Overview

• Krafton filed a comprehensive response in Delaware Chancery Court on August 12, asking the court to dismiss the founders’ suit and award legal fees.
• The publisher accused Charlie Cleveland, Max McGuire, and Ted Gill of abandoning Subnautica 2 development and breaching confidentiality by downloading massive amounts of studio data.
• In its filing, Krafton denied that the delay was meant to avoid up to $250 million in earn-out payments and defended the postponement as necessary to protect the franchise’s quality.
• Subnautica 2’s Early Access launch has been postponed to 2026 under newly appointed CEO Steve Papoutsis, with no revised release date set.
• The dispute centers on contested earn-out bonuses tied to milestones in Krafton’s 2021 $500 million acquisition of Unknown Worlds and is proceeding in active litigation.