Krafton has been ordered to reinstate the previous boss of Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds and prolong its workers’ proposed $250 million bonus, in a shocking authorized judgment that strongly favors the sport’s improvement employees.
Subnautica 2’s improvement has been mired in controversy since Krafton dramatically fired Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill and different senior group members in the summer time of final yr. On the time, Krafton additionally stated the sport’s launch had additionally been delayed — one thing it blamed on Gill — although its group had been working in the direction of an early entry launch that might have seen them eligible for that $250 million bonus.
Gill and his former teammates instantly launched a lawsuit in opposition to Krafton, suggesting they have been ousted to keep away from that bonus being paid, whereas Krafton hit again and stated the employees had “resorted to litigation to demand a multimillion-dollar payout they have not earned.” Krafton additionally accused the employees it fired of getting stolen paperwork in anticipation of subsequent authorized motion, muddying the waters over their exit.
The ensuing authorized drama has led to the surfacing of a number of beautiful claims, such because the suggestion that Krafton CEO Changhan Kim had used ChatGPT to “brainstorm methods to keep away from paying” Unknown Worlds’ bonus, and that he had additionally mentioned his concept for an Unknown Worlds firm “takeover” plan by way of Slack. Krafton, in the meantime, advised the ousted employees had “referenced racist views towards Korea and Korean folks” — because of a be aware submitted by Owen Mahoney, the CEO and President of rival South Korean online game firm Nexon.
In the end, nevertheless, the authorized motion has resulted in a win for Unknown Worlds. Krafton itself is but to remark.
“Annoyed by the Key Workers’ refusal to forfeit operation management and going through a nine-figure legal responsibility, Krafton went looking for a pretext,” the decide (*2*), slamming Krafton’s earlier claims that Gill and others had “deserted their obligations.”
“Krafton’s true focus in June 2025 was avoiding its monetary publicity,” the decide wrote. “It knew Subnautica 2 was poised to attain a $250 million earnout, which Kim considered as a catastrophic failure. Krafton undertook ‘Challenge X’ to both drive a deal on the earnout or execute a ‘takeover’ of the studio. Terminating the Founders was one tactic explored and in the end chosen by Krafton to perform its aim.”
As for Subnautica 2 itself? Developer Unknown Worlds not too long ago shared a behind-the-scenes take a look at an all-new deep-sea predator, and “how the group has used Unreal Engine 5 AI for lifelike conduct, real-time reactions and tense encounters for participant.” The ten-minute vlog is among the first improvement updates we have had because the authorized wrangling started final yr.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You may attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social