Sustained development on Kerbal Space Program has ended after over a decade

Kerbal Space Program (KSP) developer Squad is ending sustained development on the space exploration sim after over a decade. 

Breaking the news in its latest set of patch notes, the studio explained it would be winding down development on Kerbal Space Program so it can devote more time to its long-awaited sequel, Kerbal Space Program 2. 

"Even though we still may release a minor patch here and there when needed, with this patch we are officially completing the 1.12 update, as well as the sustained development of the original KSP, as we are now shifting gears towards the development of KSP2," wrote Squad. 

The first public version of Kerbal Space Program landed in June 2011, so the decision to pivot away from the popular title marks the end of a long-standing era. 

At lot has changed over the past decade, with Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two buying Kerbal Space Program from Squad in 2017 for an undisclosed fee.

Although Squad remained involved in the franchise, Take-Two formed a new internal studio to push on with Kerbal Space Program 2 (currently slated for release in 2022) and seemingly poached a number of developers from Star Theory Games -- the company initially hired to work on the sequel -- to help finish the project.