The ongoing controversy surrounding Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds took a dramatic turn this week as the studio’s ousted founders announced a lawsuit against publisher Krafton. They are alleging wrongful termination just as a $250 million payout loomed.
Power Struggle Over Delayed Unknown Worlds Release
The legal battle follows the sudden dismissal of Charlie Cleveland, Max McGuire, and Ted Gill, veteran developers and leaders at Unknown Worlds, earlier this month.
Krafton, the publisher behind PUBG, claimed the founders failed to deliver a launch-ready version of Subnautica 2, prompting the delay of its Early Access release to 2026.
“Suing a multi-billion-dollar company in a painful, public and possibly protracted way was certainly not on my bucket list,” Cleveland wrote in a Reddit post. “But this needs to be made right.”
Subnautica 2, currently the second-most-wishlisted game on Steam, was originally expected to hit Early Access this year.
