Subnautica 2 has been nothing short of a huge success. However, its development has also been marred by a rather messy and tedious legal battle between developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment and publisher Krafton.
Krafton was accused of attempting to avoid paying the studio a promised $250 million bonus by removing key studio leaders, including co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, alongside CEO Ted Gill.
I’m sure many are already familiar with the story, but the developers eventually took Krafton to court, claiming the publisher had intentionally delayed the game to avoid triggering the payout. The case made headlines after a judge partially sided with the developers, with reports also revealing that Krafton's CEO had reportedly used ChatGPT to assist them with the case.
Now, Subnautica 2 has released, it has been a success, and it’s on Xbox Game Pass, and thanks to an update spotted by IGN in a report by Korean Economic Daily, it is stated that Krafton has now agreed to pay the promised $250 million earnout, with it being reported that the company will have to pay “$3.12 for every $1, or up to $250 million, to Unknown Worlds’ former shareholders every time the studio’s revenue topped $69.8 million a month since the Korean game developer acquired the US firm in 2021.”
It also appears that Subnautica 2’s huge sales success is what ultimately triggered the payout itself. With the game reportedly generating massive revenue in a very short amount of time, it seems the earnout targets tied to the original acquisition deal were finally met.
Honestly, it’s a happy ending to a rather bizarre story. While I personally can’t enjoy Subnautica 2 because of my everlasting childhood fear of the ocean, it’s still great to see a game I know is good finally get the outcome its developers deserved.
I’m also sure the now AI-first company Krafton won’t try anything shady again, and yes, that is sarcasm. Still, with the game selling well over 1 million copies already, it seems like it has a very healthy future ahead of it, and hopefully, this marks the end of any legal drama the developers have had to deal with.
What are your thoughts, though? Have you followed this case closely, or are you only just learning about it now? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll.
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