Latest news with #Subnautica
Korea Herald
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Krafton says Subnautica 2 delay aimed at protecting fans, franchise reputation
South Korean game publisher Krafton Inc. said Saturday its recent decisions regarding the development of Subnautica 2 were made to protect the interests of game fans and ensure the long-term success of the franchise, as the company faces a legal dispute with the former leadership of its U.S. development subsidiary Unknown Worlds. "Releasing the game prematurely with insufficient content, falling short of what fans expect in a sequel, would have both disappointed the players -- who are at the heart of everything Krafton does -- and damaged the reputations of both the Subnautica and Unknown Worlds brands," the company said in a statement. It added that the decisions were "made to ensure Subnautica 2 is the best possible game and lives up to fan expectations. The statement came amid an ongoing high-profile legal dispute with the former leadership of Unknown Worlds. Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds in October 2021 in a deal aimed at diversifying its portfolio beyond its flagship PUBG shooter franchise. At the time, the company highlighted the studio's strong intellectual properties and reputation for globally appealing, community-driven gameplay experiences. Earlier this month, however, Krafton removed Unknown Worlds co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, along with CEO Ted Gill, citing a lack of leadership and delays in the development of Subnautica 2. In response, the former Unknown Worlds leaders have filed a lawsuit against Krafton, alleging breach of contract. They alleged that Krafton sought to avoid issuing a $250 million bonus payment by delaying the game using "pressure tactics." "While we are disappointed that Charlie, Max and Ted have filed a lawsuit seeking a huge payout, we look forward to defending ourselves in court. In the meantime, Krafton remains focused on what matters: delivering the best possible game as quickly as possible to Subnautica's fans," the company said. The public dispute has drawn concern from Subnautica fans, with some calling for a boycott of the sequel over worries about the game's creative direction and the publisher's role in recent changes. In its earlier remarks, Krafton emphasized, "Fans are always at the center of every decision we make," and pledged to repay their patience with a "refined and outstanding gameplay experience." (Yonhap)
Engadget
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
What the hell is going on with Subnautica 2?
If I had to describe the status of Subnautica 2 in just three words, it would be these: messy, messy, messy. That's not to say the game itself is in terrible shape — this is actually a pivotal claim in the whole situation — but the relationship between Subnautica series developer Unknown Worlds and its parent company, Krafton, is in shreds. This month alone, Krafton fired the founders and CEO of Unknown Worlds, Subnautica 2 was delayed until 2026 and the ousted leaders filed a lawsuit against Krafton, looking to regain creative control of the game and the studio. At the center of the conflict is a bonus payment worth up to $250 million. Here's a rundown of how we got here and what in the devil is going on with Subnautica 2 , Krafton and Unknown Worlds. Charlie Cleveland accidentally started Unknown Worlds in 2001 while building the popular Half-Life mods Natural Selection and Natural Selection 2 , and technical director Max McGuire came on as an official studio co-founder in 2006. Inspired by Minecraft and burned out on mods, Unknown Worlds began working on the undersea, open-world exploration game Subnautica and released it in early access on Steam in 2014. With years of community feedback, the game evolved into a singularly tense and rich survival experience, and version 1.0 officially landed in 2018. This is also when Ted Gill joined the studio's executive team, freeing up Cleveland to focus on creative direction. Subnautica and its spin-off, Subnautica: Below Zero , attracted millions of players and established Unknown Worlds as a successful independent team. So, the larger studios came sniffing. PUBG publisher Krafton, which operates with billions of dollars annually, purchased Unknown Worlds in 2021 for $500 million. The acquisition came with the promise of an additional payout worth up to $250 million if Unknown Worlds hit certain performance goals by the end of 2025. This bonus is a critical piece of the chaos today. We know more about the details of this deal thanks to recent reporting by Bloomberg . In addition to the leadership positions, which were filled by Cleveland, Gill and McGuire, Unknown Worlds had about 40 employees at the time of the Krafton sale, and they received payouts totaling $50 million at closing and over the following two years. This larger group was poised to receive as much as $25 million in the 2025 performance-based earnout, with each person expecting a different amount, but most estimating six or seven figures. The remaining $225 million was reserved for the Unknown Worlds leadership, but they said they intended to share a portion of their windfall with employees who weren't included in the bonus, covering the full studio headcount of about 100 people. The leadership of Unknown Worlds repeated this promise in a lawsuit filed against Krafton on July 10, 2025. