Kappa distributions describe velocities and energies of plasma populations in space plasmas. The statistical origin of these distributions is the non-extensive statistical mechanics. Indeed, the kappa distribution is derived by maximizing the q-entropy of Tsallis under the constraints of canonical ensemble. However, there remains the question what is the physical origin of this entropic formulation. This paper shows that the q-entropy can be derived by adapting the additivity of energy and entropy.