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Drama surrounding "Subnautica 2": Fired developers and publisher go to court
by Debora Pape
Million-dollar drama surrounding "Subnautica 2": How Krafton tried to prevent a bonus
17.3.2026
Translation: machine translated
A spectacular court ruling in favour of the fired "Subnautica" managers. The publisher Krafton had invented reasons to justify the dismissals and prevent the rapid release of "Subnautica 2".
As great as the anticipation for «Subnautica 2» is among fans, the drama in the background is just as great. For months, the South Korean publisher Krafton and the ex-managers of Unknown Worlds, the development studio of «Subnautica», have been washing their dirty linen, partly in court and partly in public. Now the Delaware Chancery Court, a US court, has ruled in favour of the dismissed former managing director Ted Gill in full and ordered his reinstatement.
The stumbling block was Krafton's surprise dismissal of studio founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire and CEO Ted Gill in July 2025. This was accompanied by the postponement of the Early Access release date for «Subnautica 2» from 2025 to 2026.
Court judgement: manager dismissed on pretextual grounds
Krafton bought Unknown Worlds in 2021 and can therefore make personnel decisions there. Or so the company thought. The court saw things differently and ruled that the termination was unlawful. And not only that: Krafton had invented reasons after the fact to justify the dismissal of the three managers, according to the judge. Through the dismissal, Krafton wanted to take control of the publication of «Subnautica 2».
The judge has now ruled that the fired ex-CEO Ted Gill must be immediately reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds and given back full operational control. Krafton must not hinder Gill's work or the planned launch. Possible claims for damages against Krafton will be negotiated in a later trial.
This is a heavy blow for Krafton - but a fair one, provided the court's conclusions are correct.
A multi-million euro bonus payment is at the centre of all the misery. Krafton had contractually promised Unknown Worlds at the time of the takeover to pay the development team 250 million US dollars if a fixed sales target was achieved by the end of 2025. The release of «Subnautica 2», which was planned for 2025, would have made this possible. «Subnautica 2» is currently the most anticipated game on Steam
The dismissal of the two founders was also unlawful, but the court did not order their reinstatement. They had only played a subordinate role in the development of the game.
Krafton wanted to avoid a high bonus payment
The court's judgement follows the accusation of the former managers that Krafton wanted to avoid the bonus payment by all means. Kotaku reported back in November that the ex-managers were able to present documents supporting this argument. Krafton Managing Director Kim Chang-han had even sought solutions with ChatGPT on how to circumvent the bonus - which proved difficult thanks to the watertight contract. Unknown Worlds did not want to enter into renegotiations about the bonus amount.
For this reason, Kim Chang-han agreed with his Head of Global Operations, Richard Yoon, that the payment could only be avoided by controlling the release date of «Subnautica 2». In other words: If Krafton postponed the date, the sales targets would not be met and the bonus would lapse. However, the studio bosses at Unknown Worlds were in control of the release. So Krafton summarily enforced the dismissal of the three managers, accusing them of not doing their job and delaying the release of «Subnautica 2».
The US court sees no evidence for this argument. Ted Gill now regains control of the release date. The bonus payment is not off the table either. The court ordered that Unknown Worlds now has at least until 15 September 2026 to achieve its sales targets. The postponement of «Subnautica 2» had made it impossible for the studio to fulfil the bonus deadline, as Krafton had presumably planned.
Header image: Unknown Worlds
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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