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. After the acquisition, Unknown Worlds continued updating Subnautica and Below Zero . In February 2024, the studio released Moonbreaker , a turn-based strategy game that never really took off, partially because of its initial microtransaction system . Since then, the studio has been focused on Subnautica 2 . The game was officially announced in October 2024 with a prospective early access launch window of 2025. It's currently the second-most wishlisted game on Steam, after Hollow Knight: Silksong . The first public notion that something was rotten between Unknown Worlds and Krafton came on July 2, when Cleveland, Gill and McGuire were fired and replaced by former Callisto Protocol studio head Steve Papoutsis. Krafton didn't provide a reason for the switch-up in its press release , instead offering the following nearly complete thought: 'While Krafton sought to keep the Unknown Worlds' co-founders and original creators of the Subnautica series involved in the game's development, the company wishes them well on their next endeavors.' Krafton didn't mention delaying the early access launch at this time, but it implemented a review process that it said would be 'essential to delivering the right game at the right time.' The publisher suggested the ousted leaders had been uncooperative in this aspect. 'Unknown Worlds' new leadership fully supports this process and is committed to meeting player expectations,' its press release said. Cleveland published a blog post on July 4 reflecting on his time in game development, and sharing his disappointment at Krafton's handling of Unknown Worlds and Subnautica 2 . He also referenced Krafton's intent to delay the launch. 'You can see why for Max, Ted, myself, the Unknown Worlds team, and for our community, the events of this week have been quite a shock,' Cleveland wrote. 'We know that the game is ready for early access release and we know you're ready to play it. And while we thought this was going to be our decision to make, at least for now, that decision is in Krafton's hands. And after all these years, to find that I'm no longer able to work at the company I started stings.' On July 9, Krafton officially delayed the early access launch of Subnautica 2 to 2026. That same day, Bloomberg published a report outlining the performance-based bonus agreement and implicitly questioning how the timing of the delay would make it difficult for the studio to hit its goals, putting the payout in jeopardy. This was the first time the details of the bonus became public. Krafton shared a statement with Engadget — and in a pop-up on its own homepage — on July 10 that straight-up accused the fired leaders of abandoning the studio in favor of personal creative pursuits, specifically calling out Cleveland's film production company . It also threw shade at Moonbreaker and claimed the former bosses wanted the bonus payment 'for themselves.' 'Krafton made multiple requests to Charlie and Max to resume their roles as Game Director and Technical Director, respectively, but both declined to do so,' the statement said. 'In particular, following the failure of Moonbreaker , Krafton asked Charlie to devote himself to the development of Subnautica 2 . However, instead of participating in the game development, he chose to focus on a personal film project. Krafton believes that the absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule. The current Early Access version also falls short in terms of content volume.' That same day, Cleveland announced that he and the other ousted studio heads had filed a lawsuit against Krafton. 'Suing a multibillion dollar company in a painful, public and possibly protracted way was certainly not on my bucket list,' Cleveland wrote. 'But this needs to be made right. Subnautica has been my life's work and I would never willingly abandon it or the amazing team that has poured their hearts into it. As for the earnout, the idea that Max, Ted and I wanted to keep it all for ourselves is totally untrue.' The lawsuit wasn't unsealed until July 16. But on July 15, Bloomberg reported that Krafton now planned to extend the window for the bonus payment by an additional year, giving the studio more time to hit its goals. The publisher will also reportedly advance a portion of a separate profit-sharing bonus pool to all Unknown Worlds employees in 2025. These moves seem designed to moot the core issues raised in the breach of contract complaint that Cleveland and other Unknown Worlds leaders filed against Krafton in Delaware Chancery Court. The lawsuit, unsealed on July 16, claims Krafton illegally fired the studio heads and delayed Subnautica 2 in order to avoid the bonus payments. It also provides a timeline of growing tensions between the founders and Krafton this year, accusing the publisher of intentional sabotage. The lawsuit claims that Krafton and Unknown Worlds had a respectful relationship until April 2025, when Gill presented Krafton executives with the studio's positive revenue projections, which were made with the assumption that Subnautica 2 would hit early access in 2025. He also outlined the expected bonus payout under the agreement. 'When that happened, everything changed,' the lawsuit reads. The complaint alleges that at this point, Krafton began looking for ways to force out the leaders of Unknown Worlds and delay the launch of Subnautica 2 , with a goal of circumventing the bonus payment. Cleveland, Gill and McGuire argued back and forth with Krafton executives over whether the game was ready for early access, and Krafton eventually pulled all of its resources from the studio. Krafton issued a stop order on Subnautica 2 development, took over Unknown Worlds' communications channels and in June it started laying an internal paper trail accusing the founders of abandoning their fiduciary duties, according to the complaint. Cleveland, Gill and McGuire were fired and removed from the Unknown Worlds board of directors on July 1. This is where the rest of us entered the story. