Krafton and Unknown Worlds Clash: Subnautica 2 Set for Independent Release by Developers

The story of the internal conflict between the Krafton publishing house and the studio Unknown Worlds has received an unexpected continuation.

The first hundred episodes...

Let's recall, Unknown Worlds departed with scandal, and three leaders left, after which the publisher accused them of embezzling funds allocated for the development of Subnautica 2 and inefficiency, after which it became known that the Korean company dismissed them to avoid paying the promised bonus to the studio, and this decision was made after a short conversation with ChatGPT. But that's not all! Recently, a court ordered the reinstatement of the head of Unknown Worlds, Ted Gill, and he, in turn, accused Krafton of the rush to release Subnautica 2 into early access in May 2026.

So...

It seems that further cooperation between Krafton and Unknown Worlds is impossible and will be officially terminated shortly. This thought was driven by the Subnautica 2 pages on Steam and other stores, where the Korean company is not listed as the publisher.

Well, most likely now Unknown Worlds will self-publish Subnautica 2, which currently is the most anticipated game on Steam, and it is quite possible that this is actually good news since, in this way, the authors will have full control over the project and they can fully implement their ideas.

Neither party is commenting on the situation.

The early version of Subnautica 2 will be available on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series, including Game Pass. A full release is planned in approximately 2-3 years.

Source: Steam