Krafton has settled its long-running fight with the team behind Subnautica 2 and will now pay the studio’s employees the bonus money it had been trying to sidestep. The deal also pushes Ted Gill, the former Unknown Worlds president who briefly returned to the center of the dispute, out of the studio again.
The money at stake was never small. Krafton had tied a $250 million bonus to performance targets for Unknown Worlds Entertainment, but the company moved last summer to dismiss cofounders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, along with Gill, in what looked a lot like an attempt to avoid paying. A court later ordered Krafton to restore Gill, return control of Subnautica 2 to him, and extend the deadline for hitting the targets. That timeline became much easier once the game landed hard.
Subnautica 2 bonus payout clears the threshold fast
According to Bloomberg, the first $69.8 million trigger was no obstacle: Subnautica 2 generated $96 million in just five days in early access. That kind of launch gives Krafton very little room to argue about whether the project delivered, which is probably why the settlement arrived now rather than after more courtroom theater.
Gill said the developers will receive ”significantly more” than the original agreement promised, with additional bonuses also planned as the game is updated. That is a notable shift from a structure that originally favored only three executives and employees who were already at the studio when Krafton came on board. In other words, the people actually shipping the game are finally getting treated like the reason the game exists.
Ted Gill exits as Unknown Worlds looks for new leadership
Gill also said his departure is by mutual agreement with Krafton, and that bringing in a new leader from outside both Unknown Worlds and Krafton is the best way forward. Given how messy this saga got, that sounds less like a clean handoff and more like a necessary reset.
Subnautica 2 entered early access on May 14 on PC through Steam, EGS, and Microsoft Store, plus Xbox Series X and S and Game Pass. It has already collected ”very positive” Steam reviews with a 91% rating, which is the sort of momentum that makes publisher power plays look especially clumsy.
What Krafton gets after the settlement
Krafton still gets a successful survival hit under its umbrella, but it no longer gets to pose as the victim of its own bonus scheme. The smarter play now is obvious: keep the game moving, keep the team paid, and avoid turning every future release into a legal brawl. The bigger question is whether the next leader can stabilize Unknown Worlds without reopening old wounds.