Sure Seems Like Subnautica 2’s Developers Are Going To Get Their $250 Million Bonus

Subnautica 2, the sequel to Unknown Worlds’ underwater survival mega hit, released into early access today. It’s doing reasonably well, I guess, having sold 1 million units within an hour of coming out. This is the culmination not just of a lengthy dev cycle, but also some truly wild legal proceedings in which publisher Krafton was accused of attempting to avoid paying out a $250 million bonus to Subnautica 2’s developers—specifically because CEO Changhan Kim regularly turned to ChatGPT for advice on how to deal with the situation. I doubt Kim and his unthinking, unfeeling, not-even-a-real-robot pal are in a great mood right now.

The $250 million bonus, part of Kraton's deal to purchase Unknown Worlds back in 2021, was contingent on Unknown Worlds hitting certain revenue targets by the end of 2025, but a delay Unknown Worlds’ ousted founders claimed was foisted upon them made that basically impossible. Earlier this year, however, a Delaware court ruled that Krafton was required to rehire one of the founders, Ted Gill, and extend the bonus deadline to September 15, 2026 in order to account for the time Gill wasn’t CEO. Additionally, Unknown Worlds’ founders have the option to extend the deadline to March 2027 if they notify Krafton in writing.

Oddly, as of April, Krafton was no longer listed as Subnautica 2's publisher on Steam, but when reached for comment by Polygon, a Krafton representative said, "Krafton is currently focused on successfully supporting the Early Access launch of Subnautica 2. We have nothing further to share at this time."

Will Subnautica 2's developers receive their hard-won, potentially life-changing bonus? Barring further shenanigans from Krafton and its AI-psychosis-addled CEO, it sure seems like it.

“Safe to say Krafton will be forced to pay out the $250 million bonus it tried very hard (via advice of ChatGPT) to avoid paying,” said Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who previously viewed the purchase agreement that included the bonus stipulation.

In Schreier’s 2025 report on the Subnautica 2 delay that prompted the whole legal saga, he wrote:

Unknown Worlds’ leadership planned to share the additional money with all of the studio’s employees, which number around 100. Staff who were at the company at the time of the [Krafton] acquisition were told they were eligible for bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to seven figures.

That in mind, I imagine everyone at Unknown Worlds is, unlike Kim, in a fantastic mood right now.