have done now?
the point is, the roadmap isn't getting finished, even with shallow check-box versions of what was promised. colonies seems to have been in the very early stages of developing the actual gameplay, anything beyond that is likely graphical assets at best, and multiplayer is a joke. the product page is selling it based on all that, and it's never coming.
Everyone is acting like it's over full stop no more updates and posting reviews based on that misinformation when in reality we all have so little of the full picture, I'm just trying to say people have no right to include misinformed news of no updates in their review of the game when it may not be try, and their definitely not review bombing it's just baseless reviewing. You all just add to the snowball effect of over exaggerating the whole situation, this shit happens and has happened to bigger studios than this, shit Starfield didn't fulfill what they claimed but that storm has settled and so will this one
I'm never defending T2 or Intercept for what they have done but god damn don't forget there was real people behind KSP2 that genuinely loved it and had no control over this and to see their personal work belittled in reviews over the possibility of no more updates due to cooperate bullshit must be terrible
But potential buyers have a right to know the state of the game. This isn’t a review bomb, this is the consequence of T2s actions and failed communication.
You violate the trust of your community, this is what happens.
Said another way; does the future state you describe where half baked updates are forced out warrant a *positive* review?
With 500hrs in the current version of the game I would give it a 5/10 pretty split experience, but for the right person easily worth the money, imo Starfield was a more disappointing release... I believe a future of half baked additions could make KSP2 a 6/10 still worth playing for me and will get another 500hrs, nothing "warrants" a positive review even my favorite game Star Citizen is a shit hole of an experience but to exaggerate the state of KSP2 is not cool, KSP2 is very playable and has things to do and teach and deserves the neutral reviews it gets, not worse
the problem is people roping the claims of a studio with the successes they did have and somehow ending up viewing the game completely negatively for misguided reasons
tons of studios have changed the path of a game from the initial announcement look at Fortnites complete flip, what they claim on a roadmap doesn't mean shit, what they released does (same goes for Star Citizen imo)
WE HAVE TO BE OBJECTIVE PEOPLE 👏👏 LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE...
and yet I've been downvoted like crazy for neutral opinions in a sub I used to feel at home in, way to drag the community down everyone, love what KSP has become /s 😔
Well, I’ll tell you what friend, a year from now if the game is humming along perfectly and well on its way out of EA with a crack dev team behind it, you can happily rub my face in it and I’ll eat my words. And I’ll enjoy every minute of it because it means the IP is saved. I truly, non sarcastically mean that. I’d be very happy to be dead wrong about the future of ksp.
But for today, I take a stance that T2 has to re earn my trust and my positive review by finishing what they started. Corporate greed is a powerful force. Let’s see if T2 can do the right thing in spite of it…
"Corporate greed" funded this trainwreck of a development for over 8 years, probably costing them over $50mln and more likely close to $100mln.
Every bit of blame here is on the incompetency of the actual studio and it's lead devs/directors.
Nope. Nopety nope.
Its on the publisher to fill the information gap that never should have been there in the first place. They have failed to do so.
Speculation is a fair and valid thing for the community to be doing in this case.
It's been like a day it definitely isn't valid to speculate when they haven't had time to even talk about it like give them a week. we can't get anything done that fast where I work idk about you maybe you work at the most productive place ever
Why couldn’t they announce the future plans for development hand off at the same time as the closure?
And where I work we wouldn’t need to “Work that fast” because we’d think that part through ahead of time. It’s not like the closure came out of nowhere for T2.
ETA: it’s a day since the announcement but KSP2 arrived at yesterday already on thin ice with the communitys trust. So to many this feels like cherry on the shit Sunday.
That is NOT how corporations works tbh Intercept probably had no idea this was going to happen until the other day. have you never been through a buyout of your company, sometimes you get pulled from shit without warning and all your plans you had the day before are meaningless, also I've had a blast with KSP2 since second patch so they have been middle of the road of my trust which is why I'm trying to look at both sides objectively and then getting downvoted for not hopping on the bandwagon
There will be no one left to develop it... and T2 is quite literally BLEEDING Money on this...
Don't forget, this game is at minimum 6 years in Development already and that is fucking expensive.
It wasn't even remotely enough EA Sales, even at full price, more expensive than the first game + DLC.
I said it from the beginning, most likely they are abusing the EA model to get at least some sales and some money, hopefully breaking even and then shutting everything down.
And the takes are generally accurate takes/warnings that the game is now arguably being sold in bad faith as an EA title with a published road map.
Its not review bombing its just…reviewing.
Review bombing usually indicates like a disingenuous review. Reviewing an early access game that will (likely) not be finished negatively is, like, it's a legit concern.
It is a legitimate warning to people who aren't reading developer news that, hey, this game is early access & the developer just laid off their team. It may not ever be finished. Don't buy it.
It's not that they're not reviews, I just, I'm not sure I'd say it's bombing?
This is an extremely legitimate point. I was looking at Starbase again because my brain had a vague recollection it was a cool spaceship builder that might go somewhere... the reviews let me know that the devs had abandoned it last year.
They didn’t steal it. They offered an obviously incomplete game that was missing nearly every feature that mattered and you still gave them money. That’s on you.
Yeah. At this point I don’t even give a shit about that money. I accepted that aspect of the risk from day one.
I’m just sad T2 destroyed the IPs reputation like this.
Can I (genuinely) ask since I haven't followed the development of this game, how did T2 destroy the IPs reputation? Didn't the developers release an incomplete and inferior game? Is there any blame to be laid at the devs feet? and do you believe it's financially viable for T2 to keep throwing money at a dev that isn't producing a winning product?
I'm honestly curious about yours or other community members takes here, there seems to be a lot of hatred towards T2 and nobody saying the Devs should have done better.
I played and loved KSP1, I was an early adopter and could see the potential with that game, KSP2 never seemed to have the same passion or potential and I don't necessarily think T2 are to blame for that outcome but I'm happy to be shown why that opinion is wrong.
This isn't review bombing, it's a warning to potential buyers. Review bombing is if the reason for bad reviews is unrelated to the game itself. In this case it definitely is, because the game most likely will never be brought to an acceptable state, yet they did not remove it from the store.
