Former Subnautica 2 developers sue Krafton after being accused of "abandoning" the project

After several key figures at Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds were allegedly "pushed out" of the company last week, former CEO Ted Gill, creative director Charlie Cleveland, and technical director Max McGuire are suing publisher Krafton for "abandoning" the game's development.

The details:

• Krafton unexpectedly announced earlier this month that Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire had left Unknown Worlds, and that former Striking Distance CEO Steve Papoutsis would now lead the studio. The news follows the announcement that Subnautica 2 has been delayed until 2026, meaning that a $250 million bonus for its development team for meeting end-of-year targets is unlikely to be paid.

• On Friday, Cleveland announced on Reddit that the trio had filed a lawsuit against Krafton, stating that he "would never willingly abandon" Subnautica or its development team as it is his "life's work." While the former creative director did not provide many details about the lawsuit, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports that it has accused the publisher of breach of contract.

• Krafton has also issued a new statement claiming that the "absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays" and that it feels a "profound sense of betrayal" as the former studio leadership focused on unrelated projects.

• Despite Krafton's claim that it tried to keep the CEO and co-founders on board, Bloomberg reported that the trio was "pushed out" as they opposed the game's delay. Over the weekend, more details about the disagreement emerged, along with an internal document revealing that Krafton believed the current version of the game "lacks the freshness and volume expected of a sequel" and "falls short of meeting the high expectations of the OWSC and the Asian market."