Krafton has issued a response to a current lawsuit filed by the previous leads of Subnautica 2, providing rebuttals to the builders’ claims and alleging they “resorted to litigation to demand a multimillion-dollar payout they have not earned.”
This is available in reply to a authorized criticism filed by former Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill, and fellow co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, final month. In it, the previous leads alleged that Krafton went out of its means to hinder Subnautica 2’s growth, delay the sport, and finally fireplace them from their roles all in an effort to cease them and different workers from gathering a $250 million bonus cost that will have kicked in if the sport’s early entry launched on time later this 12 months and reached sure gross sales milestones.
In its (*2*), Krafton says the sport was deliberate for a Q1 2024 launch. Nevertheless, “Cleveland and McGuire deserted their roles as studio-wide Sport Director and Technical Director to concentrate on their private ardour initiatives and stop making video games for Unknown Worlds fully. And Gill, who remained, centered on leveraging his operational management to maximize the earnout cost, slightly than growing a profitable recreation.”
Krafton goes on to allege that by 2023, Unknown Worlds’ growth director had commented on the founders being “checked out,” and that Cleveland particularly had acknowledged publicly he had deserted video video games to pursue filmmaking. The discharge date of Subnautica slipped to 2024 after which 2025. “An inner evaluation of the primary playable in March of 2024 made clear that the staff had failed to ship on their promise of growing sufficiently new content material. However slightly than roll up their sleeves and make the sport that they had promised, the Key Staff blamed others and overhauled the staff.” Krafton additionally says that the leads continued decreasing the scope of the sport over time.
The response says that by spring 2025, Krafton was attempting to cease them from releasing the sport, saying it was not prepared. Nevertheless, Krafton alleges the leads tried to launch it anyway so as to get their most earnout.
“Krafton, fearing how an underbaked EA Subnautica 2 could be acquired by each current followers and the broader market, urged Cleveland and McGuire to return to their posts to generate a market-ready product that will not disappoint followers. Cleveland and McGuire declined. In response to Krafton’s request for the Key Staff to return to lead the event of Subnautica 2, Gill acknowledged that ‘[t]this is no coming again to a job they did not have.'” Krafton additional alleges that the leads mentioned they might self-publish the sport with out Krafton, and that they downloaded “huge quantities of confidential info” from Unknown Worlds.
The Key Staff’ insistence on releasing the sport instantly was singularly pushed by self-interest in acquiring the earnout. At each flip throughout growth, the Key Staff have been laser centered on avoiding “a timeline that does not tank the earnout alternative” and scheduling the discharge to maximize their funds. Conversations all through the post-acquisition interval clarify the Key Worker’s [sic] focus was on their payday, and never on the sport. As early as 2022, an worker who was due to obtain a portion of the earnout acknowledged that regardless of the numerous delays within the recreation, he was assured “Ted [Gill] will concoct a scheme to get us that earnout.” [emphasis Krafton’s]
The response goes on to situation solutions to each declare within the founders’ lawsuit, paragraph by paragraph. Krafton asks the court docket to rule in its favor, deny the founders’ claims for aid, and award Krafton prices, together with lawyer charges.
This saga started in July, when Krafton seemingly out of the blue introduced it might substitute Unknown Worlds’ leads with former Hanging Distance CEO Steve Papoutsis. Within the weeks that adopted, reviews emerged surrounding the $250 million bonus promised to workers amid questions as to whether or not that payout could be honored. Whereas the Subnautica leads claimed in numerous statements and of their lawsuit that Krafton had tried to delay Subnautica 2 and finally fired them to keep away from paying them the bonus, Krafton accused them of neglecting their duties, saying Subnautica 2 was not prepared to launch. That remaining declare stays up within the air, with leaked documents since verified by Krafton confirming that Unknown Worlds was receiving suggestions from the writer that the sport was not prepared for early entry launch. Nevertheless, a report from Bloomberg suggests this will likely not have been wholly true.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Bought a story tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.