Fans have spent the past few years eagerly awaiting the early access release of Subnautica 2, the sequel to the underwater survival game that was supposed to be playable by 2025. Instead, publisher Krafton announced that the futuristic exploration game would be delayed until 2026. While disappointing, news like this is par for the course: games get delayed all the time. But the circumstances surrounding the delay involve a lawsuit, an attempt by Krafton to defend its reputation, and a Subnautica community in turmoil.
In early July, Krafton first caused a stir after revealing that the lead developers behind the hit game, Unknown Worlds, were leaving the company. This included Subnautica 2 director Charlie Cleaveland, Unknown Worlds co-founder Max McGuire, and CEO Ted Gill. A new CEO was appointed, and while Krafton promised that the internal changes would help development gain some momentum, things seemed off. Charlie Cleveland called the ouster “a shock” after dedicating much of his career to building the company that would sell millions of copies of a survival game. Cleveland reminisced about his years in the gaming industry in a candid social media post, where he also stated that Subnautica 2 was already ready to hit early access—but that the game’s future now rested squarely in Krafton’s hands.
A week later, Krafton posted an update on Subnautica 2 that included the first gameplay reveal for the upcoming game. There, the publisher said that recent playtests were encouraging, but that ultimately, it still didn’t feel the game was ready for early access yet. The playtests “provided some insight into some areas where we needed to improve before releasing the first version of Subnautica 2 to the world,” the post reads. “Our community is at the heart of how we develop, so we wanted to give ourselves a little extra time to respond to more of that feedback before releasing the game into early access.” By pushing the game back, Krafton said, the development team would be able to develop new biomes, mechanics, and story beats that wouldn’t have been possible if the game had been released earlier.
A discrepância nas duas narrativas apresentadas pelas pessoas que haviam trabalhado no jogo e as pessoas que realmente possuem o jogo são, por si só, o suficiente para levantar as sobrancelhas. Mas o que realmente provocou ira para os fãs de subnautica é um relatório recente de Bloomberg Isso alegou que o atraso estava acontecendo com o precipício de um pagamento de bônus de US $ 250 milhões para os desenvolvedores que trabalham no jogo. O dinheiro estava ligado a uma meta de vendas não especificada que os mundos desconhecidos foram previstos para atingir se fosse capaz de liberar Subnautica 2 no acesso antecipado em 2025, como planejado originalmente. Com um atraso, no entanto, presumivelmente não haverá pagamento.
Desde o relatório, Krafton divulgou uma declaração irritante sobre o Subnautica 2 provação. “Estamos profundamente decepcionados com a conduta da antiga liderança e, acima de tudo, sentimos um profundo sentimento de traição pelo fracasso em homenagear a confiança depositada por nossos fãs”, disse um representante da Krafton à Polygon.
A Krafton sustenta que as decisões de gerenciamento foram tomadas em um esforço para criar o melhor jogo possível e observou que ele ainda pretende honrar as recompensas que prometeu à equipe. A editora também diz que o contrato no centro de tudo isso teria derrotado a maior parte dos US $ 250 milhões para as três pessoas que deixaram a empresa recentemente, o que significa que a maior parte da equipe de desenvolvimento não se beneficiará disso. Como Krafton diz, e apesar da aparente surpresa de festas como Cleaveland, a ex -equipe de liderança teria abandonado Subnautica 2 trabalhar em outros projetos.
No entanto, a comunidade de Subnautica está em tumulto total, e tem havido ceticismo desenfreado de que as coisas são tão kosher quanto Krafton retrata. Afinal, as pessoas que aparentemente foram expulsas do estúdio foram fundamentais na construção dos fãs do mundo digital por se apaixonaram, e sua partida inevitavelmente questiona a direção maior de Subnautica 2. As declarações públicas feitas por Cleaveland fazem parecer que todos foram surpreendidos pelas mudanças, o que torna mais difícil para as pessoas tomarem as declarações de Krafton pelo valor nominal. A afirmação de Krafton de que um atraso pode resultar em um jogo melhor pode ser verdadeiro, mas se o lançamento estivesse vinculado ao acesso antecipado, os jogadores não serão necessariamente expulsos por um jogo que é buggy ou incompleto – eles poderiam de fato esperar. Os mundos desconhecidos poderiam atualizar o jogo ostensivamente, pois criou o novo material, como é padrão para jogos de acesso precoce.
Imagem: Mundos desconhecidos/Krafton
On social media sites like Reddit, fans are urging each other not to buy Subnautica 2 in light of recent developments and to immediately remove the game from Steam wishlists , in posts that have received thousands of upvotes. Others say they would still like to play the game but may resort to piracy now to ensure Krafton doesn’t benefit from their sponsorship.
Meanwhile, things are getting uglier for Krafton and the former leader of the unknown world. In a Reddit post Thursday night, Cleaveland announced that he was taking legal action against the publisher.
Cleaveland says: “The details must be made (at least mostly) public—you all deserve the full story. Suing a multi-billion dollar company in a painful, public, and potentially protracted manner was certainly not on my bucket list. But it needs to be done right. Subnautica has been my life’s work, and I would never abandon it, or the team that walked away, or the team it walked away from.”
The former Subnautica 2 director also disputed many of Krafton’s claims by reiterating that he considered the game fully ready to reach Early Access, and furthermore, the $250 million bonus would not be limited to the three men who recently left the company.
“I’m in this industry because I love it, not for the riches,” Cleaveland writes. “Historically, we’ve always shared our profits with the team, and we did the same when we sold the studio. You can be sure we’ll keep the winnings/bonuses as well. They deserve it for all their incredible work trying to get this great game into your hands.”