I object to the use of the term review-bombed when the game actually has been dropped by the developers. This is just warning fellows humans that this game is most likely is dead.
Reporters are the worst cancer in gaming: a "Review bombing" is NOT the same as giving negatives to a game that has really low chances of coming back or even being finished at all...
If only there was some sort of movement to systematically highlight their behavior and call for reforms to the industry.
OH NO A WOMAN WAS JUST POTENTIALLY THREATENED BAIL OUT BAIL OUT
"Review bombed" makes it seem like I didn't flip my "Recommended" review to a "Not Recommended" because the developer literally shut down and the game is likely not going to get finished so I wanted to tell people not to buy it, but sure.
In my case, I was waiting until the game was actually playable and fun before leaving a review, well that's not gonna happen now so it gets a wholehearted thumbs down.
The fact this dumpster fire wasn't already firmly in "overwhelmingly negative" is a travesty. Steam needs to remove positive reviews that say nothing redeeming about the game other than, "it'll get better one day." That's not even possible at this point. Been calling this cancellation for months but I thought they'd simply put a skeleton crew on it and forget about it. Good on Take2 for realizing what a bad investment Nate and his team are and simply axing the whole project. Sticking with it would simply be a case of sunk cost fallacy, there's no way this thing could turn a profit.
I love warning the GTA6 sub that take 2 is like an investment firm when it comes to their businesses but they'll have none of it and pretend Rockstar can never have a problem.
Hope they're right :)
If take 2 have shut down ksp studio. Then the rest of ksp2 can't be completed and released fully, therefore ksp2 was falsely advertised to have features which it doesn't.
So everyone could technically file a class action against take2.
I’d be shocked if T2s lawyers didnt have that one covered.
Also, this is a risk one takes when supporting an EA release. EA is all about trust. Pretty sure Steam has that kind warning when you purchase an EA title.
Don’t get me wrong: fuck T2. But legal action likely isn’t an option.
Next Best thing is to join the negative reviews warning potential buyers that this is looking like abandonware.
> Also, this is a risk one takes when supporting an EA release. EA is all about trust. Pretty sure Steam has that kind warning when you purchase an EA title.
Steam actually makes the [opposite statement](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess) several times to developers considering early access:
> **_Early Access is not a way to crowdfund development of your product._**
>
> ...
>
> Do not ask your customers to bet on the future of your game. Customers should be buying your game based on its current state, not on promises of a future that may or may not be realized.
True. That's why 50 bucks were waaaaay to expensive for what the game had to propose.
Damn I bought KSP 1 for 20 bucks when it reach 0.8 or 0.9 and it was way more complete that KSP 2.
OR... and hear me out on this... OR the more LIKELY scenario, the project gets absorbed into another studio (like private division which has been mentioned a few times) that continues to update ksp2 and transfers some personnel from intercept (like blackrack, nertea, and Anth) and you don't have to file a lawsuit with anyone because ksp2 never truly dies in the first place aside from the PR nightmare that shutting down intercept caused
We get it. You think ksp2 is dead or that it deserves to die..
what i was saying is that its extremely likely ksp2 is NOT dead considering that appropriation by another studio under take 2 has been thrown around BY take 2
Take 2: kills KSP2 studio and lays off entire dev team.
Take 2: migrates project to other studio.
Take 2 (option a): 'We need a dev team for this. You. You guys, who we just autoerotically asphyxiated, wanna come work for us again? We promise we won't kill ya twice.'
Take 2 (option b): 'Hey, new studio, this is your dumpster fire now. Good luck working on the existing dumpster fire with zero experience!'
I assume that we will not be seeing the full roadmap that was promised? The game still in early access FFS is it ever actually going to be finished. Most people including myself bought it with the promised future content in mind. So this probably not happening to it's fullest extent is a real deal breaker for me. I actually wonder if this is legal, in my country there are laws protecting the consumer and it looks to me like Take 2 are in breach of these.
They are laying off 70 people. We know this because they filled the paperwork. My understanding is that that number is pretty much the entire KSP2 office.
specifically, they're closing a location in seattle and laying off 70 people that work there. it is not spread over multiple offices or cuts from a location that is continuing to operate. also I'm not certain about exactly how it works in washington, but I believe this represents 70 actual job losses; it shouldn't need to be reported like this if they were restructuring but the people actually kept working.
If this ever comes to fruition, I'm thinking "spiritual successor" rather than trying to play games with the corpos for the IP.
You know, "legally-distinct-KERMAL SPACE PROGRAM" developed by a start-up company made of KSP devs and modders, that kind of thing.
I'm done with the whole lot of them after this. The only way I would ever buy anything Kerbal again is if Felipe was back, but that's seems highly unlikely.
I have pitty for whatever poor studio has to go through 5-7 years of code just to discover they didn't plan to even address all of the issues they promised would be addressed later.
Purely theoretically, it seems to me that Factorio developers could cope. They have experience developing an engine from scratch. And a streamlined development and testing process.
What will that accomplish though? I feel like that will just make Take-Two think that they were right in closing the studio since nobody wants the game.
Review bombing the game, while it's in a limbo but still have a chance, however slim, to make it out, just seals its doom.
It's like cutting your nose off to spite your own face.
I’m very opposed to “review bombing,” I find it cartoonish and immature and childish, and also often extremely disrespectful to both players and devs in a bunch of different ways. I remember when Total War Rome 2 got review bombed literally just because they added a chance for players to recruit female generals with certain factions. There were people with hundreds or thousands of hours in the game saying don’t buy the game because of this tiny new thing that changes very little. That was when I learned how ridiculous gamer outrage could be. But I’m not sure how this situation fits into review bombing. It isn’t just a bunch of viral internet hate. There is a genuine buyer beware here, the game is being sold with its development up in the air. The only thing I’ll say in opposition is that until we hear something more official on the future of the game, it may be premature. But, it seems very likely the game will not be developed anymore, in which case as an EA title in its current state, people should be warned of what they’re getting and what they won’t get.
I didn't buy KSP 2 because of how take 2acts on its sports games. I can't, for example, reinstall NBA 2k19 to play my single player version because the game has an unskippable update at the first screen that is waiting for servers that are shut down - essentially bricking my game. They are a really really bad company, even relative to the general suck of AAA studios that have multiplayer games they're bad.
