Krafton, the parent company of Subnautica and Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds, has reportedly delayed the highly anticipated Subnautica 2 from its original 2025 release window into 2026, seemingly in an attempt to avoid paying Unknown Worlds a significant $250 million bonus.
A report from Bloomberg claims that the development team at Unknown Worlds was due to get a $250 million bonus if the studio hit certain revenue targets before the end of 2025, a goal that would be accomplished more easily with Subnautica 2’s release by the end of the year. Now that the game has allegedly been delayed, developers at Unknown Worlds believe they will miss those revenue targets, and miss out on the bonus.
This follows the seemingly sudden departure of Unknown World’s studio leadership last week, with Unknown Worlds founders Charlie Cleveland, Ted Gill, and Max McGuire, all being replaced by former Striking Distance Studios studio head, Steve Papoutsis. Krafton announced the departures, and while it did not provide a reason for the three founders leaving, in a press release it said, “There is nothing more important than the gamer experience. Given the anticipation around Subnautica 2, we owe our players nothing less than the best possible game, as soon as possible.”
According to Bloomberg’s report, delaying Subnautica 2 into next year was not what Cleveland, Gill, or McGuire wanted. Cleveland even took to the Subnautica Reddit page to publish a farewell, saying that, “the events of this week have been quite a shock. We know that the game is ready for early access release and we know you’re ready to play it. And while we thought this was going to be our decision to make, at least for now, that decision is in Krafton’s hands. And after all these years, to find I’m no longer able to work at the company I started stings.”
Bloomberg’s report also describes a town hall meeting with the development team at Unknown Worlds, in which the new studio head, Steve Papoutsis, explained to the team that it was Krafton’s belief that Subnautica 2 was not ready for an early access release, and that delaying it into 2026 was necessary to add more content to the game. Papoutsis was then asked if Subnautica 2 was being delayed so Krafton could avoid paying the $250 million bonus, to which Papoutsis reportedly said, “It’s a good question, and I would appreciate patience on this particular topic,” and continued to say that he was not familiar with the specifics of Krafton’s contract with Unknown Worlds and its acquisition. He said they were “beyond my current understanding at the moment.”
“The desire of Krafton is to have the very best version of Subnautica 2 available for its early access,” Papoutsis continued. “While yes, the software that everybody worked on is in a great spot and it felt like, ‘Hey we should launch this,’ that wasn’t where both parties aligned around.”
Papoutsis also said that he was never told that “we’re making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that.”
Krafton is the developer and publisher behind the massively successful battle royale game, PUBG, and also the studio that saved Tango Gameworks from total closure by acquiring the studio from Microsoft. Subnautica 2 was announced as arriving in early access in October 2024, and is due to launch into Xbox Game Pass.
