Publisher Krafton Delays ‘Subnautica 2’ Game Ahead of $250 Million Payout

A report from Bloomberg claims that the development team at Unknown Worlds was due to get a $250 million bonus if the studio hit certain revenue targets before the end of 2025, a goal that would be accomplished more easily with Subnautica 2's release by the end of the year. Now that the game has allegedly been delayed, developers at Unknown Worlds believe they will miss those revenue targets, and miss out on the bonus.
With the developer confirming the game was ready for Early Access on time, this means Krafton basically just stole a quarter of a billion dollars from Unknown Worlds. Fucking hell.
 
I don't understand the $250 million figure at all. Or the $500 million figure...

The 250M was offered as part of the purchase agreement when Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds. The clause was for the studio to hit a certain revenue milestone by the end of 2025 (this milestone is not specified). It wasn't just for hitting revenues this year, it was from their acquisition to the end of 2025.

And the (now departed) CEO says that if Subnautica 2's early access had come out this year, they would have hit that milestone, but the studio will miss out on it now. And so Krafton has essentially yanked away the 250 million bonus from the developer that they were primed to receive by year's end.


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The 500M is the amount Krafton acquired the studio for back in 2021.
 
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"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 acquisition were told they were eligible for bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to seven figures..."

From this it sounds like the devs were probably in line for 5-10% of that additional $250m, and that this agreement was made with (some or all of) the sellers ie. the people who would receive the additional $250m if the revenue target was hit, rather than with Krafton.

So Krafton are really (allegedly) screwing the sellers out of $250m (which seems like a no-brainer for Krafton assuming it's legal) and the devs are getting screwed indirectly as a result. It would be interesting if the devs have this bonus deal with the sellers in writing, or if it was just a case of 'trust me bro we'll totally share the money with you if you hit the revenue target'.

It seems to me that the sellers made an agreement with Krafton, and the sellers made a separate agreement with the devs, both based on a win condition which Krafton effectively holds the power to prevent from happening.

The sellers could ofc easily honour their agreement with the devs out of the $500m they already received if they really wanted to (lol).
 
"We know that the game is ready for early access release "

Wtf does this even mean? The state of gaming in 2025 is pitiful
Yeah it's sad, releasing PC games in early access has become a norm. It was originally supposed to be used to work together on shaping the final game and helping out smaller studios. Now for a lot of devs & publishers (even the large ones) it's an excuse to launch an unfinished project early to start making profits and to avoid people complaining about the technical state of the final build.

I'm glad it's not that popular (yet) on the consoles and most new games launch in their final form.
 
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The 250M was offered as part of the purchase agreement when Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds. The clause was for the studio to hit a certain revenue milestone by the end of 2025 (this milestone is not specified). It wasn't just for hitting revenues this year, it was from their acquisition to the end of 2025.

And the (now departed) CEO says that if Subnautica 2's early access had come out this year, they would have hit that milestone, but the studio will miss out on it now. And so Krafton has essentially yanked away the 250 million bonus from the developer that they were primed to receive by year's end.


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The 500M is the amount Krafton acquired the studio for back in 2021.

Right but the large numbers don't make any sense. The total profit of Subnautica is probably less than $50m, based on sales data (6 million sold, average price around $20 ?)

So why pay $500m for the studio? Why offer $250m in bonuses? Just a crazy amount of money
 
Right but the large numbers don't make any sense. The total profit of Subnautica is probably less than $50m, based on sales data (6 million sold, average price around $20 ?)

So why pay $500m for the studio? Why offer $250m in bonuses? Just a crazy amount of money

It was something to sweeten the pot and get Unknown Worlds to agree to the acquisition, I reckon.

And, again, it wasn't an immediate payout, they had a clause to see 5 years worth of revenue to disperse that bonus.
 
Damn, if I was one of those developers I'd probably start actively sabotaging my work if they tried to screw me like that.
In these days? That could be hard. As one changes will be seen by whole system team. And also if caught, the penalty is super bad for devs : /
 
They released a video yesterday and a lot of comments (including mine) are centered around this 250m




I bet, wonder if this can be a potential lawsuit in the making.

The developers CEO said the early access is ready but the publisher is forcing it to be delayed citing some feedback. Wonder if the developers can take the publisher to the court here.
 
Don't cry for them. They were stupid enough to allow the publisher to put that in the contract. Why give them the ability to do that? Suckers are going to suckers!!
 
