Update: As of this afternoon, Krafton has made second and much longer statement than before, and it’s a doozy. It’s tucked down at the end of this post; the original article follows.

I dunno about you, but the Subnautica franchise is much loved around my house, as my kids frequently dip their toes into the freaky underwater worlds. Naturally, we were looking forward to Subnautica 2, which will finally introduce a multiplayer component. Unfortunately, we won’t be getting it this year as originally planned, and the reason sounds more than a little suspicious.

As Bloomberg first reported, studio Unknown Worlds, which was bought out by Krafton back in 2021, was intending to launch the game into early access this year, but now Krafton has let go everyone in charge and unilaterally delayed the game into 2026.

It sounds as if there was quite a scuffle here: According to studio insiders being kept anonymous by Bloomberg for obvious reasons, as part of the buyout agreement Unknown Worlds was entitled to a $250M bonus, which would be split among the 100 or so workers, if the team hit predetermined revenue targets in 2025, which naturally means an early access launch needs to happen this year – something that studio leadership said the game was “ready for.”

However, last week Krafton abruptly fired Unknown Worlds’ two founders and its CEO and replaced them with a new CEO, who then announced the game was being delayed into 2026.

You might notice this conveniently saves Krafton a cool $250M that it no longer has to pay out as part of its contract. The studio maintains that the decision was “not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations” but rather was influenced by unspecified community “feedback” about unspecified “refinement” needed before early access. It’s actually a little unsettling because Krafton then repeats the “community voices” and “feedback” thing again, appearing to appeal directly to gamers by insinuating that the game wasn’t ready, contrary to the devs’ clear statements that it was. Whose voices? Nobody knows. What feedback? Shrug.

Curiously, Krafton offers no explanation for ousting the top three devs who’ve actually been spearheading the game’s development and were surely pushing hard toward those targets.

Indeed, Krafton claims that “the decision [to delay] had already been under discussion prior to recent leadership changes at the studio,” but that’s just how time works, yeah? Nobody really believes Krafton fired management without discussion. Of course Krafton discussed wanting to delay, and it sounds like the execs pushed back and then were ousted. Nothing Krafton has said in its carefully worded statements contradicts that.

For what it’s worth, the “appeal to gamers” is not working. The Subnautica subreddit has a thread called “DO NOT BUY SUBNAUTICA 2” with 33000 upvotes as I type this.

Guessing we haven’t heard the last of this one. Wonder what the contract lawyers would think of a cut of that $250M?

Source: Bloomberg, Eurogamer UpdateKrafton just issued a huge statement that basically places the trio of studio leads it just fired directly under a bus.

First, Krafton reminds the public that the fired execs would’ve gotten the lion’s share of the earnout. Napkin math says 90% of 250M still leaves a massive $25M left split over 100 people in varying amounts, which is all the sources were ever claiming (six to seven figures each), so this doesn’t really offer new info (taps into class warfare, though).

Second, Krafton goes into dramatic detail to paint management as absentee leadership who “betrayed” Krafton, “abandoned” the game, and refused to work on it, and I suspect we’re about to be deluged with information about whether that’s true and you can all get out your “I hope they both lose” placards, though it requires readers to believe these three execs for some reason didn’t want to make $75M apiece this year from the earnouts Krafton just mentioned.

Third, Krafton says that it is compensating the remaining devs it did not fire, but it does not say how much, when, or under what conditions, only that it will be the “rewards they were promised.” We’re guessing sources inside the company will be doing more bean drops for Jason Schreier shortly, though these promises may discourage some workers from piping up. Regardless, $25M to buy dev/industry goodwill is certainly cheaper for Krafton than $250M.

There’s no specific mention of the gamer “feedback” that Krafton earlier said was the impetus behind the delay.

To Our 12 Million Fellow Subnauts,

— Inevitable Leadership Change Driven by Project Abandonment–Despite Holding 90% of Earnout for Themselves

First and foremost, we sincerely thank you for your continued support, passion, and unwavering dedication to Subnautica. We wish to provide clarity on the recent leadership changes at Unknown Worlds, a creative studio under KRAFTON.

Background of Leadership Change

KRAFTON deeply values Subnautica’s unique creativity and immersive world-building. To provide fans with even better gaming experiences, we acquired Unknown Worlds, fully committed to supporting Subnautica’s future success. We collaborated closely with the studio’s leadership, who were central to the creation of the original Subnautica, to foster the optimal environment for a successful Subnautica 2.

Specifically, in addition to the initial $500 million purchase price, we allocated approximately 90% of the up to $250 million earn-out compensation to the three former executives, with the expectation that they would demonstrate leadership and active involvement in the development of Subnautica 2.

However, regrettably, the former leadership abandoned the responsibilities entrusted to them. Subnautica 2 was originally planned for an Early Access launch in early 2024, but the timeline has since been significantly delayed. KRAFTON made multiple requests to Charlie and Max to resume their roles as Game Director and Technical Director, respectively, but both declined to do so. In particular, following the failure of Moonbreaker, KRAFTON asked Charlie to devote himself to the development of Subnautica 2. However, instead of participating in the game development, he chose to focus on a personal film project.

KRAFTON believes that the absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule.

The current Early Access version also falls short in terms of content volume.

We are deeply disappointed by the former leadership’s conduct, and above all, we feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them by our fans.

KRAFTON’s Full Support for the Dedicated Development Team

To uphold our commitment to provide you with the best possible gaming experience, we made the difficult yet necessary decision to change the executive leadership. Subnautica 2 has been and continues to be actively developed by a dedicated core team who share genuine passion, accountability, and commitment to the game. We deeply respect their expertise and creativity and will continue to provide full and unwavering support, enabling them to focus solely on delivering the exceptional game you deserve.

KRAFTON’s Commitment to its Promises in Rewarding Employees

Additionally, KRAFTON has committed to fair and equitable compensation for all remaining Unknown Worlds employees who have continuously and tirelessly contributed to Subnautica 2’s development. We believe that the dedication and effort of this team are at the very heart of Subnautica’s ongoing evolution, and we reaffirm our commitment to provide the rewards they were promised.

Fans will always remain at the center of every decision we make at KRAFTON. Moving forward, we promise transparent communication and continued efforts to sustainably develop and expand the beloved Subnautica universe.

Honoring your trust and expectations is a core tenet at KRAFTON. We are committed to repaying your patience with an even more refined and exceptional gaming experience.

Incidentally, the Subnautica subreddit call-to-boycott post has now been deleted, though it made it to 45,000 upvotes. The sub is a mess right now, with people quoting a community manager who backed up Krafton’s claim about absentee devs [Update: The poster deleted it overnight] and others pointing toward small dips in stock value for Krafton that likely have nothing to do with this. But then, if Krafton weren’t concerned, we wouldn’t have gotten that letter.

The story continues on in a fresh post on July 11th