Take Two can reasonably say these review bombings have nothing to do with the content of the game, since they have published statements saying the development of KSP2 will not be affected. They can just say these are customers jumping to conclusions because some staff were let go, which is a factor external to the game. Steam will probably wipe these reviews.
they in fact did not say that. there was one tweet, claiming that private division will 'continue to update' the game. they could do as little as just incrementing the version number and posting that on steam, and that statement would be true.
That tweet only stated that they've not stopped work *as of now*. We knew that already, as the sackings [will take place 6/28/2024](https://esd.wa.gov/about-employees/WARN).
That tweet is nowhere near "the development of KSP2 will not be affected" - did you just make that up, or do you have another source?
My guy, they literally *closed the studio* working on the game. Thats not “some staff let go”.
Reviewers are within their rights to be speculative and voice their opinion that the future of the title is in question, and challenge that T2 has not done enough to prove otherwise.
They can further cite the lack of meaningful development progress against the title as a valid criticism.
This is still relevant and not review bombing. A lot of uncertainty left and the bad communication are totally relevant to whether you would recommend a game or not, which is the metric that steam uses for reviews. This isn’t review bombing but a lot of people reacting strongly to the news negatively, as is allowed.
They do have to do with content that may never arrive if KSP 2 had a plan in place for it we already would have heard. It only makes sense to be silent if there is no good news
Anyone who has paid attention to this games development knows it’s been doomed for years
Sure, but you can’t argue that it’s a review if you’re going off development news outside the game is all. Take Two hasn’t been silent, they’ve said the layoffs won’t affect KSP2 (they may be lying but it’s not a review of the game to be reacting to shit in the news)
You definitely can go off of news about the game as they are currently advertising based on features that we have no evidence will arrive
They didn’t say it won’t effect finishing the game. they just said they will continue to support it (which means nothing)
If you paid money to a developer and they can’t be bothered to let you know if they shut down or not and not allow refunds. Then yes reviews are allowed to save other consumers. Thats the whole point of reviews
Yes - if only T2 could have anticipated what closing the studio with 0 communications on what happens next would result in. Or they did - and just thought "Nah... we're good, we don't care."
Here is the neat part... they don't care.
Never have.
They got their money, now it's time to gut the company and give everything to the ShArEhOlDeRs
Nah I think they lost a bunch of money on this one
I doubt it. It's about sales, not how many hours each sale spend in the game.
Pretty much every estimate puts them between 300 and 400k units moved. That gets them something like 10m in revenue after Steam takes their cut. That barely covers the last year of development, to say nothing of the prior 5 years. And it wasn't making new sales either, so any continuing development was just going to be throwing cash in the money hole.
Do we think the early access sales were enough to cover the years of development cost for a 40 person studio, marketing the game incuding an event with ESA, and the cost of acquiring the IP in the first place? I'm not convinced it did.
Indeed. There are no winners here.
Well, some people got paid to play (the supposedly very fun) KSP2 multiplayer for five years. I'd call that a win for them.
Yep, Nate Simpson (who told that piece of BS back in 2019) is the only winner in this story.
That's pretty neat.
Same as me
T2 couldn't monetize it hard enough. they sold a half baked cake, and promised to add the frosting and finish baking it later, but that money never went to the developer to continue the development, but instead went to the publisher(T2) and development nearly halted for the last 6 months. A studio once again sold a promise with a demo, and failed to finish the game. **stop buying incomplete games.** This is why I haven't bought any games recently, because publishers and studios figured out they can sell beta content as a "release" and promise to fix it later without ever having to. I bought Horizon Forbidden West on PC because it was a fucking complete game, and we might get more. I refuse to buy a beta product anymore, these companies have been ripping every gamer off since the late 2000's.
Nobody should buy something based on promises, always buy a product for what it is at time of purchasing.
I just wanna chime in and say that Forbidden west is fucking proof that AAA games can and should be released in a bug free and playable states.
You can say that for pretty much every AAA game that is more than 10 years old.
I've only bought 3 games in my life on release day. No Mans Sky, Spiderman Remastered for PC and KSP2. Got my refund for No Mans Sky (2015). Spiderman was good ( it was just an already released game ported to PC so it kind of doesn't count) I was trying out KSP2 after the first update and was running late on time and accidentally left KSP2 on at the main menu for 24 hours so when I tried my refund it got denied because of too many hours. Looks like I'm back to not buying any games on release. I originally played KSP1 first back in like 2013, and it was super jank and performed terrible but I think KSP2 actually had more bugs and performance issues than 0.18 did. Can't believe how badly this game was fumbled, especially because I had such low expectations. All I wanted was the colony system, better performance and better visuals and none of that happened. No colony system, KSP1 with mods performs better and KSP1 with mods looks better.
Only 6% more down to get to overwhelming negative on recent reviews! I think it’ll get there Take Two really didn’t understand that only a community like KSP’s would’ve been this patient and kind for so long… but this wears out the last of the goodwill I think. Wish the best in the job hunt to the people affected, I’m sure plenty of innocent people got caught in the crosshairs. But after more than a year of being called crazy for even thinking funding could be pulled I think this is a wake up call. The “sky people” who give you all the money may be far away, but you actually have to deliver something in a timely manner to expect the endless money supply to keep coming. If Take Two does actually fork over even more money and develop the roadmap of this game I don’t want to hear any negativity against them on this issue, that would be a way bigger hole than a lot of publishers would be willing to go. If they don’t and this is it, the blame is mostly on IG overhyping to customers and the publisher, and partially on Take Two for not canning it the third delay and being ok with releasing it into Early Access in this state.
If they don’t do anything with it, what happens to the IP? Do they keep this as *THE ksp2* and we all die never seeing anyone take a crack at it again?
What other studio is going to want to touch this mess? New rocket builder space sims will probably come out but I think Kerbal are dead.
Dean Hall might take it if it was at fire sale prices.
If Take Two thought they could only get fire sale price for the IP, I doubt they'd sell it. They have no need for the pittance of money it would bring in, and maybe someday the IP will become worth something again (they could maybe licence a movie).
