In light of the recent drama between Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment and publisher Krafton, director of the original Subnautica and studio co-founder Charlie Cleveland has announced that he is pursuing legal action against the publisher.
Taking to social media platform X, Cleveland wrote about Krafton’s comments regarding the “absence of core leadership” for Subnautica 2, and how important the original Subnautica has been for him and his fellow studio co-founders Ted Gill and Max McGuire.
“We’ve now filed a lawsuit against Krafton: the details should eventually become (at least mostly) public – you all deserve the full story,” wrote Cleveland on X. “Suing a multi-billion dollar company in a painful, public and possibly protracted way was certainly not on my bucket list. But this needs to be made right. Subnautica has been my life’s work and I would never willingly abandon it or the amazing team that has poured their hearts into it.”
In his post, Cleveland also wrote about Subnautica 2 being ready for an Early Access release, as well as how Krafton’s statement about the three co-founders is “totally untrue”.
“As for the earnout, the idea that Max, Ted and I wanted to keep it all for ourselves is totally untrue,” he wrote. “I’m in this industry because I love it, not for riches. Historically we’ve always shared our profits with the team and did the same when we sold the studio. You can be damned sure we’ll continue with the earnout/bonus as well. They deserve it for all their incredible work trying to get this great game into your hands.”
Cleveland also wrote about it being a surreal time for the team that has worked hard on developing Subnautica 2. “None of this is what we wanted,” he wrote. “But we truly appreciate the amazing support we’ve gotten from everyone. It means a lot to us, especially now.”
This announcement by Cleveland comes just hours after Krafton had released its statement regarding the state of Subnautica 2 and Unknown Worlds as a whole. The publisher had revealed that, of the $500 million it had spent in its acquisition of the studio, $250 million was set aside as earn-out compensation. Out of this $250 million, 90 percent was slated to go to the three co-founders of the studio.
“We are deeply disappointed by the former leadership’s conduct, and above all, we feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them by our fans,” wrote Krafton in its statement.
Krafton’s statement was in itself a response to the studio talking about Subnautica 2 being delayed to 2026 earlier this week. Unknown Worlds stated that it got “some great feedback” from playtests, going on to talk about how the studio felt that it was “swimming in the right direction”.
The decision to delay the Early Access launch for Subnautica 2 came about because the studio wanted to “give ourselves a little extra time to respond to more of that feedback before releasing the game into Early Access.”
When it comes out in 2026, Subnautica 2 will be available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.