Krafton recently responded to the lawsuit filed by the former Subnautica 2 leads, defending itself against the accusations. This is the latest development in the major controversies surrounding Subnautica 2, which have escalated over the last few weeks.
Published by Krafton and developed by Unknown Worlds, Subnautica 2 is said to have been in development since 2022, and was originally set to be released in early access in 2025. On July 2, however, Krafton announced that Unknown Worlds CEO Tedd Gill and co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire were being fired "effective immediately.” Around a week after that, the publisher delayed Subnautica 2 to 2026, which sparked accusations that Krafton was trying to avoid paying a $250 million earn-out deal to the devs by delaying and sabotaging the game. The controversy has further escalated with the filing of a lawsuit by the former Unknown Worlds' leadership against Krafton, which accuses the publisher of “deliberately and with malicious intent” sabotaging the development of Subnautica 2 to avoid paying the bonus. On the other hand, Krafton confirmed that a recent Subnautica 2 leak claiming that the game failed to meet the milestones agreed with Krafton was real.
Subnautica fans who...
