The core fan base of KSP is super passionate and if the game is good they'll play it regardless of the studio name.
The last couple years I've gotten real good at passing on games. ex: I thoroughly enjoyed doom 2016 single player, was ambivalent to snap map, and was extremely turned off on the MP. In immortal my understanding is they took all the parts I didn't like from 2016, and built those up (with a healthy dose of being a jerk to the guy who made the bang'n music for 2016 on the side).
I've played doom since doom 1 shareware (pre v1.666) but I'm skipping immortal entirely. There's just way too much content out there for me to bother with people who make me feel bad for doing business with them.
Goodwill is profits on the table.
With this new studio they are not beholden to prior promises of not having microtransactions.