The former leadership team of Unknown Games have accused Krafton of deliberately sabotaging the release of Subnautica 2 in order to avoid a $250 million payout in a lawsuit.
Studio co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, and CEO Ted Gill, were all laid off from their positions on July 1 after a disagreement over the game’s delay, which has led to an ongoing back-and-forth between the ex-devs and the publisher.
First, it was reported that the development team would miss out on a huge $250 million bonus, as pushing Subnautica 2 to 2026 would make it impossible to hit certain revenue goals for 2025. This payout was one of the agreements when they purchased Unknown Worlds in 2021.
Krafton posted a statement justifying the delay, blaming the “absence of core leadership” and “repeated confusion in direction.” It was then revealed that Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill were suing their former employer, and the lawsuit is finally available for public viewing, as reported by Bloomberg and shared by Aftermath.
Krafton hit with lawsuit by former Subnautica 2 leadership
In it, the trio accuses Krafton of telling the leadership team that the planned early access release would be “disastrous” for them, so they went out of their way to ensure it would be delayed.
“Krafton engaged in a months-long campaign to delay Subnautica 2’s release,” reads the document. “It pulled key marketing materials, refused to follow through with crucial partnerships, and reneged on long-standing commitments to handle important pre-launch tasks.”
“Multiple Krafton employees themselves suggested that these moves were for the purpose of frustrating the earnout, despite the earnout agreement’s prohibition on taking these actions,” it continues.
It goes on to claim that when these attempts failed and Unknown Worlds were still refusing to push the launch, Krafton had to “go nuclear” and fire the former owners “without cause.”
Krafton has responded to the lawsuit in a statement given to GamesRadar+, where they said they are “disappointed” that it’s come to this.
“Krafton’s decisions were made to ensure Subnautica 2 is the best possible game and lives up to fan expectations,” said a spokesperson. “Releasing the game prematurely with insufficient content would have both disappointed the players, who are at the heart of everything Krafton does, and hurt both the Subnautica and Unknown Worlds brands.”
The statement continues: “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.”
While all this is going on, Subnautica 2 has been officially delayed until 2026, with Striking Distance CEO Steve Papoutsis taking the reins of Unknown Worlds.
BREAKING: Ukraine appoints new special envoy to US