PD claims to still be hard at work on KSP2

[Codraroll]

1 hour ago, Minmus Taster said:

I'm not sure what to think. I want to have confidence that they'll finish the game or at least make it playable but community trust is still quite low. 

The lack of communication is making the trust issue worse every hour.

That they hadn't even prepared a statement to release to the fans indicates a rather bleak situation. It seems that those who know can't speak, and those who can speak don't know. That the whole mess wasn't very well planned out and there's little regard for what is supposed to happen next. The books are closed, the devs are sent packing, the requisite amount of money is saved, and as far as the company is concerned the fans can all bugger off. They have already got money from those who paid, and they give up getting any from those who didn't. Any further interaction is probably considered a waste of work hours.

Edited May 2 by Codraroll

[MechBFP]

34 minutes ago, Codraroll said:

The lack of communication is making the trust issue worse every hour.

That they hadn't even prepared a statement to release to the fans indicates a rather bleak situation. It seems that those who know can't speak, and those who can speak don't know. That the whole mess wasn't very well planned out and there's little regard for what is supposed to happen next. The books are closed, the devs are sent packing, the requisite amount of money is saved, and as far as the company is concerned the fans can all bugger off. They have already got money from those who paid, and they give up getting any from those who didn't. Any further interaction is probably considered a waste of work hours.

That is more than likely the reality of the situation. For sure it is obvious that those cutting costs don’t give a excrements about the impacts down the line. 

[Codraroll]

On the other hand, to be unreasonably optimistic for a moment, it could be that the lack of an official statement means they are still negotiating some details. That there is some ongoing effort to hand the franchise and development over to somebody else, and that they hope to have it sorted out quickly enough that they don't need to make an announcement just yet.

If this really was "goodbye forever", the people whose job it is to write "goodbye forever" statements would presumably have done so by now, before the community went into a meltdown. Instead, there's deafening silence, and the fans are left free to fill it with their worst suspicions. But it could mean that things are happening frantically behind the scenes.

On the other hand, if that were true, it would do them a world of good to write something along the lines of "please wait as we are clarifying a few things", and that isn't happening either. So it could really be that they yanked the plug completely, so quickly that even the communications people don't know what statements to give, or no longer have access to do so.

Either way, I find it really strange that they are allowing the rumour mill to grind freely.

[cocoscacao]

46 minutes ago, Codraroll said:

Either way, I find it really strange that they are allowing the rumour mill to grind freely.

I've said it in the comms thread, I'll say it here again. If this ends with good news, and development continues, they absolutely must clarify why there's so much secrecy about... well... everything. 

Edited May 2 by cocoscacao
Typo

[chefsbrian]

31 minutes ago, cocoscacao said:

If this ends with good news, and development continues, they absolutely must clarify why there's so much secrecy about... well... everything. 

While I'm not optimistic of this outcome, the explanation here is plausible - You absolutely do not want to speak a single loveing iota outta line in any mass layoff scenario, because the wrong statement opens your company to a lot of very expensive liability, across multiple parties. And if your an affected party and speak out of line or authority, it also opens consequences to you personally if you end up accidentally misleading people - As someone being laid off, that can be grounds to lose your severance package. As someone retained, that can be grounds for termination.

Nobody would want to risk stepping out of line without review in triplicate by legal, until you know where you stand on either side. I wouldn't expect a single team member to risk their termination package to tell us anything, and the retained elements if any aren't gonna risk their jobs to rush to the post.

[Scarecrow71]

10 hours ago, PDCWolf said:

For anyone willing to accept this in it's best possible meaning (i.e. the game continues development, follows roadmap till release):

If they had 70 people before, and they just fired all of those and barely absorbed Nate and the community team into PD, and with PD not being a developer but a publishing label... right at the time where they'll definitely not be hiring people... What kinda speed do you expect now? What delay do you expect until they get their stuff sorted to continue working? What communication do you even hope to see?

Sure, you and me are both monetarily locked in by this point (thank you based steam god I only paid $3 for this mess), but really, thinking anything but that the game is dead still means, in reality, that the game is 99% dead.

To add to this, keep in mind that the people who list their jobs are part of an industry that, as a whole, is scaling back.  The layoffs that took place aren't unique in the gaming space right now.  Even if another studio wanted to buy the IP, gaming companies aren't interested in spending money or hiring new people right now.

For reasons beyond the fact that I am financially invested with my small slice of cash, I do hope that PD is able to push this to another internal studio (Take Two owns Cat Daddy, which is in Kirkland, as an example) so development can continue.  Heck, move it here to Las Vegas and I'll come to work for nearly free just to see this done.  Unfortunately, due to the attempt to save money, I doubt it will happen.

Edited May 2 by Scarecrow71

[moeggz]

37 minutes ago, Scarecrow71 said:

add to this, keep in mind that the people who list their jobs are part of an industry that, as a whole, is scaling back.

This is the worst part of this. I’ve been laid off exactly once and it was soul crushing, even being in an industry that it didn’t take long at all to get back on my feet. If it is over, I hope the severance package is enough to get them through.

