Krafton has admitted that “talk about legal proceedings” surrounding the company following the delay of Subnautica 2 and changes within the development team could lead people to believe its internal milestone process is being “mismanaged”.
However, Krafton’s chief financial officer Dongkeun Bae wants to assure this is not the case, and actually somehow this is all a good example of how the company is managing its milestone process.
During an investor Q&A following Krafton’s recent earnings report, Bae said:
“For you to think that, regarding Subnautica 2 and looking at that case and thinking that within Krafton our milestone and development pipeline is not being well managed… there is a bit of, I believe, a reasoning leap or gap between those two points. I say that because the actions that we have taken on Subnautica 2 actually represent that things are effectively being managed inside Krafton when it comes to milestone management.”
Bae added that because the Subnautica IP has a large following already, he believes that as long as Krafton markets the sequel and then releases it, the game will get good sales regardless of any company politics.
“What we are seeking to do is, we want to make sure that we satisfy the highest level of satisfaction that the gamers have,” Bae continued. “Because we have managed the whole milestone process very rigorously within the company, we were able to make the decision that we made regarding Subnautica 2.”
The exec said Krafton did not believe Subnautica 2 was “up to par” or the “level” it had wished it to be, so the decision was made to delay the release. “I think that case goes to show that our milestone process is being rigorously managed,” he concluded.
The story of Subnautica 2 has become quite a saga. Krafton initially delayed the release of Subnautica 2 from this year into 2026 earlier this month. Just prior to this, Krafton – which is the game’s publisher – ousted key members of the development and leadership team at Unknown Worlds, including Charlie Cleveland, who was game director on the original Subnautica.
Krafton told Eurogamer the decision to delay Subnautica 2’s early access release into 2026 was “under discussion” prior to any leadership changes at Unknown Worlds, adding feedback from playtests had “highlighted a few areas that could benefit from further refinement before release”. At this time, Krafton claimed the delay wasn’t to do with a reported bonus for the Subnautica 2 team should they have reached previously determined revenue targets.
Soon after his dismissal, Cleveland shared a statement on reddit, where he called recent events “quite a shock”. In this same post, he said Subnautica 2 was in fact ready for its early access debut, despite what Krafton had suggested. Cleveland along with his fellow ousted leaders then announced legal action against Krafton, after the publisher shared a statement accusing the former employees of ‘abandoning’ the underwater survival sequel. A few days later, Krafton said it “look[s] forward to defending itself in court”.
We will keep you abreast of any further developments as and when they happen.