Krafton claims former Subnautica 2 devs ‘lost interest’ in developing game

Krafton has fired different changeable successful its ineligible battle with erstwhile executives of Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds, who filed a suit past month, claiming the South Korean steadfast undermined the game’s merchandise to debar paying them a bonus. In its response, Krafton claims that the 3 plaintiffs, Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire, had “lost involvement successful developing Subnautica 2.”

The communicative told by Krafton’s lawyers successful the filing is that aft selling Unknown Worlds to Krafton for $500 cardinal and promising $250 cardinal much successful earnout bonuses, Cleveland and McGuire fundamentally checked retired of moving connected Subnautica 2 to absorption connected idiosyncratic projects.

“In 2024 and 2025, Cleveland stated that helium was ‘no longer moving connected games but […] moving connected a mates of films,’” portion “McGuire started ‘working connected initiatives that autumn extracurricular of [the Company’s] main improvement activities.’” As for Gill, “And Gill, who remained, focused connected leveraging his operational power to maximize the earnout payment, alternatively than processing a palmy game.”

They allege that without the enactment of Cleveland and McGuire, improvement connected Subnautica 2 suffered to the constituent that a hold of the game’s aboriginal entree motorboat was necessary. 

…as the extremity of the carnout play drew nearer, the crippled was inactive obscurity adjacent its planned scope. Indeed, arsenic precocious arsenic March of 2025, lone 2 months earlier the Key Employees claimed the crippled was acceptable for the archetypal Early Access (“EA”) release, the improvement pb for Subnautica 2 astatine Unknown Worlds noted that the archetypal EA and 2nd EA (planned for December 2025) would lone beryllium “about 12% of our intended 1.0 scope” and joked that “at that complaint we would beryllium successful improvement for 30 years.”

When the plaintiffs disagreed that Early Access should beryllium delayed, Krafton fired them, sparking the conflict playing retired present successful Delaware Chancery Court.

Defendant's Answer to Verified Complaint by krafton