The saga of Subnautica 2 has played out in the court of public opinion this summer, and now it’s taken another step towards an actual courtroom. Krafton has officially responded to the lawsuit filed by Unknown Worlds co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, as well as former CEO Ted Gill–all three of whom were forced out of the studio.
Cleveland and his team have accused Krafton of delaying Subnautica 2 in order to prevent the publisher from paying Unknown Worlds a $250 million performance bonus. Via Kotaku, Krafton’s response accuses the co-founders of valuing the $250 million bonus over delivering a more complete version of Subnautica 2. The filing goes even further and states that the co-founders were fired to prevent them “from permanently damaging Unknown Worlds’ most valuable IP, the company itself, and its goodwill with its fans.”
The $250 million bonus was supposed to be paid out to Unknown Worlds if the company met certain financial goals in 2025, which would be almost impossible if Subnautica 2 doesn’t get an early-access release this year. After fans openly called for a boycott of Subnautica 2, Bloomberg reported that Krafton has extended the bonus period into next year to allow the Unknown Worlds team a better chance of meeting those benchmarks and earning $25 million to be split among 40 employees. The remaining $225 million of the bonus would have gone to the former leadership team.
Krafton’s complete response to the lawsuit is online, and it paints a picture of the co-founders attempting to rush Subnautica 2 into early access while simultaneously remaining hands-off on the actual production. The filing also states that, “Krafton had invested $500 million in the success of not only Subnautica 2, but also Subnautica 3, Subnautica 4, and any other future Subnautica franchise product.”
Subnautica 2 is currently set to have its early-access release in 2026 on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
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