You’ve probably heard of Subnautica, the 2014 survival game set on an alien planet covered mostly with water and that had you dive to increasing depths to find the resources necessary to survive and escape. Subnautica received rave reviews and became an indie darling even receiving a spin-off in Subnautica: Below Zero.
So when news hit of a true definitive sequel, excitement was high in the community and now the original team Unknown Worlds Entertainment wouldn’t be working alone as Krafton had bought the studio and were publishing.
First announced in 2022 and financial report revealed an expected 2025 release date with early access(EA) in 2024. A report in 2024 also described Subnautica 2 as a “multiplayer live-service game” which led to a massive fan outcry forcing the developers to confirm the there would be “no season passes, no battle passes, no subscription”.
A cinematic trailer for the Xbox Partner Showcase in 2024 now revealed EA would be in 2025. In April 2025 an initial round of play-testing was conducted and the EA window was pushed back again to 2026.
In July, Krafton made the decision to remove the three co-founders of Unknown Worlds‘ Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire and replace then with Striking Distance Studios senior producer Steve Papoutsis. This decision cause major backlash in the community backed up by a statement from Charlie Cleveland stating that the firings came at a shock and that Subnautica 2 was ready for EA.
This of course led to wild speculation and internet warriors ready to fight for the little man, review bombing and starting a boycott movement leading to this image to posted.
However this is FACTUALLY INNACCURATE. Yes the game would be delayed to 2026 which means that a bonus deadline would have been missed but after I did some research I believe this was not the reason for the delay.
Unknown World released a letter to the community stating that the change in leadership was going smoothly and that the team would be unchanged and that Subnautica 2 would remain a single-player first experience.
Another line of this letter also stated that they had full support for Krafton in meeting the highest quality standards and delivers upon expectations. This line in particular is interesting as shortly after this some internal documents were leaked stating that Subnautica 2 was hideously behind on development.
Krafton later confirmed that these leaks were accurate and they show that had the EA not been moved the build that would have been released would have been missing features and would have been a mere shadow of what the developer and publisher wanted.
So how did it get this way? Well speculation is abound especially if we look at what else Krafton did, removing the three founders.
“Krafton believes that the absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule,”
And it was confirmed that the heads of the project had removed themselves from the active development of Subnautica 2.
Whether this was a team building exercise or just an excuse to pawn the work off I can’t say. Charlie was also busy directing another game Moonbreaker, a digital miniatures tabletop battling game which saw favourable reviews but has quickly died off because of the focus on PVP rather than single player.
It has also come to light that Charlie was working on a movie production of his own. A passion project of theirs which had divided his attention even more.
But the use of Midjourney in the preview poster has caused people to speculate that the full movie would be generated this way, not helping Charlies image.
The three devs have also fired back at Krafton by claiming they have launched a lawsuit.
It has also come to light that about 90% of the £250 million bonus would have been payable to three founders according to a former Krafton employee, Damien Lee a key figure in the original Krafton-Unknown Worlds deal. “At its core, this dispute is between a public company and three wealthy founders — who already received over $450 million among them — over an additional $250 million earn-out.” – Damien Lee
So the development has certainly hit choppy waters (excuse the pun). Was it a case of mismanagement or one of corporate greed? Only time will tell but hopefully the change in leadership will correct the course.
Will you still be picking up Subnautica 2 or has all this changed your opinion? There are certainly people who have chose which side of the argument they believe and are more than happy to tell you why. We at TYG can’t say one way or the other and can only present the facts as is.
