The protracted legal battle between Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton has reached its conclusion, resulting in substantial bonuses for the entire Unknown Worlds development team. As part of the settlement, Krafton will provide financial compensation to all staff members at the studio. The news comes as Ted Gill, the recently reinstated CEO of Unknown Worlds, has announced his resignation.
"New leadership is the best way for the studio to move forward," Gill stated in comments to Bloomberg. He further indicated that the Unknown Worlds teams will be "compensated significantly more" than initially anticipated. Additional incentives are planned as the game progresses through its early access period. Originally, bonuses were only designated for the company's three top executives and employees who were with the company at the time of Krafton's acquisition in 2021.
The conflict between the two companies began in July 2025 when Krafton delayed the early access release of Subnautica 2 and terminated several key Unknown Worlds executives. This action sparked a legal dispute concerning a potential $250 million bonus payout. In March 2026, a judge ordered Krafton to reinstate Gill.
The dispute escalated after Krafton announced a May 2026 release window for Subnautica 2 without prior consultation with Gill or a thorough review of the game and its development by the Unknown Worlds team. While Krafton was notably absent from the publisher field on Subnautica 2's Steam page in April, Unknown Worlds later confirmed to Polygon that Krafton remained a co-publisher.
Subnautica 2 has garnered positive reception from players since its launch. The game achieved one million copies sold within its first hour and has since surpassed four million copies sold in approximately seven weeks.