UPDATE: Krafton has sent the following statement to Insider Gaming regarding the lawsuit from Subnautica 2’s former leadership.
The statement reads:
“KRAFTON’s decisions were made to ensure Subnautica 2 is the best possible game and lives up to fan expectations. 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.
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.”
ORIGINAL: Unknown Worlds’ former executives allege that Krafton wrongfully fired them to avoid paying up to $250 million in performance bonuses tied to the success of Subnautica 2, according to a newly unsealed lawsuit. The ousted leaders claim the South Korean publisher derailed the game’s release after internal projections showed they were on track to meet earnout targets from their 2021 acquisition deal.
According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Unknown Worlds co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, along with former CEO Ted Gill, say that the studio intentionally wanted to delay Subnautica 2’s early access release to avoid paying the bonus.
“After Krafton’s leaders reviewed Gill’s projections and evaluated the anticipated revenue and earnout numbers, everything changed,” the complaint says per Shreier.
According to the suit, meetings in early 2025 involving Gill and Krafton is where things began to turn. The complaint says that Gill was attempting to negotiate a bonus payout to employees who might not have been eligible for the payout after the studio was first acquired for $500 million four years ago.
“About 40 people employed by Unknown Worlds at the time of the sale were told they would receive payouts, mostly in the six-or-seven-figures, but the executives also wanted to offer bonuses to those who had joined later,” the report reads.
After those meetings, the push from Krafton to delay the game began in earnest. It even led to various Unknown Worlds employees to go to Gill with a belief that the publisher was trying to avoid the earnout.
In the months leading up to their dismissal, the executives state that Krafton stopped marketing the game, paying local vendors, and even preparing Subnautica 2 for different markets. Krafton, the suit says, even failed to respond to emails, leading to the studio missing out on “highly valuable” promotion of the game.
The lawsuit by the former Subnautica 2 leadership says that Krafton offered lower payouts before deciding to let them go at the beginning of July. After their termination, Krafton cited an abandonment of responsibilities as a reason for the decision.
Per Bloomberg, Krafton didn’t believe Subnautica 2 had enough content for release, nor did it feel “innovative enough”. The executives and developers at Unknown Worlds, for that matter, believed it was in good enough shape to hit early access on time.
Krafton has not responded to Insider Gaming’s request for comment as of publishing. Should a response be received, it will be added to this story.
Krafton has also since extended a $25 million payout to Unknown Worlds staff into 2026, should revenue targets be met.
The game is now scheduled for early access release sometime in 2026.
What do you think of the latest claims against Krafton by Subnautica 2’s former leadership in this new lawsuit? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming forums.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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