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. The main conflict here is over whether Subnautica 2 is really ready for an early access launch, and that matters because of a potential $250 million bonus payment that's jeopardized by a delay. Not only is this a large sum for Krafton to lose, but it's also a massive amount of money for Cleveland, Gill and McGuire to miss out on, especially now that they've lost their studio and tentpole IP. The ousted leaders reiterated in their lawsuit that they 'planned to share even more of the earnout with their dedicated team' than they were contractually obligated to. In the complaint, they're looking for Krafton to pay out the full bonus as projected without a delay, fulfill its obligations as a publisher and reinstate them as the heads of Unknown Worlds. Every party in this situation claims they want what's best for Subnautica 2 and its players. It's possible that they're all telling the truth and this is a simple disagreement over artistic integrity. It's also possible that they're all lying and everyone is looking to make (or keep) a quick buck — but man, that's bleak. The truth, as usual, likely lies somewhere in between and, chances are, we'll never know it. At least the court system will eventually be able to determine the second-best thing, which is who's at fault. Have a tip for Jessica? You can reach her by email , Bluesky or send a message to @jesscon.96 to chat confidentially on Signal. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
Korea Herald
13-07-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Krafton blames ousted founders for Subnautica 2 delay
Korea's leading game publisher Krafton pinned the blame for delays in the early access launch of Subnautica 2 on the founders of US subsidiary Unknown Worlds Entertainment, as a legal dispute simmers with the studio's dismissed executives. In a statement Friday, Krafton called its decision to replace the leadership at California-based Unknown Worlds a 'difficult but necessary step' to ensure the quality of the highly anticipated sequel. 'We allocated approximately 90 percent of the up to $250 million earn-out compensation to the three former executives, with the expectation that they would demonstrate leadership and active involvement in the development of Subnautica 2,' the company said. 'However, regrettably, the former leadership abandoned the responsibilities entrusted to them.' The three founders — Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire — were recently dismissed after remaining in their roles for about four years following Krafton's 2021 acquisition of the studio for $500 million, not including the earn-out clause. Krafton has since appointed Steve Papoutsis, former CEO of Striking Distance Studios, as the new head of Unknown Worlds. Krafton also announced Friday that Subnautica 2's early access launch has been pushed back to 2026, following earlier targets of 2024 and then 2025. The company cited a lack of sufficient content in the prerelease. In a statement on X the same day, Cleveland said the founders have filed a lawsuit against Krafton, insisting they remain committed to releasing an early access version of the game. 'Subnautica has been my life's work and I would never willingly abandon it or the amazing team that has poured their hearts into it,' Cleveland wrote. Subnautica 2 has been seen as a crucial release for Unknown Worlds, whose earlier entries in the franchise have sold about 18 million copies, according to securities firms. Delays to the sequel are viewed as a key factor behind the studio's declining performance. Unknown Worlds reported operating profit of 28.1 billion won in the first half of 2021, prior to its acquisition. Annual operating profit has since steadily fallen to 19.8 billion won, 16.9 billion won and 13.4 billion won over the past three years. While details of the lawsuit have not been disclosed, Krafton said it remains committed to supporting the studio and honoring promised compensation. 'We believe that the dedication and effort of this team are at the very heart of Subnautica's ongoing evolution, and we reaffirm our commitment to provide the rewards they were promised,' Krafton said.
Metro
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Subnautica 2 delayed so publisher can avoid paying devs a bonus claims report
A surprise change in leadership and a delay in its release date now haunt Subnautica 2. The most wishlisted Steam game right now is, unsurprisingly, the ever-elusive Hollow Knight: Silksong. In second place, however, is not something super mainstream like Resident Evil Requiem or Borderlands 4, but underwater survival game Subnautica 2. Clearly, the Steam community really enjoyed the original Subnautica from 2018 (as did we) and is very excited for its sequel. Much like the first game, developer Unknown Worlds intended to launch Subnautica 2 in early access, with a 2025 date confirmed at an Xbox event last year. However, publisher Krafton (the South Korean company best known for battle royale PUBG Battlegrounds) has opted to push the game into 2026 and while it says this is because it needs extra development time, the company has been accused of having ulterior motives that involve avoiding paying bonuses to Subnautica 2's staff. It has been an incredibly hectic couple of weeks for Unknown Worlds, which Krafton acquired in 2021, a few months after the release of spin-off game Subnautica: Below Zero. Last week, out of nowhere, Krafton announced it had replaced Unknown Worlds' leadership team – including Subnautica director Charlie Cleveland – with Steve Papoutsis taking over as the new CEO while still maintaining his position as CEO of The Callisto Protocol developer Striking Distance Studios. No real reason was given for the sudden change in leadership, with Krafton only saying it was for the sake of 'delivering the best possible game for the Subnautica community.' Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. This is also why Subnautica 2's early access launch is being delayed to 2026; a decision that was made shortly after the leadership change, according to a Bloomberg report. Yet according to a lengthy Reddit post by Cleveland (who described his removal from Unknown Worlds as 'quite a shock'), Subnautica 2 is 'ready for early access release,' implying there's no need for a delay. According to Bloomberg, Krafton's decision also happens to come a few months before it was meant to pay Unknown Worlds' staff a $250 million (£184 million) bonus. When Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds, its purchase agreement stated this bonus would be awarded if the studio met certain revenue targets by the end of 2025. If Unknown Worlds managed to achieve this, the plan was for the bonus to be shared among all 100 members of the studio, with Bloomberg's sources claiming staff were eligible for bonuses for upwards of seven figures. With Subnautica 2's early access launch delayed, however, it's far less likely that Unknown Worlds will reach those revenue targets, which according to Bloomberg has prompted allegations that the delay is an effort by Krafton to get out of paying staff the extra $250 million. More Trending Bloomberg adds that staff questioned Papoutsis about this during a company town hall meeting. Papoutsis said: 'It's never been told to me that we're making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that,' insisting Krafton simply didn't think Subnautica 2 was ready to launch this year. In a separate statement, Krafton itself has denied any such allegations, saying the decision 'was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations.' Even so, fan response has been negative. Top posts on the Subnautica subreddit are overwhelmingly critical of Krafton, with some asking fellow fans that they remove Subnautica 2 from their wishlist and refuse to buy the game once it launches. A new gameplay trailer that dropped last night is also inundated with demands that Krafton give Unknown Worlds' staff their bonuses, although its like/dislike ratio is favourable, with 55,000 likes compared to 6,300 dislikes. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Hi-Fi Rush 2 looks likely as former Xbox studio Tango Gameworks is revived by Krafton MORE: The Sims clone inZOI is set to be the surprise hit of 2025 MORE: The Callisto Protocol was released too early and content was cut says director
Mint
09-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Krafton Delays ‘Subnautica 2' Game Ahead of $250 Million Payout
(Bloomberg) -- South Korean video-game publisher Krafton Inc. is delaying the release of the highly anticipated survival game Subnautica 2, according to people familiar with the company's plans, just months before it was due to pay a $250 million bonus to the development team. Subnautica 2, the second-most-wished-for upcoming game on the PC platform Steam, was originally set to offer early access to players later this year. The schedule changed last week after Krafton pushed out the leadership of its Unknown Worlds Entertainment studio, said the people, who asked to not be identified because they weren't authorized to talk to press. A representative for Krafton didn't respond to a request for comment. You may be interested in The first Subnautica, released in 2018, was a smash indie hit, selling more than 6 million copies. Three years later, Krafton purchased Unknown Worlds at an enterprise value of $500 million and said afterwards that a sequel was in the works. The sequel's delay to 2026 was against the wishes of the studio's former leadership, according to the people. The $250 million bonus was due to kick in if Unknown Worlds hit certain revenue targets by the end of 2025, according to the purchase agreement, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. By delaying Subnautica 2 into next year, the company is unlikely to hit those targets and therefore the employees may not be eligible for the payout, the people said. Unknown Worlds' leadership planned to share the additional money with all of the studio's employees, which number around 100. Staff who were at the company at the time of the acquisition were told they were eligible for bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to seven figures, the people said. Last week, Krafton announced that it had fired Unknown Worlds founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, as well as Chief Executive Officer Ted Gill. It said Striking Distance Studios CEO Steve Papoutsis would take that role, overseeing the studio's overall management and creative direction. Krafton didn't say why it made a leadership change, but said in a press release that 'we owe our players nothing less than the best possible game, as soon as possible.' In a statement on social media several days later, Cleveland wrote that 'the events of this week have been quite a shock' and that Subnautica 2 was 'ready for early access release.' During a company town hall this week, Papoutsis told employees that Krafton didn't believe Subnautica 2 was ready to be released this year and that the delay was to add more content to the game. When asked whether Subnautica 2 was delayed so Krafton could avoid paying the $250 million bonus, Papoutsis said he was not familiar with the specifics of the contract. 'It's a good question, and I would appreciate patience on this particular topic,' Papoutsis said, according to audio of the town hall reviewed by Bloomberg. He added that the specifics of the acquisition were 'beyond my current understanding at the moment.' 'The desire of Krafton is to have the very best version of Subnautica 2 available for its early access,' he said. 'While yes, the software that everybody worked on is in a great spot and it felt like, 'Hey we should launch this,' that wasn't where both parties aligned around.' He added that 'it's never been told to me that we're making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that.' More stories like this are available on
