Krafton Faces Legal Action From Ousted Unknown Worlds Leaders After Publisher Accuses Them Of Abandoning Subnautica 2
The former leaders of Unknown Worlds who were ousted by publisher Krafton recently have now taken legal action against the publishing giant, after it accused them of having ‘abandoned’ upcoming sequel Subnautica 2.
Krafton announced last week that it was replacing key members of the development team, with Steve Papoutsis of Striking Distance Studios taking over the role of CEO. Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire were among the people who departed the Subnautica 2 developer. According to Bloomberg, all three individuals were “pushed out” of Unknown Worlds.
Following this, Krafton confirmed that Subnautica had been delayed to 2026, which came just a few months ahead of plans to reward the development team with a $250 bonus payout. However, Krafton affirmed that the game’s delay was “not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations,” and the publisher later made the following statement:
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Subnautica 2 was originally planned for early access launch in early 2024, 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.
In wake of this, Cleveland has now revealed that legal action is being taken against Krafton , writing the following in a post to the Subnautica community:
We’ve now filed a lawsuit against Krafton. 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, 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.
Subnautic 2 is now scheduled for release at some point in 2026.
[Source – Subnautica Reddit, Eurogamer]
