Subnautica 2 Bonuses Approved as Krafton Settlement Forces CEO Exit

Everyone on the Subnautica 2 team at Unknown Worlds is set to receive their bonuses after parent publisher Krafton reached a settlement with the studio’s leadership.

Reports say the deal includes a change at the top: Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill has stepped down, meaning the company will need to hire a new leader. Krafton has been asked for comment.

Subnautica 2 has already made a major impact—selling more than 4 million copies since launching early access on May 14, and reaching over 467,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. Still, the run-up to release was anything but smooth. Krafton dismissed Gill along with co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire in the summer of last year. At the time, Krafton also claimed the game’s launch was delayed, blaming Gill for the setback, even though Krafton’s own plan had been to work toward an early access window that would make the studio eligible for a $250 million bonus.

Subnautica 2 Screenshots

Following the firings, Gill and the co-founders filed a lawsuit against Krafton right away, arguing they were removed specifically to prevent the bonus from being paid. Krafton denied the accusations, responding that the dismissed executives had “resorted to litigation” in an attempt to secure a payout worth many millions that they were not owed. Krafton also alleged the former leadership had taken documents in advance of additional legal action, further complicating the circumstances around their exit.

Despite that fight, a court order in March required Krafton to bring Gill back and to extend the proposed $250 million bonus to the staff—one of the most dramatic rulings the video game industry has seen.

The decision laid out a series of eye-opening claims about Krafton’s internal decision-making leading up to Subnautica 2’s release. For instance, internal outlooks reportedly indicated Subnautica 2 was likely to hit the earnout threshold, but Krafton CEO Changhan Kim reportedly viewed the situation as a “bad deal” and said he felt “taken advantage of,” according to the ruling.

The ruling also states Kim was warned by legal counsel that the earnout would still need to be paid even if there were a “dismissal with cause” involving Unknown Worlds’ leadership. He was additionally warned this approach could expose Krafton to “lawsuit and reputation risk.”

From there, the court records describe Kim turning to ChatGPT, the AI assistant from OpenAI, for guidance. Delaware’s Court of Chancery vice-chancellor Lori Will said in the ruling that ChatGPT initially told Kim it would be “difficult to cancel” the earnout. Later, at ChatGPT’s suggestion, Kim created an internal group called Project X. Will wrote that the group’s mission was to either negotiate a “deal” regarding the earnout or carry out a “takeover” of Unknown Worlds, adding that “They looked to buy time.”

“Over the next month, Krafton followed most of ChatGPT’s recommendations,” Will wrote.

With the dispute now moving toward its conclusion, development of Subnautica 2 continues. Unknown Worlds says it’s working through its plan to keep updating the game during early access. The studio has confirmed it will add a new vehicle and a new area built around the Collector Leviathan, though players should not expect the game to allow direct fish-killing in the way you might in other survival titles.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].