Some recent, juicy gaming drama has erupted regarding, of all games, Subnautica. Fans of the first game, released in 2018, have been awaiting news and release info about the upcoming sequel Subnautica 2 after the DLC-turned-spinoff, Subnautica: Below Zero, failed to live up to the original title.
Last week, some scathing reports came out about the publisher, KRAFTON, who purchased the developer, Unknown Worlds, for $500 million in 2021. KRAFTON announced a delay for the game, which was scheduled to release in early access in Q4 2025. This announcement also came with the departure of former Unknown Worlds executives ahead of a $250 million bonus payout. A boycott has ensued from the audience who sees the situation as a sort of David vs. Goliath type metaphor of the small developer being bullied by the big publisher.
KRAFTON, however, has issued one of the most surprisingly scathing public press releases I think I have ever seen, where they outright accuse the now-former project leads of checking out, and blatantly ignoring their duties they owe to the project. The report details how the game was initially expected to launch in 2024, has been internally delayed numerous times, how two of the three executives refused to return in any leadership position, and the third had little-to-no interest in the project after their last game flopped, and decided instead to focus on his own personal film projects.
After a bit of digging, the community has found that this personal film project is not something like an indie horror film, or an arthouse project like you would expect from a creative, but instead as a very shitty family Christmas comedy film that totes itself as a spiritual successor to the Will Ferrell film, Elf, and uses AI-generated assets.
Now that KRAFTON is shifting the narrative in their favor, the former leads are publicly threatening lawsuits against their former employers.
In response to this, supposed internal documents have further been leaked on r/Subnautica_2, detailing the original release schedule and just how half-baked the former team leads expected the game to be on launch, vs. the expectations KRAFTON has regarding where development should be currently.
That's where we currently sit, however it's a new day and there is plenty of opportunity for more funny stuff to come out. Come discuss it in the, up until very recently, dead Subnautica thread here:
): https://kiwifarms.st/threads/zinnia...mcnamara-soersdal-zjemptv.19416/post-21937132