Right but the large numbers don't make any sense. The total profit of Subnautica is probably less than $50m, based on sales data (6 million sold, average price around $20 ?)

So why pay $500m for the studio? Why offer $250m in bonuses? Just a crazy amount of money

It was something to sweeten the pot and get Unknown Worlds to agree to the acquisition, I reckon.

And, again, it wasn't an immediate payout, they had a clause to see 5 years worth of revenue to disperse that bonus.
You are missing the point adam. Why is this dev worth 500m?
 
You are missing the point adam. Why is this dev worth 500m?

Krafton saw some value there I guess.

Matt Leblanc Whatever GIF




Maybe they felt like they overpaid it, hence this move to cut-off their bonuses so they don't have to foot another 250M bill.
 
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> Unknown Worlds ( Subnuatica dev ) founders sold to Krafton for 500M with 250M bonus if they get Subnautica 2 out in 2025.
> The team kinda did but it was early access, Krafton got worried and fired the top leaders - why? Not public.
Was the bonus promised for a full release or an early access release?

Everyone is trying to blame the publisher for this, but is it possible that the Devs were trying to push the game out in Early Access to get a bonus that was meant for a full release?

Beyond that, there is ZERO reason for a game in an established, popular franchise to be released in Early Access.
 
I wont touch anything from Krafton if this is really the case. Ive been looking forward to Subnautica 2 but I'm not supporting a company doing this shit to its employees.
 
The story is extremely sus. As my dad says, "If something looks strange it's because it's strange"

So, no, I'm not believing for a second that an AA studio would have a whopping 250M bonus, this is fucking insane.
 
Who the hell would buy UW for $500M. And is this $250M bonus on top of it? So if it's paid out it's really $750M? They had 1 good game under their belt with Subnautica 1 that sold 5M copies.

What a waste of money. No surprise though. Karfton bought UW in 2021. That was peak covid tech/media sales spikes and interest rates hadnt zoomed up yet (that started in 2022). So like a lot of tech companies, they amped up the mergers, acquisitions and budgets thinking the gravy train would go on forever as if covid media consumption would set a new sky high minimum floor of sales. And with interest/loan rates at practically zero in 2021, they assumed you might as well blow the budget.

Embracer did the same thing buying up shit in hopes of the Saudi buyout. Then inflation/interest rates skyrocketed and the Saudis bailed. That left Embracer with a lot of junky studios and debt which lead to the past bunch of years has them selling off stuff.

Whether interest rates are low or high, never blow your load folks.... unless it's a chick that wants it.
 
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I wont touch anything from Krafton if this is really the case. Ive been looking forward to Subnautica 2 but I'm not supporting a company doing this shit to its employees.
Yeah this looks completely wildly messed up. I don't want to jump to some preemptive conclusions, need to know full story.

Surely an easy lawsuit, if the new owners simply tried to avoid paying bonus that the dev team already claim to have achieved, by forcing to delay a ready to publish alpha version.
 
Who the hell would buy UW for $500M. And is this $250M bonus on top of it? So if it's paid out it's really $750M? They had 1 good game under their belt with Subnautica 1 that sold 5M copies.

What a waste of money. No surprise though. Karfton bought UW in 2021. That was peak covid tech/media sales spikes and interest rates hadnt zoomed up yet (that started in 2022). So like a lot of tech companies, they amped up the mergers, acquisitions and budgets thinking the gravy train would go on forever as if covid media consumption would set a new sky high minimum floor of sales. And with interest/loan rates at practically zero in 2021, they assumed you might as well blow the budget.

Embracer did the same thing buying up shit in hopes of the Saudi buyout. Then inflation/interest rates skyrocketed and the Saudis bailed. That left Embracer with a lot of junky studios and debt which lead to the past bunch of years has them selling off stuff.

Whether interest rates are low or high, never blow your load folks.... unless it's a chick that wants it.
That 750 number is mind boggling

That said was told by someone who would 100% know a game like Halo Infinite was north of that 750 figure even with the leak of 500+ million

And people laugh at the rumored 400 for Concord
 
New plot twist dropped by Krafton this time


However, regrettably, the former leadership abandoned the responsibilities entrusted to them. Subnautica 2 was originally planned for an Early Access launch in early 2024, but the timeline has since been significantly delayed. KRAFTON made multiple requests to Charlie and Max to resume their roles as Game Director and Technical Director, respectively, but both declined to do so. In particular, following the failure of Moonbreaker, KRAFTON asked Charlie to devote himself to the development of Subnautica 2. However, instead of participating in the game development, he chose to focus on a personal film project.

