Krafton Reportedly Delays Subnautica 2 To 2026, Owed Devs $250 Million If They Met 2025 Revenue Target

A week ago, Krafton put out a press release announcing that Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s leadership team—Ted Gill (CEO), Charlie Cleveland (game director for Subnautica and studio co-founder), and Max McGuire (technical director for Subnautica: Below Zero and studio co-founder)—was being replaced. Steve Papoutsis, the former chief development officer at Striking Distance Studios (Callisto Protocol), was set to take over as CEO. No reason was given for the leadership change, and the only implication about what happened was the following: “While KRAFTON sought to keep the Unknown Worlds’ co-founders and original creators of the Subnautica series involved in the game’s development, the company wishes them well on their next endeavors.” We’ve reached out to Krafton for comment, but have not received a statement at the time of publishing.

Last Friday, Charlie Cleveland wrote a post on his website, where he described last week’s events as “a shock.” In his blog, he explains why he thought Subnautica 2 was ready for early access. He discusses how he’s spent decades “finding the fun” while developing games, and how this process was only possible with the original Subnautica thanks to its early access launch. “We know that the game is ready for early access release and we know you’re ready to play it,” Cleveland wrote about the upcoming game.

Subnautica 2 was set to launch in early access later this year, but that timeline changed after Krafton pushed out Unknown Worlds’ leadership, according to Bloomberg’s sources. Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds in 2021, and based on a purchase agreement reviewed by Bloomberg, they were due to pay Unknown Worlds’ development team a $250 million bonus if they hit certain revenue targets by the end of 2025. Unknown Worlds’ leadership team planned to share the payout with the company’s approximately 100 employees, with individual employees eligible for bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

Bloomberg also acquired audio from an Unknown Worlds town hall where employees asked the company’s new CEO, Papoutsis, if Krafton had delayed their game to avoid paying the bonus. He claimed that he didn’t know the specifics of the contract.