The saga of Subnautica 2 has performed out within the court docket of public opinion this summer time, and now it is taken one other step in the direction of an precise courtroom. Krafton has formally responded to the lawsuit filed by Unknown Worlds co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, in addition to former CEO Ted Gill–all three of whom have been pressured out of the studio.
Cleveland and his crew have accused Krafton of delaying Subnautica 2 to be able to stop the writer from paying Unknown Worlds a $250 million efficiency bonus. By way of Kotaku, Krafton’s response accuses the co-founders of valuing the $250 million bonus over delivering a extra full model of Subnautica 2. The submitting goes even additional and states that the co-founders have been fired to forestall them “from completely damaging Unknown Worlds’ most useful IP, the corporate itself, and its goodwill with its followers.”
The $250 million bonus was purported to be paid out to Unknown Worlds if the corporate met sure monetary targets in 2025, which might be nearly inconceivable if Subnautica 2 does not get an early-access launch this 12 months. After followers brazenly referred to as for a boycott of Subnautica 2, (*2*) reported that Krafton has prolonged the bonus interval into subsequent 12 months to permit the Unknown Worlds crew a greater likelihood of assembly these benchmarks and incomes $25 million to be break up amongst 40 staff. The remaining $225 million of the bonus would have gone to the previous management crew.
Krafton’s full response to the lawsuit is online, and it paints an image of the co-founders trying to hurry Subnautica 2 into early entry whereas concurrently remaining hands-off on the precise manufacturing. The submitting additionally states that, “Krafton had invested $500 million within the success of not solely Subnautica 2, but in addition Subnautica 3, Subnautica 4, and another future Subnautica franchise product.”
Subnautica 2 is at the moment set to have its early-access launch in 2026 on PC and Xbox Collection X|S.