Subnautica 2’s increasingly messy saga has taken another dramatic turn. Developer Unknown Worlds’ ousted leaders have announced legal action against Krafton after the publisher shared a statement accusing the former employees of ‘abandoning’ the underwater survival sequel.
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, especially given Krafton’s talk of “metrics and targets” and the suggestion it might be cracking the whip to get the game complete “as soon as possible”. 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.
Responding to Bloomberg’s report, Krafton insisted the delay was “not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations” but was instead merely to improve the game following feedback. This directly contradicted an earlier statement made by Cleveland to fans following his departure, claiming Subnautica 2 was “ready for early access”. But Krafton didn’t stop there; first it posted a new gameplay trailer, presumably in a bid to try and quell the growing community discontent, then, overnight, it issued another statement, this one far less diplomatic than the rest, directly accusing Cleveland and co. of “abandoning [their] responsibilities”.
“Subnautica 2 was originally planned for early access launch in early 2024,” it wrote, “but the timeline has since been significantly delayed. 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. 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.”
All this, Krafton insisted, resulted in “repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule”, leading to what it called an early access version that “falls short in terms of content volume”. It added it was “deeply disappointed in the former leadership’s conduct”, who it accused of failing to “honour the trust placed in them by our fans”. It also claimed that 90 percent of the $250m payout highlighted in Bloomberg’s earlier report would have gone to Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill.
But it seems the gloves are now well and truly off, with Cleveland responding to Krafton’s statement with an announcement of legal action. In a post to the Subnautica community, he described the ongoing saga as an “explosive and surreal time for the Subnautica team and community”, reiterating that “we know in our souls that the game is ready for early access.”
“We’ve now filed a lawsuit against Krafton,” Cleveland continued. “The details should eventually become (at least mostly) public – you all deserve the full story. Suing a multi-billion dollar company in a painful, public and possibly protracted way was certainly not on my bucket list. 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,” he continued, “the idea that Max, Ted, and I wanted to keep it all for ourselves is totally untrue. I’m in this industry because I love it, not for riches. Historically we’ve always shared our profits with the team and did the same when we sold the studio. You can be damned sure we’ll continue with the earnout/bonus as well. They deserve it for all their incredible work trying to get this great game into your hands.”
And that’s where things currently stand. Assuming it doesn’t get caught in the legal crossfire, Subnautica 2 is still expected to launch into early access sometime in 2026, and was previously anticipated to remain there for two to three years.