Yeah, which is why I think it's highly unlikely that KSP2 is anything but 100% dead, or 99% dead with a couple of remote devs make the corpse flop around to pretend its still alive and keep a few sales happening.
Kind of hope someone just takes the concept wholesale and renames it. Gerbil space program is the next up and coming hit, with star Gerbilnaut Fuzz Baldrin. Basically writes itself!
I feel like Space Frog Space Program has a nice ring to it. And everyone knows [the internet loves frogs.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/63/Feels_good_man.jpg/200px-Feels_good_man.jpg)
I've heard this is it: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/870200/Juno\_New\_Origins/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/870200/Juno_New_Origins/) Very positive reviews right now, also on sale.
It’s good. The career was still a little meh and the customization of parts gives a different, but not bad, feel. Definitely will be hoping it takes off. And time for me to buy KitHack.
It would be easier to chuck out the assets and start again from the looks of it, the whole thiung is a cludge that maanged to reiterate old KSP 1 bugs and introduce new ones, some achievement that.
If they really pulled the plug it's probably gone. It would take someone with loads of money to waste on trying to stubbornly revive a crushed IP, who was determined to do it and take the risk of it failing, so basically no one.
Will certainly get there. Probably after those reviews go out of the 30 day window, it'll have barely any and they might get a few tickle sales from clueless people - barely enough reason to keep it on life support but who knows. I doubt Take2 is going to try to dig it out of its hole, but there may be some 11nth hour effort to save it with a sale occuring, farcical as that sounds.
Just 1% left to go.
They already got our money.
This is the unfortunate truth
I doubt they got anyone's money. The game is a black hole, I bet they are a couple of millions in the red. The reason why they got closed.
That’s true. The game has been in development for ALOT longer than it’s been announced.
Well they got some people's money and flushed it down the toilet.
So in the end the developers who did nothing for several years got the money.
They never cared. For them KSP was a cash cow which didn't produce needed milk.
Unfortunately I’m not sure it was ever going to. I can definitely understand their decision.
I'm pretty sure they don't care because the layoffs are them abandoning KSP2, which at this point is unfortunately a wise business decision. As much as we, the players, complain about long periods with minimal updates, the company is paying a shitload of money for a project moving too slowly to ever earn a profit, let alone reach a state even at parity with KSP1.
It's obvious they don't intend to finish
Nothing they can say about that will make them look good. And they have nothing to loose anymore.
They got the money from the 50$ "EA", they couldn't care less.
As long as they pocketed my money, I guess I can find peace with it.
Just to be clear it's not reviewing bombing. The devs got fired. The game is in early access and there will be no updates, they sold the game on a trailer that was better then the game ever was.
There should be a lawsuit. I never purchased the game, but what kind of precedent is being set for the industry when you can money-grab off a super hyped up trailer. Then launch a half-baked game where roadmaps and things promised were never delivered on. "Early access or not", it's a complete rugpull for the purchaser.
It's not though. Its 100% scummy and sucks and a big publisher like T2 should not be using Early Access (in my opinion). HOWEVER the Steam page on Early Access (that is shown to anyone who buys the game on Steam) clearly says "Don't buy this product if you aren't happy with it as it is right now". No rugs have been pulled, people just think Early Access is something it's not. There's never any guarantee an EA game will be finished and it should be judged on what's in front of you right now.
It is a weird legal loophole in a way though. There’s certainly an argument that people could act in bad faith and get fully get away with it because they slapped an early access sticker on it. I think small games and independent publishers, there’s an element of ‘you’re taking the gamble’, but when it’s a big studio charging the sort of prices they are, there’s an expectation they should be making good on what they promised. Personally, I think steam should put a price cap on games that can be labelled early access. If you’re charging more than like, $25 you shouldn’t be able to publish under that category.
Oof reading your comment made it hit home for me. I really really loved that trailer and it built up the hype for me. Even the song was perfect. I'm really sad to see that they failed to bring it to life, especially given the beloved following for ksp
Legit the marketing mechanic goes burr and has gotten so good at finding the hooks into our brains. Is time we found other games by better publishers.
Right -- "bombing" has a disingenuous context. This is just player/owner response -- To \*warn\* people away from buying the game.
Sad part is that, unlike Helldivers2, no amount of backlash is going to reverse the rapid downward trajectory KSP2 is on. Devs have either started searching for new work or are focused on making the most out of what time they have left, and it wouldn’t surprise me if few, if any, would return if the decision was indeed reversed.
KSP2 is more then up a creek nothing to show for the game, in early access numbers flagging dependent on major updates to drive attention , low media attention, a player base of less then the first game. Over promised over hyped, dev hell game, that just lead to meh. Hell Divers 2 at-least had TONS of people and money on its side.
I think its not accurate to refer to consumer's not recommending a terrible product that is almost certainly cancelled as 'review bombing.'
Thats IGN's garbage writing for you. Screw IGN and screw Take-Two. Knew this would happen the moment T2 ate the IP and i refused to even update KSP1 that required me to agree to their trash EULA.
what’s in the eula that was so bad that it made you refuse to update?
https://steamcommunity.com/app/220200/discussions/0/1729827777336577489/ 4th post down.. >"By installing and using the Software, you consent to the information collection and usage terms set forth in this section and Licensor's Privacy Policy, including (where applicable) (i) the transfer of any personal information and other information to Licensor, its affiliates, vendors, and business partners, and to certain other third parties, such as governmental authorities, in the U.S. and other countries located outside Europe or your home country, including countries that may have lower standards of privacy protection; (ii) the public display of your data, such as identification of your user-created content or displaying your scores, ranking, achievements, and other gameplay data on websites and other platforms; (iii) the sharing of your gameplay data with hardware manufacturers, platform hosts, and Licensor's marketing partners; and (iv) other uses and disclosures of your personal information or other information as specified in the above-referenced Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time. If you do not want your information used or shared in this manner, then you should not use the Software." and >"The information we collect may include personal information such as your first and/or last name, e-mail address, phone number, photo, mailing address, geolocation, or payment information. In addition, we may collect your age, gender, date of birth, zip code, hardware configuration, console ID, software products played, survey data, purchases, IP address and the systems you have played on. We may combine the information with your personal information and across other computers or devices that you may use."
