Subnautica 2, the direct sequel to 2018’s Subnautica, was first said to be in development in 2022. Fans have been awaiting its release since, but a messy legal battle involving an embattled $250 million payout pushed the game back from a planned 2025 early access release. Part of that mess involved publisher Krafton, which bought Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment in 2021, firing the studio’s CEO as well as other members of its leadership team. Now, a judge has ordered Krafton to rehire the CEO it fired last July.
On Monday, Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will of Delaware Chancery Court ordered Krafton to reinstate Ted Gill as CEO of Unknown Worlds Entertainment. “Krafton breached the EPA by terminating the Key Employees without valid Cause and by improperly seizing operational control of Unknown Worlds,” she wrote (via Kotaku). The judge ordered Krafton to not obstruct Gill’s “authority over the early access launch of Subnautica 2.”
There’s also good news for director Charlie Cleveland and Unknown Worlds co-founder Max McGuire, who too were fired by Krafton. The judge ordered the $250 million bonus payout window to be extended until Sept. 15, with a further extension a possibility.
This is a huge win for the fired executives after Krafton allegedly consulted ChatGPT for ways to avoid paying out that bonus, which was tied to 2025 revenue targets for Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Krafton’s delay of Subnautica 2, which it said was due to quality issues with the game, would have meant those targets would have been effectively impossible to hit. At the time, Cleveland said on Reddit the studio knew “the game is ready for early access release and we know you’re ready to play it.”
Krafton, unsurprisingly, wasn’t too keen on the judge’s decisions. “While we respectfully disagree with today’s ruling, we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward. Today’s ruling does not resolve the former executives’ claim for damages or an earnout related to Subnautica 2, with further litigation still pending,” it wrote in a statement to Kotaku.
Subnautica 2 is without an early access launch date at this time. We’ll have to wait and see if Gill’s reinstatement as CEO changes that.
