Subnautica 2 CEO resigns mere months after reinstatement as messy bonus payment debacle concludes

Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds and its messy saga with publisher Krafton has come to an end, for now. Last July, Krafton outwardly blamed a number of executives at Unknown Worlds for the highly anticipated game’s delay, including CEO Ted Gill. This happened after the studio’s co-founder Charlie Cleveland announced he was suing Krafton and alleging that the Korean-based publisher had let them go to avoid massive bonus payments upwards of $250 million. Image via Unknown Worlds https://embeds.beehiiv.com/a8d62108-86ed-4039-bf49-44877ba62c15 Yesterday, a court filing revealed that the bonus payments are now indeed being sent out and the lawsuits have been dropped. Gill has now resigned, according to Bloomberg, and the proper payments have been doled out. This comes not long after a court ordered Gill be reinstated as CEO in March, with a judge on the case opining that Krafton’s CEO Kim Chang-han “turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout.” The judge surmised “ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be ‘difficult to cancel the earnout.’” Gill also told Bloomberg that the payments will be “significantly more” than planned initially, and that remaining Unknown Worlds devs will receive “further incentives” as the game continues throughout its early access period. After it finally launched into Steam Early Access in May, the undersea exploration sequel exploded with over four million copies sold in just five days. The game peaked at over 467,000 concurrent players on Steam. That number quickly dwindled, but as more content is added to the game in its early launch period, players will likely be returning to get their feet wet once more. This very messy and public battle that played out in courts did little to stop players from diving into the oceans of Subnautica 2, and the game will continue to be iterated on with new updates for the foreseeable future until it reaches a 1.0 launch status. 0 The post Subnautica 2 CEO resigns mere months after reinstatement as messy bonus payment debacle concludes appeared first on Destructoid.

Jul 1, 2026 - 23:56

Subnautica 2 CEO resigns mere months after reinstatement as messy bonus payment debacle concludes

Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds and its messy saga with publisher Krafton has come to an end, for now.

Last July, Krafton outwardly blamed a number of executives at Unknown Worlds for the highly anticipated game’s delay, including CEO Ted Gill. This happened after the studio’s co-founder Charlie Cleveland announced he was suing Krafton and alleging that the Korean-based publisher had let them go to avoid massive bonus payments upwards of $250 million.

Image via Unknown Worlds https://embeds.beehiiv.com/a8d62108-86ed-4039-bf49-44877ba62c15 Yesterday, a court filing revealed that the bonus payments are now indeed being sent out and the lawsuits have been dropped. Gill has now resigned, according to Bloomberg, and the proper payments have been doled out.

This comes not long after a court ordered Gill be reinstated as CEO in March, with a judge on the case opining that Krafton’s CEO Kim Chang-han “turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout.” The judge surmised “ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be ‘difficult to cancel the earnout.’”

Gill also told Bloomberg that the payments will be “significantly more” than planned initially, and that remaining Unknown Worlds devs will receive “further incentives” as the game continues throughout its early access period.

After it finally launched into Steam Early Access in May, the undersea exploration sequel exploded with over four million copies sold in just five days. The game peaked at over 467,000 concurrent players on Steam. That number quickly dwindled, but as more content is added to the game in its early launch period, players will likely be returning to get their feet wet once more.

This very messy and public battle that played out in courts did little to stop players from diving into the oceans of Subnautica 2, and the game will continue to be iterated on with new updates for the foreseeable future until it reaches a 1.0 launch status.

0 The post Subnautica 2 CEO resigns mere months after reinstatement as messy bonus payment debacle concludes appeared first on Destructoid.

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