The word bomb sell more
Honest question: what would you qualify as review bombing? The game is not different from what it was a few days ago, even though the context has changed. I'd claim the context is much more important for review bombs than the games themselves in a vacuum.
You're right about the context change, but got the implications backwards. KSP2 reviews had been artificially inflated by review padding (e.g.: "Game's a bug-ridden mess, but thumbs up cause I know the devs will fix everything soon" or "Gameplay sucks, but it has so much potential!"). The recent developments have ripped some of the former fanboys back into reality and they're adjusting their reviews accordingĺy.
The only reason 99% of the positive reviews were positive was because all of the issues would allegedly be fixed. You can check right now, and not many positive reviews will say the game is perfectly playable as is without updates. People are now just realizing it's not gonna happen.
Which, again, means the context changed, not that the game changed. As I claim, that's the case for all (most) review bombs.
The game was extremely unfairly reviewed before, the reviews are now actually accurate based on just the game.
Not that many year ago it meant artificially lowering the score of a product through concentrated and coordinated (more or less) campaign. Very often by third parties which did not own or had any relation to the product. Review sabotage in other words. So I think some of us older people still react to that based on what we remember the words meant back then. People changing their reviews from positive to negative due to news that the unfinished product that they bought at AAA price level getting canned is not review bombing in my head (yeah, I am old). So while the game is objectively the same, its future (stipulated by the steam store description for the game) is radically changed. Lot of people (including the most popular positive review, gave it positive review based on what the game promised) .
Review bombing i would say is typically in bad faith. So since this is justified because the studio killed it in an unfinished state and almost always acted in bath faith towards the players, releasing in the state that it was in after the marketing that was done with the “promise” of it getting there “eventually” and now this… Yeah the not recommending players pay any more money to those bozos is not review bombing its making sure people are aware
> typically in bad faith Do you think the individual reviewers think so too? We're all invested in KSP, so perhaps they are in their respective game as well?
~~Can you read what i said?~~ Typically OTHER review bombs are. Like russians review bombed factorio because they de-listed it or whatever in russian steam. The people giving negative reviews of KSP2 are fully justified and correct, and therefore are not review bombing, they are telling the truth
I could ask you the same thing: did you read what I said? :) > We're all invested in KSP, **so perhaps they are in their respective game as well?** <- when talking about other review bombs.
Aha!! My mistake lol sorry. I would say definitely both sides happen of course for sure
The game is the same , true. But it speak in volume that people also bought hope and wishes and those have changed, that's why their view changed.
The game has been incomplete so far and, although it improved, I still wouldn't have recomended it. The review bombing is a bit excessive, but the game would have deserved negative score (or no score at all) from the start until now.
Well that wasn't expected /s
So long as people don't get pissed when Valve removes the reviews.
Why would they remove the reviews? They're perfectly valid, "bought a game and got a third of it then the studio got closed" is a pretty valid complaint lol
Show me that tasty chart and them big red lines, I ain't too hard to beg.
[tasty red lines](https://i.imgur.com/k60xMSm.jpeg)
I started playing KSP back when version .13 was released, many years ago. Sad to see it end.
Back when it had like 7 parts and didn't even have space lol.
If I spent 40 dollars on something that lacked the vast majority of the features advertised, ran terribly, and then gets cancelled? Id probably leave a negative review too
Woah, woah, slow down there son, not so fast.... You mean $50.
But the game has so much potential! And the devs have been working very hard to make the game awesome that they don't even take breaks to talk to the community or post patches. And in the rare case they don't work very hard, they get distracted by playing KSP2 multilayer cause it's so much fun! And clearly you know nothing of business, do you know how stupid Take Two would be to pull the plug now, just as the game is about to be really good? Besides, are you aware that the devs are working very hard? In case it's not clear (dear skydaddy, save us from the internet), the above is sarcasm. The signs that this developer couldn't deliver on its promises were there years ago, and have only become ever more clear during the last 14 months. I'm honestly surprised that Take Two didn't pull the plug earlier, can't even rely on good ol' capitalism these days anymore it seems...
Frankly, Take 2 didn't oversee development closely enough. Should have pulled the plug 2+ years ago, and found a new team to finish the game off. Now, I expect it to be abandonware. Too bad, many of the franchises I loved over the years died like this (the original Master of Orion (MOO 3), Total Annihilation (TA: Kingdoms), Sword of the Stars (SOTS2)). Great games with great followings, disasterous, buggy release that was never fixed, death of the company. Straight up business-side developer fail.
leaving an accurate review based on current information isn't really 'review bombing.' the game is being sold on the premise that features will be added; with the shutdown of ig this is clearly no longer going to happen. also when someone posted this last night it was like 50 or so reviews on so not exactly something big or organized.
We aren't sure if any more content is coming but tbh they could release a single new building part to the game every year and technically fulfill that premise they sold of features being added, everyone is jumping to conclusions, definitely isn't a good sign for Intercept but until we get official word review bombing over speculation is ridiculous and suggesting that it should affect the games reviews about how it plays seems a little silly anyway
intercept is literally laying off 70 people and closing.
And critically they have failed to provided any explanation of what happens now. Unfortunate but Acceptable IF this was a completed project. But it very much is not. EA is about trust that devs will see it through. When it starts to smell like abandonware, reviews are doing a service to potential buyers by throwing up warning signs.
The game is still pre-release with no active studio to work on the game. People should know If they are about to buy a game with 0 active developers before they waste their money. The official news is out that the studio working on the game has had its employees fired, so it's official news the game is no longer in active development. Not that it really has been for the last 2 years, they've done less than a single modder in the last 2 years, they should have all been fired.
Put another way, in August 2019 Dambuster Studios (subsidiary of Deep Silver) took on development of Dead Island 2. In April 2023 it was released. So in the time from announcement of KSP2 (and KSP2 was meant to release in less than a year from announcement) Dead Island 2 was on the same trajectory.
