Unknown Worlds’ cofounders were fired out of the blue earlier this year and have been suing publisher Krafton ever since, claiming it wrongly terminated them to avoid paying a $250 million bonus if Subnautica 2 hit certain sales milestones. The studio’s cofounders now claim in new filings based on discovery during the legal process that Krafton engineered a takeover only after it failed re-negotiate lower bonuses. The publisher’s CEO allegedly even consulted ChatGPT to try and get out of the massive payout.
A copy of a pre-trial briefing recently filed on behalf of Unknown founders Charles Cleveland, Adam “Max” McGuire, and Edward “Ted” Gill includes new evidence they say vindicates their side of the dispute. Namely, that Krafton was well aware of their ongoing roles within the company, that they weren’t directly leading Subnautica 2’s development, and that concerns about delaying the top-wishlisted Steam game over missing content only arose after Krafton got worried about having to make the $250 million payout it agreed to back when it acquired the studio.
“Krafton terminated the Founders and seized control of Unknown Worlds in order to avoid the earnout,” reads the group’s latest filing. “Smoking gun documents show that Krafton was looking for ways to ‘cancel the earn-out’ and that its secret ‘Project X’ was designed to either make a ‘Deal’ on the earnout or execute a “Take over.” When the Founders would not agree to Krafton’s demands related to the earnout, Krafton decided a ‘take over’ would be the ‘easier’ route.”
It goes on to cite snippets of internal communications at Krafton, including an apparent conversation between the publisher’s CEO, Kim Chang-han, and its head of global operations, Richard Yoon:
Fortis Advisors / Kotaku
The exchange suggests Krafton was not only seeking to lowball the cofounders on their original bonus but the rest of the development team as well.
The new filing also claims that Krafton felt it had overpaid for Unknown Worlds and wanted to avoid following through on the original contractually obligated payouts at all costs, even going so far as to ask an AI chatbot for help. “[Maria Park] told Kim that ‘it seems to be highly likely that the earn-out will still be paid if the sales goal is achieved regardless of the dismissal with cause,’” the new filing reads. “Kim turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout. ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be ‘difficult to cancel the earn-out.’” The cofounders claim Krafton refused to “produce the ChatGPT conversations and, when pressed, confirmed that they no longer exist.”
Krafton disputes that characterization. “No. This claim is simply a distraction from their own efforts to destroy evidence, such as Charlie’s reminder to the other Key Employees (Max and Ted) to delete anything ‘incriminating’ from their own ChatGPT accounts,” it said in a statement to Kotaku.
The pre-trial briefing also accuses Krafton of throwing out new justifications for the cofounders’ firings “in hopes that one might stick.” This includes allegations that the cofounders “intentionally” deceived the publisher about job changes and other important studio business, and also stole files before their firings. The cofounders dispute this, arguing that Krafton was well aware of everything going on and that no confidential information was ever disseminated. They further claim that no one in Krafton, prior to the firings, ever expressed the need to delay Subnautica 2 from its upcoming August Early Access launch.
A culture of ‘silence and unease’
Instead, they argue that their firings hurt studio morale and made development harder. “Krafton’s own internal report captured the damage: employees cited ‘a significant lack of trust in Krafton,’ frustration that support for Subnautica 2 had been pulled in the weeks before launch, and fear that anyone who pushed back could be fired,” the filing reads. “The open, transparent culture that defined Unknown Worlds—and fueled its open development success—gave way to silence and unease.”
Back in August, the Krafton said it had replaced management at Unknown Worlds in order to protect Subnautica 2‘s development and would pay remaining staff launch bonuses anyway. “Krafton was not willing to take the risk of the resulting damage to the Subnautica franchise and the Company’s long-term reputation–a risk that, if materialized, would be irreversible, as shown with Kerbal Space Program 2,” its legal response read at the time.
The publisher hit back again at Unknown Worlds’ cofounder on Monday. “We were forced to make a change when the former leaders showed little interest in the development of Subnautica 2, which has always been our top priority,” it said in a statement to Kotaku. “Now, this trial comes down to plaintiffs asking to be restored to jobs they were not doing, said they had no interest in doing, and had previously declined requests that they come back and do those jobs.”
Krafton continued:
At the heart of every decision Krafton makes are the fans who deserve the best possible experience. Krafton made leadership changes at Unknown Worlds when the now-former executives focused on other priorities rather than Subnautica 2. Despite Krafton offering to extend the former executives’ earnout period if they returned to their positions, the former executives refused to return to work, and improperly retained hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents both just before and after they were terminated. Additionally, they failed to preserve certain files after their employment ended. Through this court process, Krafton remains focused on what matters: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica’s fans. Krafton will continue to present the evidence proving that the former executives did not comply with their duties as the legal proceedings move forward.
Subnautica 2 is currently scheduled to release some time in 2026.
Update 11/17/2025 12:44 p.m. ET: Added comment from a Krafton spokesperson.