[Icegrx]

KSP2 drops half its team, with others laid off the 2nd game Intercept is working on.

Intercept studios close. 

The remaining KSP2 team is shuffled directly under Private Divison. 

With other projects getting canceled and laid off, the remaining team members from those projects and studios are placed on the KSP2 team directly under PD. 

KSP2 gets delayed even further under the restructure. 

KSP2 lives… eventually
 

*Disclaimer, I am just speculating and making this up as I write it. This is just my prediction. Too much doom and gloom, so here’s my overly optimistic prediction. feel free to quote me and laugh at me as news develops and if my prediction is way wrong.*
 

[MechBFP]

15 minutes ago, Icegrx said:

KSP2 drops half its team, with others laid off the 2nd game Intercept is working on.

Intercept studios close. 

The remaining KSP2 team is shuffled directly under Private Divison. 

With other projects getting canceled and laid off, the remaining team members from those projects and studios are placed on the KSP2 team directly under PD. 

KSP2 gets delayed even further under the restructure. 

KSP2 lives… eventually
 

*Disclaimer, I am just speculating and making this up as I write it. This is just my prediction. Too much doom and gloom, so here’s my overly optimistic prediction. feel free to quote me and laugh at me as news develops and if my prediction is way wrong.*
 

Reasonable prediction given currently known facts. 

[Skorj]

IMO, KSP is a dead IP now.  It's rude of Take2 not to have a statement to players about the future of the game, but aside from not being jerks there would be little point.

I'd love to see bugfixes for the top 20 issues (I might pick KSP2 up on sale for $5 if they did), but I'd understand if T2 didn't bother, and just buried the IP. Poor Kerbals.

KSP1 is still fun though!

[moeggz]

38 minutes ago, Icegrx said:

KSP2 lives… eventually

As pessimistic as I am I would never mock anyone for this opinion. I would much rather you get to say I told you so and I be wrong and have KSP2 

(I would also say and all intercept employees get to keep their job… but that ship seems to have sailed)

[PDCWolf]

1 hour ago, Icegrx said:

KSP2 drops half its team, with others laid off the 2nd game Intercept is working on.

Intercept studios close. 

The remaining KSP2 team is shuffled directly under Private Divison. 

With other projects getting canceled and laid off, the remaining team members from those projects and studios are placed on the KSP2 team directly under PD. 

KSP2 gets delayed even further under the restructure. 

KSP2 lives… eventually
 

*Disclaimer, I am just speculating and making this up as I write it. This is just my prediction. Too much doom and gloom, so here’s my overly optimistic prediction. feel free to quote me and laugh at me as news develops and if my prediction is way wrong.*
 

We've reached the bargaining stage. And please don't take this as personal mocking, because it is not.

Now let's say your prediction is true... are you ready for another ~year with 0 progress and for the remainder of the roadmap to be developed even slower, let alone to a possibly more rushed standard?

[Bej Kerman]

1 hour ago, Skorj said:

KSP1 is still fun though!

KSP 1 at its core is still the rotten corpse that motivated the creation of a sequel in the first place.  Very buggy and unenjoyable if you get too ambitious with your creations.

[AtomicTech]

1 hour ago, Icegrx said:

KSP2 drops half its team, with others laid off the 2nd game Intercept is working on.

Intercept studios close. 

The remaining KSP2 team is shuffled directly under Private Divison. 

With other projects getting canceled and laid off, the remaining team members from those projects and studios are placed on the KSP2 team directly under PD. 

KSP2 gets delayed even further under the restructure. 

KSP2 lives… eventually
 

*Disclaimer, I am just speculating and making this up as I write it. This is just my prediction. Too much doom and gloom, so here’s my overly optimistic prediction. feel free to quote me and laugh at me as news develops and if my prediction is way wrong.*
 

Y'know, I could very much live with that. We all seem to have learned patience the hard way lol

[MechBFP]

8 minutes ago, PDCWolf said:

Now let's say your prediction is true... are you ready for another ~year with 0 progress and for the remainder of the roadmap to be developed even slower, let alone to a possibly more rushed standard?

Why would anyone need to be “ready” for that? That’s such a strange thing to ask them. 

[PDCWolf]

Just now, MechBFP said:

Why would anyone need to be “ready” for that? That’s such a strange thing to ask them. 

Because patience is already as thin as it can get for many. People here right now are the most hardcore fans... but I'm sure they have a limit too, I'm trying to find that limit because so far it looks like the devs could shoot their dog and they'll still believe.

[Skorj]

5 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

KSP 1 at its core is still the rotten corpse that motivated the creation of a sequel in the first place.  Very buggy and unenjoyable if you get too ambitious with your creations.

I never felt the need to build Star Destroyers or other 1000-part ships.  I really like KSP1 as a mission-based rocket sim.  I spent endless hours making reusable boosters with which I could do a re-entry burn from orbit and land hands-off at the KSC.  Buggy and crashy as it is, I still find it fun.

I think most people who post on this forum would have loved a "KSP1 without the bugs" before any of the new stuff in KSP2, but we're a pretty small niche.  Still, does anyone think that "KSP1 without the bugs" would have gone worse than what we actually got? 