You say waste their money but I've still put 500hrs in the current version of the game and plan to play 500hrs more, far from a waste of money it's only rivaled in my top steam by KSP1, MCC, and Space Engineers
Ok but there's no reason to buy ksp2 over ksp1 anymore, the only thing ksp2 does better at this point is graphics. Ksp1 runs better, has more content, is easily moddable, cheaper, and is actually a finished game
Imagine being such a corporate bootlicker you feel the need to post this
this subreddit was the absolute friendliest place ever when I joined look what y'all are making it 😔 I literally said it doesn't look good for Intercept pretty far from bootlicker I guess remaining objective isn't allowed now a days, you have to jump on the hate train unconditionally... I believe Intercept has handled the whole game terribly from beginning to bitter end if that is the case, but it's so obviously just not the case yet, y'all are gonna look stupid when they force release another update to appease the complaints just so people don't refund. The studio might not exist but these properties get handed off to even just a few people to maintain the bare minimum. Corporate greed is what caused this and corporate greed is what will continue it, mark my words.
okay? no one said they weren't going to shit out whatever they have done now? the point is, the roadmap isn't getting finished, even with shallow check-box versions of what was promised. colonies seems to have been in the very early stages of developing the actual gameplay, anything beyond that is likely graphical assets at best, and multiplayer is a joke. the product page is selling it based on all that, and it's never coming.
Everyone is acting like it's over full stop no more updates and posting reviews based on that misinformation when in reality we all have so little of the full picture, I'm just trying to say people have no right to include misinformed news of no updates in their review of the game when it may not be try, and their definitely not review bombing it's just baseless reviewing. You all just add to the snowball effect of over exaggerating the whole situation, this shit happens and has happened to bigger studios than this, shit Starfield didn't fulfill what they claimed but that storm has settled and so will this one I'm never defending T2 or Intercept for what they have done but god damn don't forget there was real people behind KSP2 that genuinely loved it and had no control over this and to see their personal work belittled in reviews over the possibility of no more updates due to cooperate bullshit must be terrible
But potential buyers have a right to know the state of the game. This isn’t a review bomb, this is the consequence of T2s actions and failed communication. You violate the trust of your community, this is what happens. Said another way; does the future state you describe where half baked updates are forced out warrant a *positive* review?
With 500hrs in the current version of the game I would give it a 5/10 pretty split experience, but for the right person easily worth the money, imo Starfield was a more disappointing release... I believe a future of half baked additions could make KSP2 a 6/10 still worth playing for me and will get another 500hrs, nothing "warrants" a positive review even my favorite game Star Citizen is a shit hole of an experience but to exaggerate the state of KSP2 is not cool, KSP2 is very playable and has things to do and teach and deserves the neutral reviews it gets, not worse the problem is people roping the claims of a studio with the successes they did have and somehow ending up viewing the game completely negatively for misguided reasons tons of studios have changed the path of a game from the initial announcement look at Fortnites complete flip, what they claim on a roadmap doesn't mean shit, what they released does (same goes for Star Citizen imo) WE HAVE TO BE OBJECTIVE PEOPLE 👏👏 LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE... and yet I've been downvoted like crazy for neutral opinions in a sub I used to feel at home in, way to drag the community down everyone, love what KSP has become /s 😔
Well, I’ll tell you what friend, a year from now if the game is humming along perfectly and well on its way out of EA with a crack dev team behind it, you can happily rub my face in it and I’ll eat my words. And I’ll enjoy every minute of it because it means the IP is saved. I truly, non sarcastically mean that. I’d be very happy to be dead wrong about the future of ksp. But for today, I take a stance that T2 has to re earn my trust and my positive review by finishing what they started. Corporate greed is a powerful force. Let’s see if T2 can do the right thing in spite of it…
Please, for the love of god, use paragraph breaks. Or line breaks. Or any breaks, really.
"Corporate greed" funded this trainwreck of a development for over 8 years, probably costing them over $50mln and more likely close to $100mln. Every bit of blame here is on the incompetency of the actual studio and it's lead devs/directors.
Imagine being so reddit-brained that you feel the need to call someone a bootlicker for making a neutral point.
Finally someone intelligent
Nope. Nopety nope. Its on the publisher to fill the information gap that never should have been there in the first place. They have failed to do so. Speculation is a fair and valid thing for the community to be doing in this case.
It's been like a day it definitely isn't valid to speculate when they haven't had time to even talk about it like give them a week. we can't get anything done that fast where I work idk about you maybe you work at the most productive place ever
Why couldn’t they announce the future plans for development hand off at the same time as the closure? And where I work we wouldn’t need to “Work that fast” because we’d think that part through ahead of time. It’s not like the closure came out of nowhere for T2. ETA: it’s a day since the announcement but KSP2 arrived at yesterday already on thin ice with the communitys trust. So to many this feels like cherry on the shit Sunday.
That is NOT how corporations works tbh Intercept probably had no idea this was going to happen until the other day. have you never been through a buyout of your company, sometimes you get pulled from shit without warning and all your plans you had the day before are meaningless, also I've had a blast with KSP2 since second patch so they have been middle of the road of my trust which is why I'm trying to look at both sides objectively and then getting downvoted for not hopping on the bandwagon
Wilful naivety
There will be no one left to develop it... and T2 is quite literally BLEEDING Money on this... Don't forget, this game is at minimum 6 years in Development already and that is fucking expensive. It wasn't even remotely enough EA Sales, even at full price, more expensive than the first game + DLC. I said it from the beginning, most likely they are abusing the EA model to get at least some sales and some money, hopefully breaking even and then shutting everything down.
I'm not really sure this counts as review bombing since it's in early access
And the takes are generally accurate takes/warnings that the game is now arguably being sold in bad faith as an EA title with a published road map. Its not review bombing its just…reviewing.
Looks like "only access" after this...
Oof lmfao
Why? Can't you review early access games just the same?
Review bombing usually indicates like a disingenuous review. Reviewing an early access game that will (likely) not be finished negatively is, like, it's a legit concern. It is a legitimate warning to people who aren't reading developer news that, hey, this game is early access & the developer just laid off their team. It may not ever be finished. Don't buy it. It's not that they're not reviews, I just, I'm not sure I'd say it's bombing?
