Krafton agrees to pay bonuses to Subnautica 2 devs following a year-long authorized battle

Krafton Inc has lastly introduced the curtain down on a year-long authorized battle with its subsidiary Unknown Worlds, agreeing to a settlement with the studio’s co-founders to pay bonuses to each member of workers following the success of Subnautica 2.

In July 2025, the connection between writer Krafton and developer Unknown Worlds exploded when CEO Ted Gill and different members of senior workers have been fired. Krafton’s deal to publish Subnautica 2 included gross sales targets that might set off a $250 million payout to Unknown Worlds, one thing that the corporate allegedly needed to keep away from. This was purported to be the explanation behind the survival recreation’s delay from 2025 to Might 2026, and the explanation given for why Gill and different senior workers have been let go.

Gill and the fired workers members responded by submitting a lawsuit towards Krafton, accusing the corporate of terminating their employment to keep away from paying the charge. The choose within the case agreed and reinstated these sacked, following testimony that claimed Krafton CEO Changhan Kim used ChatGPT to brainstorm methods to keep away from the huge payout.

Following claims that Krafton can be pressured to pay the $250 million charge because of the success of Subnautica 2, Bloomberg is now reporting that Krafton and Unknown Worlds have come to a authorized settlement that can see each worker obtain a bonus and produce an finish to the authorized proceedings.

In an interview with Jason Schreier, Gill said that the event group shall be “compensated considerably extra” than underneath Krafton’s preliminary acquisition settlement again in 2021, and that there shall be “additional incentives” all through the sport’s lifecycle. The unique deal solely included funds for high executives at Unknown Worlds, whereas this settlement contains everybody working on the firm.

As a part of this settlement, Ted Gill will depart the corporate simply 4 months after his dramatic return. He claims that he and Krafton “mutually agreed to half methods,” with Gill stating that he felt “new management is one of the best ways for the studio to maneuver ahead.” The report means that Unknown World’s subsequent CEO shall be appointed from exterior each corporations.

Based on Unknown Worlds, Subnautica 2 has been an enormous success and bought over 4 million copies. The sport continues to be in early entry, with a full launch and extra updates nonetheless to come back.