KRAFTON believes that the absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule.
The current Early Access version also falls short in terms of content volume.
We are deeply disappointed by the former leadership's conduct, and above all, we feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them by our fans.
 
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People are making a big deal about that $250 million, 90% of which btw was supposed to be paid to 3 guys in charge before they were fired. $250M sounds like an absurd amount of money for such a niche game, not surprised to see Krafton bail out, especially when the game was delayed by a year because of poor management (according to Krafton anyway).
 
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People are making a big deal about that $250 million, 90% of which btw was supposed to be paid to 3 guys in charge before they were fired. $250M sounds like an absurd amount of money for such a niche game, not surprised to see Krafton bail out, especially when the game was delayed by a year because of poor management (according to Krafton anyway).
The game was very unique and very highly regarded.. at least on PC space. Kraftoon probably thought the studio can up their game with second installment like some other game studios before, especially with such huge incentives promised, but apparently devs didn't put everything they have. According to Kraftoon at least. But real truth always comes very late, for now we can only choose to believe one sides story or the other not knowing real details.
 
Wow. I'm not buying subnautica 2 now, I guess. This is a huge shame and my heart goes out to the devs, who put a lot of sovl in their games.

I'll, uh, play it at a friend's house or something, though.
 
New plot twist dropped by Krafton this time

They claim that one of them is focusing on a movie instead of the game.
He has a film production company and, well:

At the end of 2023, I left San Francisco after almost 20 years and moved to Los Angeles to reset my life. Instead of taking it easy, I now find myself working on multiple film projects. It's amazing how fast it's all happening - being right in the thick of things makes it so much easier to meet like-minded people!

One of the first things that happened to me after moving to LA was that I met a new film director on the plane. Long story short, we are now finding ourselves making a Christmas movie together (along with a couple other unannounced film projects, somehow!).

Also AI movie posters for their comedy movie lmao.
Reminds me of the Bungie guy with the cars.
 
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That 750 number is mind boggling

That said was told by someone who would 100% know a game like Halo Infinite was north of that 750 figure even with the leak of 500+ million

And people laugh at the rumored 400 for Concord
More likely it was a structured deal with $250 million upfront and the other half based on meeting certain targets. Did thr three fired guys own the studio originally?
 
What was the revenue milestone number they had to hit to get the $250 million bonus?
I can't imagine any development team getting a bonus like that, not even GTA6.
 
Yeah it's sad, releasing PC games in early access has become a norm. It was originally supposed to be used to work together on shaping the final game and helping out smaller studios. Now for a lot of devs & publishers (even the large ones) it's an excuse to launch an unfinished project early to start making profits and to avoid people complaining about the technical state of the final build.
The purpose of EA is already skewed in the eyes of gamers. FrostGiant released Stormgate as a true EA and internet collectively was disappointed at the V0.1
 
An acquisition price of up to $750 million? I love Subnautica, but that figure is insane. Especially when studios like Insomniac were acquired for 1/3 the price.

Something isn't adding up here.
 
An acquisition price of up to $750 million? I love Subnautica, but that figure is insane. Especially when studios like Insomniac were acquired for 1/3 the price.

Something isn't adding up here.


Krafton acknowledged the amount themselves in the memo they put out earlier today where they put the blame on the developers leadership. So the amount, at least, is legit.



Specifically, in addition to the initial $500 million purchase price, we allocated approximately 90% of the up to $250 million earn-out compensation to the three former executives, with the expectation that they would demonstrate leadership and active involvement in the development of Subnautica 2.
 
They claim that one of them is focusing on a movie instead of the game.
He has a film production company and, well:



Also AI movie posters for their comedy movie lmao.
Reminds me of the Bungie guy with the cars.

Indeed. This is not a case of hundreds of regular devs getting screwed by a big corporation, but a big corporation quarreling with three former studio owners about a $250 million payout of which only $25 will go to actual devs.
 
Krafton acknowledged the amount themselves in the memo they put out earlier today where they put the blame on the developers leadership. So the amount, at least, is legit.
Crazy amount for what is essentially an indie developer. I'm sure we will get answers about what's really going on eventually. But doubt we will get clarity anytime soon.
 
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