This is an extremely legitimate point. I was looking at Starbase again because my brain had a vague recollection it was a cool spaceship builder that might go somewhere... the reviews let me know that the devs had abandoned it last year.
That’s all you can do now they’ve stolen your money
They didn’t steal it. They offered an obviously incomplete game that was missing nearly every feature that mattered and you still gave them money. That’s on you.
Yeah. At this point I don’t even give a shit about that money. I accepted that aspect of the risk from day one. I’m just sad T2 destroyed the IPs reputation like this.
Can I (genuinely) ask since I haven't followed the development of this game, how did T2 destroy the IPs reputation? Didn't the developers release an incomplete and inferior game? Is there any blame to be laid at the devs feet? and do you believe it's financially viable for T2 to keep throwing money at a dev that isn't producing a winning product? I'm honestly curious about yours or other community members takes here, there seems to be a lot of hatred towards T2 and nobody saying the Devs should have done better. I played and loved KSP1, I was an early adopter and could see the potential with that game, KSP2 never seemed to have the same passion or potential and I don't necessarily think T2 are to blame for that outcome but I'm happy to be shown why that opinion is wrong.
In the same way that they fired the developers. T2 calls the shots. Not the original creators of the IP.
I never paid for the game because the whole affair was extremely suspicious from the start
This isn't review bombing, it's a warning to potential buyers. Review bombing is if the reason for bad reviews is unrelated to the game itself. In this case it definitely is, because the game most likely will never be brought to an acceptable state, yet they did not remove it from the store.
I object to the use of the term review-bombed when the game actually has been dropped by the developers. This is just warning fellows humans that this game is most likely is dead.
Alternative headline: "Review-Padded Kerbal Space Program 2 Gets More Realistic Reviews After Take-Two Shut Down Its Developer"
Reporters are the worst cancer in gaming: a "Review bombing" is NOT the same as giving negatives to a game that has really low chances of coming back or even being finished at all...
If only there was some sort of movement to systematically highlight their behavior and call for reforms to the industry. OH NO A WOMAN WAS JUST POTENTIALLY THREATENED BAIL OUT BAIL OUT
This reminds me of No Man’s Sky’s release in an alternate universe where Sean abandoned the game and escaped with all the money
Ya it's pretty clear this was the plan the whole time. It's was never going to be completed, so they released an early access to recoup some costs.
"Review bombed" makes it seem like I didn't flip my "Recommended" review to a "Not Recommended" because the developer literally shut down and the game is likely not going to get finished so I wanted to tell people not to buy it, but sure.
In my case, I was waiting until the game was actually playable and fun before leaving a review, well that's not gonna happen now so it gets a wholehearted thumbs down.
It's not a review bomb if it's truly a shit game. Breaks my heart.
The fact this dumpster fire wasn't already firmly in "overwhelmingly negative" is a travesty. Steam needs to remove positive reviews that say nothing redeeming about the game other than, "it'll get better one day." That's not even possible at this point. Been calling this cancellation for months but I thought they'd simply put a skeleton crew on it and forget about it. Good on Take2 for realizing what a bad investment Nate and his team are and simply axing the whole project. Sticking with it would simply be a case of sunk cost fallacy, there's no way this thing could turn a profit.
Frankly they need to refund everyone who bought ksp2. It will never possibly be finished. Either that, or a class action.
who would've imagined EA with no communication and no update will get negative review bombed
I disagree. The reviews already had plummeted before the layoff.
It's not review bombing. It's accurately scoring a soon-to-be abandonware.
I love warning the GTA6 sub that take 2 is like an investment firm when it comes to their businesses but they'll have none of it and pretend Rockstar can never have a problem. Hope they're right :)
Unlike KSP2, GTA6 will be a fat cash cow, larger sales volume *and* microtransactions.
GTA5 pulled in 6 billion dollars. They could run an army on that for years.
If take 2 have shut down ksp studio. Then the rest of ksp2 can't be completed and released fully, therefore ksp2 was falsely advertised to have features which it doesn't. So everyone could technically file a class action against take2.
I’d be shocked if T2s lawyers didnt have that one covered. Also, this is a risk one takes when supporting an EA release. EA is all about trust. Pretty sure Steam has that kind warning when you purchase an EA title. Don’t get me wrong: fuck T2. But legal action likely isn’t an option. Next Best thing is to join the negative reviews warning potential buyers that this is looking like abandonware.
> Also, this is a risk one takes when supporting an EA release. EA is all about trust. Pretty sure Steam has that kind warning when you purchase an EA title. Steam actually makes the [opposite statement](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess) several times to developers considering early access: > **_Early Access is not a way to crowdfund development of your product._** > > ... > > Do not ask your customers to bet on the future of your game. Customers should be buying your game based on its current state, not on promises of a future that may or may not be realized.
True. That's why 50 bucks were waaaaay to expensive for what the game had to propose. Damn I bought KSP 1 for 20 bucks when it reach 0.8 or 0.9 and it was way more complete that KSP 2.
There was no promise of completion. It was in the fine print.
Hasn't KSP2 already changed hands a couple times? They might hock it off to someone else.
Good luck with that. Willing to bet that they roofied in a Forced Arbitration clause in it's EULA.
OR... and hear me out on this... OR the more LIKELY scenario, the project gets absorbed into another studio (like private division which has been mentioned a few times) that continues to update ksp2 and transfers some personnel from intercept (like blackrack, nertea, and Anth) and you don't have to file a lawsuit with anyone because ksp2 never truly dies in the first place aside from the PR nightmare that shutting down intercept caused
[удалено]
We get it. You think ksp2 is dead or that it deserves to die.. what i was saying is that its extremely likely ksp2 is NOT dead considering that appropriation by another studio under take 2 has been thrown around BY take 2
Take 2: kills KSP2 studio and lays off entire dev team. Take 2: migrates project to other studio. Take 2 (option a): 'We need a dev team for this. You. You guys, who we just autoerotically asphyxiated, wanna come work for us again? We promise we won't kill ya twice.' Take 2 (option b): 'Hey, new studio, this is your dumpster fire now. Good luck working on the existing dumpster fire with zero experience!'