[MechBFP]

6 minutes ago, PDCWolf said:

Because patience is already as thin as it can get for many. People here right now are the most hardcore fans... but I'm sure they have a limit too, I'm trying to find that limit because so far it looks like the devs could shoot their dog and they'll still believe.

People can already be at their limit and continue waiting. This isn’t a tire being filled with air. 
 

Edit: Or rather I should say people aren’t a tire being filled with air that are just going to explode. 

Edited May 3 by MechBFP

[PDCWolf]

8 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

People can already be at their limit and continue waiting. This isn’t a tire being filled with air. 
 

Edit: Or rather I should say people aren’t a tire being filled with air that are just going to explode. 

Not really... it's why so many people have moved on and they don't check again. Go look at the first threads on release, or the "what do you expect for tomorrow" before release, and then check who's still posting on these new threads, mainly right before this mess happened and sent us scrambling for info including the forums.

People move on, they stop waiting, they stop hoping. If anything, this recent fiasco showed us that a lot of people were actually in wait to pull the trigger and now those have gone too.

[Sirad]

They say they are still hard at work.

This sentence may have several meanings i wont express here.

[MechBFP]

8 minutes ago, PDCWolf said:

Not really... it's why so many people have moved on and they don't check again. Go look at the first threads on release, or the "what do you expect for tomorrow" before release, and then check who's still posting on these new threads, mainly right before this mess happened and sent us scrambling for info including the forums.

People move on, they stop waiting, they stop hoping. If anything, this recent fiasco showed us that a lot of people were actually in wait to pull the trigger and now those have gone too.

And? Assuming the game is still in development they are clearly banking on console sales so it matters little what happens here. Wait or don’t, your choice. 

[Icegrx]

1 hour ago, PDCWolf said:

I am ready for that. I can wait. 
do I think the community as a whole can wait like that though? No.. no I don’t. Unless one of two things happen. 

The refreshed team gets wildly better with communication, and becomes more transparent. Upper management loosens their NDAs a bit.

(Unlikely) 

 

or 

 

The community largely gives up, forgets about KSP2. The team goes silent, but keeps working on the project. The team then releases a majorly updated version with multiple milestones hit in 2+ years more of slowed silent development. Surprising the community and driving a large resurgence of interest.

(more likely, I think they were honestly trying to do something like this with their recent bout of silence over the past few months. Can’t gripe and complain when you’ve forgotten) 

*edit, idk why my quote broke, and I can’t fix it*

Edited May 3 by Icegrx

[GGG-GoodGuyGreg]

On 5/2/2024 at 1:08 AM, Skorj said:

Dakota is just the CM.  Never blame the CM for what corporate instructs them to say. 

Nate is a great PR guy - look at all the hype KSP2 had at launch!  Will anyone trust him again?  Gamers are notoriously bad consumers, so who knows.  For sure I'd never trust Nate to run a studio again, as he lacks a technical background and has demonstrated he lacks the magic needed to lead an engineering team without an engineering background.

Why shouldn’t we hold a CM responsible for the poor communication?

Look at the outrage allowed to happen in the past couple a days and we haven’t seen the CM earning his pay.

I don’t think a good CM will so easily wave us off saying he can’t answer because either he can’t, he won’t or not yet know the answer. 
We all get it, but show some finesse and like you care. 
Also, unless he’s PR instead of CM, communication, especially with an EA, needs to be a two way street, not one way. 
I haven’t seen proof of anything getting up there to the big guy and change anything. Prolly aside of the public bug tracker which was a stupid thing to overlook in an EA. 

Edited May 3 by GGG-GoodGuyGreg

[The Aziz]

5 hours ago, moeggz said:

I would also say and all intercept employees get to keep their job… but that ship seems to have sailed)

We know of one. Who worked for Private Division, not IG anyway and didn't seem to be directly responsible for the game. The rest is unknown.

4 hours ago, PDCWolf said:

are you ready for another ~year with 0 progress and for the remainder of the roadmap to be developed even slower, let alone to a possibly more rushed standard?

Yeah, it can't be worse than it is (and it isn't half as bad as some claim it to be) and it's not like I'm gonna be sitting on front of my screen, waiting. I'm gonna do other things in the meantime, live some life, watch movies, play other games while KSP2 is being prepared. Just like I did for the majority of the last 4 years. Life goes on, can't be too focused on waiting for one thing because I'll miss out on many others. I don't have to be ready for anything.

[KerikBalm]

On 5/2/2024 at 12:35 AM, TLTay said:

Best case scenario for gamers is they give it a skeleton crew and it never gets done. Most sensible financial position is to push what they have to full release and rake in the sales money.

My guess is that they take the content they already have made, and do a quick and dirty (and buggy) release of it, and a skeleton crew to do a patch or two.

On 5/2/2024 at 12:35 AM, TLTay said:

Maybe they gave him a marketing role. He's a fantastic hype generator and salesman. He's a real artist when it comes to people's confidence.

Meh, he never gave me much confidence, but I kept quiet (after the metallic hydrogen issue) so as not to sabotage the game with negativitiy