Krafton said it “look[s] forward to defending itself in court” after Unknown Worlds’ former leadership confirmed they would be suing the publisher after they were suddenly ousted and replaced earlier this month.
The publisher also insisted that any and all decisions made about Subnautica 2 were made “to ensure it’s the best possible game and lives up to fan expectations”.
ICYMI, Subnautica 2 became the unexpected focus of industry drama last week when Krafton announced it was ‘replacing’ three key members of Unknown Worlds’ leadership team – including studio founder and original Subnautica director Charlie Cleveland – with Steve Papoutsis, CEO of The Callisto Protocol studio Striking Distance. At the time, Krafton insisted it had “sought to keep the… co-founders and original creators of the Subnautica series involved in the game’s development”, despite their departure.
Fan pushback was swift, and the situation only grew murkier after Bloomberg reported Cleveland, as well as Unknown Worlds’ chief executive officer Ted Gill and special projects director Max McGuire, had all been “pushed out” amid Krafton’s sudden decision to shift Subnautica 2’s early access launch from its announced “2025” window into 2026. It was also claimed the move – which Unknown Worlds’ ousted leadership reportedly did not support – would mean the studio was unlikely to meet the revenue targets that would unlock a promised $250m bonus for the development team. Shortly thereafter, developer Unknown Worlds’ ousted leaders announced legal action against Krafton.
“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,” a Krafton spokesperson told VGC.
“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.”
All this comes after the mysterious leak of an internal Krafton review document last weekend, claiming Subnautica 2’s planned early access release lacked “the freshness and volume expected of a sequel”, and fell “short of meeting… high expectations”. Almost immediately after, Krafton took the unusual step of announcing, unprompted, that the document was real, claiming that doing so would “minimise speculation and ensure accurate communication with players”.