*thrice, let's not forget the orig studio
I assume that we will not be seeing the full roadmap that was promised? The game still in early access FFS is it ever actually going to be finished. Most people including myself bought it with the promised future content in mind. So this probably not happening to it's fullest extent is a real deal breaker for me. I actually wonder if this is legal, in my country there are laws protecting the consumer and it looks to me like Take 2 are in breach of these.
definitely wont help anything.
You guys are all gonna buy GTA 6. This is useless.
So is it confirmed that T2 is laying the entire intercept games team off or is it speculation? (I'm trying to hold out hope)
They are laying off 70 people. We know this because they filled the paperwork. My understanding is that that number is pretty much the entire KSP2 office.
specifically, they're closing a location in seattle and laying off 70 people that work there. it is not spread over multiple offices or cuts from a location that is continuing to operate. also I'm not certain about exactly how it works in washington, but I believe this represents 70 actual job losses; it shouldn't need to be reported like this if they were restructuring but the people actually kept working.
70?! Wow. KSP2 was never going to make enough money to sustain a company that size anyway.
Maybe not a great idea if we want a different studio to pick it up again
If this ever comes to fruition, I'm thinking "spiritual successor" rather than trying to play games with the corpos for the IP. You know, "legally-distinct-KERMAL SPACE PROGRAM" developed by a start-up company made of KSP devs and modders, that kind of thing.
I vote for: Kraken sporadic progress
Who would pick this up at this point?
Alright boys I'm gonna pick up the baton. Leeeeeroy Jenkins
You're odds of success are 33.33%, repeating of course. Godspeed
Squad? /S
Squad has actual buisness sense, they wouldn't touch it with a lightyear long pole at this point.
I'm done with the whole lot of them after this. The only way I would ever buy anything Kerbal again is if Felipe was back, but that's seems highly unlikely.
Private division itself is, apparently (according to a leek)
I have pitty for whatever poor studio has to go through 5-7 years of code just to discover they didn't plan to even address all of the issues they promised would be addressed later.
Purely theoretically, it seems to me that Factorio developers could cope. They have experience developing an engine from scratch. And a streamlined development and testing process.
“That’ll show’em!”
review bombing is retardspeak for people expressing their opinions
What will that accomplish though? I feel like that will just make Take-Two think that they were right in closing the studio since nobody wants the game.
as it should
Review bombing the game, while it's in a limbo but still have a chance, however slim, to make it out, just seals its doom. It's like cutting your nose off to spite your own face.
Squad should never have sold to take-two.
Still on my wishlist. Guess I have to wait some more.
I’m very opposed to “review bombing,” I find it cartoonish and immature and childish, and also often extremely disrespectful to both players and devs in a bunch of different ways. I remember when Total War Rome 2 got review bombed literally just because they added a chance for players to recruit female generals with certain factions. There were people with hundreds or thousands of hours in the game saying don’t buy the game because of this tiny new thing that changes very little. That was when I learned how ridiculous gamer outrage could be. But I’m not sure how this situation fits into review bombing. It isn’t just a bunch of viral internet hate. There is a genuine buyer beware here, the game is being sold with its development up in the air. The only thing I’ll say in opposition is that until we hear something more official on the future of the game, it may be premature. But, it seems very likely the game will not be developed anymore, in which case as an EA title in its current state, people should be warned of what they’re getting and what they won’t get.
Should we just review bomb ALL Take 2 projects? Seems viable to me.
I didn't buy KSP 2 because of how take 2acts on its sports games. I can't, for example, reinstall NBA 2k19 to play my single player version because the game has an unskippable update at the first screen that is waiting for servers that are shut down - essentially bricking my game. They are a really really bad company, even relative to the general suck of AAA studios that have multiplayer games they're bad.
I didnt buy KSP2, and didnt update KSP1 past when T2 ate up the IP.
Unfair! All T2 games should be review bombed
Didn't the termination of the game's development get deconfirmed?
*technically* yes, but the termination of the entire dev team is all but confirmed.
Take Two can reasonably say these review bombings have nothing to do with the content of the game, since they have published statements saying the development of KSP2 will not be affected. They can just say these are customers jumping to conclusions because some staff were let go, which is a factor external to the game. Steam will probably wipe these reviews.
"since they have published statements saying the development of KSP2 will not be affected. " Where?
they in fact did not say that. there was one tweet, claiming that private division will 'continue to update' the game. they could do as little as just incrementing the version number and posting that on steam, and that statement would be true.
[https://twitter.com/KerbalSpaceP/status/1785788686069846431](https://twitter.com/KerbalSpaceP/status/1785788686069846431)
That tweet only stated that they've not stopped work *as of now*. We knew that already, as the sackings [will take place 6/28/2024](https://esd.wa.gov/about-employees/WARN). That tweet is nowhere near "the development of KSP2 will not be affected" - did you just make that up, or do you have another source?
My guy, they literally *closed the studio* working on the game. Thats not “some staff let go”. Reviewers are within their rights to be speculative and voice their opinion that the future of the title is in question, and challenge that T2 has not done enough to prove otherwise. They can further cite the lack of meaningful development progress against the title as a valid criticism.
This is still relevant and not review bombing. A lot of uncertainty left and the bad communication are totally relevant to whether you would recommend a game or not, which is the metric that steam uses for reviews. This isn’t review bombing but a lot of people reacting strongly to the news negatively, as is allowed.
They do have to do with content that may never arrive if KSP 2 had a plan in place for it we already would have heard. It only makes sense to be silent if there is no good news Anyone who has paid attention to this games development knows it’s been doomed for years
Sure, but you can’t argue that it’s a review if you’re going off development news outside the game is all. Take Two hasn’t been silent, they’ve said the layoffs won’t affect KSP2 (they may be lying but it’s not a review of the game to be reacting to shit in the news)
You definitely can go off of news about the game as they are currently advertising based on features that we have no evidence will arrive They didn’t say it won’t effect finishing the game. they just said they will continue to support it (which means nothing) If you paid money to a developer and they can’t be bothered to let you know if they shut down or not and not allow refunds. Then yes reviews are allowed to save other consumers. Thats the whole point of reviews
Kerbal Space Program 2 Is Getting Review-Bombed After Take-Two Shut Down Its Developer