Reinstated Subnautica 2 studio CEO says publisher Krafton ‘self-servingly’ chose its release date without permission

The Subnautica 2 legal saga has still not ended, with publisher Krafton now being accused of ignoring a judge’s order.

Unknown Worlds studio CEO Ted Gill, co-founder and creative director Charlie Cleveland, and co-founder and technical director Max McGuire were fired by Krafton last year, with the publisher accusing the trio of an “absence of core leadership” and claiming it felt “a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them by our fans”.

The three claimed, however, that Krafton had betrayed them by firing them right before delaying Subnautica 2, a move they allege was designed to deliberately prevent its Early Access release, and avoid it selling well enough to trigger a $250 million bonus for the development team.

Earlier this week the Delaware Chancery Court agreed, with Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will declaring that Gill was “hereby reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds”.

As part of the conditions of the decision, Krafton was ordered to “immediately restore [Gill’s] access to the Steam platform”, and was told it was not allowed to “impede Gill’s authority over the early access launch of Subnautica 2”.

The following day, IGN reported that Steve Papoutsis – who had been put in charge of Unknown Worlds by Krafton after it fired the previous leads – had sent a memo to staff telling them Subnautica 2 was “a game we are truly proud of, one that each of us and our partners at Krafton unanimously determined is ready for Early Access release in May”.

This has not sat well with the original trio, which is why Game File reports that their lawyers are now accusing Krafton of ignoring the court’s demand that Gill now be in charge of the game’s launch plans.

According to the legal team, Papoutsis didn’t have the authority to declare a May release for the game, because as of the court’s order the previous day he was no longer in charge of Unknown Worlds, and only Gill should be able to make that call.

“Krafton self-servingly announced the launch without any regard to its impact on the game, the team, or the community, let alone this Court’s Opinion,” their letter to Vice Chancellor Will read.

“Announcing the release of a game is momentous, and it is typically accompanied by significant marketing activity, fanfare, and community coordination. And most importantly, the announcement is carefully designed to maximize excitement for the game. That entire process was supposed to be driven by Mr Gill.

“However, in defiance of the Court’s Opinion, Krafton has now taken that away, further damaging the game and sowing additional confusion among the Subnautica community.”

One of the main allegations of the initial complaint was that Krafton was trying to delay the game’s release and thereby avoid paying a $250 million bonus to the development team if it hit a certain sales target.

The court’s decision on Monday also stated the eligibility period for this bonus was to be extended to September 15, and noted that the co-founders have a “contractual right to further extend” this to March 15, 2027.

The trio’s lawyers have suggested that Krafton may have “intentionally leaked” the memo, then confirmed it in a later statement, presumably because this would have made the release date announcement as low-key as possible in a potential attempt to soften initial sales and avoid triggering the $250 million bonus.

Krafton’s lawyers claim the publisher has done nothing wrong, saying on Wednesday: “Papoutsis’s message was simply celebrating the Unknown Worlds employees’ efforts toward a past event – Krafton’s pre-Opinion determination that Subnautica 2 was ready for Early Access release. There was nothing improper about conveying the results of the milestone review or thanking the development team for their dedication and talent.

It added: “In his role as CEO, Gill will be able to assess independently his views on the state of Subnautica 2 and the appropriate release schedule; nothing in Papoutsis’s message alters Gill’s authority or discretion.”