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Back in October 2024, Krafton and Unknown Worlds announced that Subnautica 2 would launch in Early Access sometime in 2025. However, by the halfway point of the year, unexpected events unfolded.
Since then, there hasn’t been much news about the suit involving the key argument regarding the game’s readiness. During this period, several significant events occurred, including Gamescom 2025, the release of Silksong, and SEGA’s reinvigorated advertising campaign against Nintendo with its new Sonic Racing game.
Krafton initially argued that the three co-founders, Ted Gill, Max McGuire, and Charlie Cleveland, were fired because they tried to launch Subnautica 2 before it was ready. However, Krafton has now changed its argument and pivoted to a new theory: that it terminated the founders and seized control after learning that they backed up files they were entitled to access during their work at Unknown Worlds.
Fortis Advisors, representing the co-founders, stated, “Krafton’s disorganized retreat raises more questions than answers. To say Krafton’s new theory is a Hail Mary would be an understatement—both because the downloads were not wrongful and because Krafton claims to have learned about them only after firing the founders.”
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According to PC Gamer, Krafton now focuses on its claim that the co-founders abandoned their roles, even though the judge presiding over this case is confused by Krafton’s removal of the early access release argument. During a meeting between both sides, Judge Lori W. Will said, “Well, that’s something we definitely need to get to the bottom of today.”
Krafton has not been entirely cooperative in this suit, previously refusing to confer with Fortis Advisors and only offering narrowly selected emails as evidence.
The case continues, with both parties agreeing to confer, and we await further updates. This situation has been a messy one, and it’s unlikely that we will fully uncover the truth behind these allegations.
For more detailed information about what happened before this update, you can find a recap below.
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### Recap of Previous Events
– **July 2:** Ted Gill, Max McGuire, and Charlie Cleveland were fired from Unknown Worlds and replaced by Steve Papoutsis. Krafton emphasized its commitment to delivering a game that players deserved.
– **July 3:** The Unknown Worlds website issued a statement to calm fan concerns about the sudden absence of key creatives behind Subnautica.
– **July 4:** Cleveland claimed that Subnautica 2 was ready for early access release, and his dismissals were surprising.
– **July 9:** Bloomberg reported that Krafton was delaying Subnautica 2 to avoid paying Unknown Worlds a $250 million bonus. This delay was confirmed by Krafton hours later.
– **July 10:** Krafton blamed the co-founders for abandoning their roles and clarified the distribution of the $250 million bonus. The co-founders disputed these claims.
– **July 10:** Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire filed a lawsuit against Krafton.
– **July 11:** An internal document from Subnautica 2’s milestone review leaked on Reddit, supporting Krafton’s claim that the game wasn’t ready.
– **July 13:** Krafton confirmed the documents to be real.
– **July 17:** The co-founders’ lawsuit was made public, alleging that Krafton had been sabotaging Subnautica 2 to avoid paying the $250 million bonus. The CEO of Krafton supposedly admitted this could be financially disastrous and embarrassing.
– **August 12:** Krafton rebutted the co-founders’ lawsuit, again arguing that they were absentee leaders who abandoned their roles and continued to claim the game wasn’t ready for early access.
– **July 17 (again):** Unknown Worlds filed its own lawsuit against the co-founders, alleging misconduct including theft of confidential information and personal financial gain at the expense of the company.
