The ouster of Unknown Worlds founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire—together with now-former CEO Ted Gill—is quickly escalating in a sequence of dramatic twists and turns. Since final week, Cleveland and Krafton have been taking pictures at each other in statements to the general public, with the founder and his friends now submitting a lawsuit in opposition to the corporate that purchased their studio.
The escalation started on July 10, 2025 with an announcement from Krafton addressed to the Subnautica participant group the place the corporate accused Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill of “abandoning the tasks” concerned with creating Subnautica 2. “Krafton made a number of requests to Charlie and Max to renew their roles as recreation dame director and technical director…however each declined to take action,” the corporate wrote. It then described the monetary efficiency of Unknown Worlds’ tabletop-inspired multiplayer recreation Moonbreaker a “failure,” and accused Cleveland of specializing in a “private movie mission” as a substitute (Cleveland did put up 7 months in the past on Reddit about making a movie referred to as A Christmas Letter).
This assertion adopted a report from Bloomberg on July 9 that Krafton had delayed Subnautica 2 to 2025 to keep away from a $250 million payout to Unknown Worlds. The payout would have been tied to the studio hitting key income targets by the top of 2025, targets it will doubtless miss if Subnautica 2 had been delayed to 2026.
“Krafton believes that the absence of core management has resulted in repeated confusion in path and vital delays within the general mission schedule,” it continued. “The present Early Entry model additionally falls brief when it comes to content material quantity. We’re deeply disenchanted by the previous management’s conduct, and above all, we really feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the belief positioned in them by our followers.”
Hours later, Cleveland took to Reddit to announce he and his friends are suing Krafton. Bloomberg video games reporter Jason Schreier has acknowledged that the lawsuit being filed for breach of contract, however the grievance is presently beneath seal.
“The small print ought to finally turn into (no less than largely) public,” wrote the Unknown Worlds co-founder. “You all deserve the complete story. Suing a multi-billion greenback firm in a painful, public and probably protracted method was actually not on my bucket checklist. However this must be made proper.”
“Subnautica has been my life’s work and I might by no means willingly abandon it or the wonderful group that has poured their hearts into it.”
Was Subnautica 2 able to launch in Early Entry?
Beneath Krafton and Cleveland’s cross-fired accusations is a single (apparently $250 million) query: is Subnautica 2 able to launch in Early Entry this yr?
Krafton claims it is not, saying that the present Early Entry construct “falls brief when it comes to content material quantity.” Cleveland acknowledged in a Reddit put up final week that he, McGuire, and Gill “know” that the sport is prepared for Early Entry launch. “Whereas we thought this was going to be our choice to make, no less than for now, that call is in Krafton’s palms.”
There isn’t any impartial customary to use concerning a recreation’s readiness for Early Entry. Nonetheless a former indie writer lead producer (who requested anonymity to talk freely to guard delicate data) defined that at their former employer, video games entered Early Entry “largely feature-complete.” “Each replace in Early Entry was about bringing extra playtime content material,” they defined. “We received a number of iterations forward earlier than Early Entry, so that there have been about 1.5 updates prepared and ready to ship in these first 6-8 weeks earlier than launch.”
A kind of updates could be “absolutely deliberate and packaged,” going by way of a full move by QA, and one other “half-cooked” to accommodate participant suggestions.
Based on Steam, the Early Entry program permits builders to promote their recreation on Steam “whereas it’s being developed,” and supplies context to clients {that a} recreation needs to be thought of “unfinished” in its present state. There are not any laborious pointers, simply guidelines on what builders aren’t allowed to do whereas releasing a recreation on this style.
Beneath these phrases, even when Krafton felt the sport wanted extra content material earlier than launch, one may fairly state that as long as the met Steam’s launch pointers, it might be “prepared” to launch in Early Entry in 2025.
Krafton has promised to decide to “truthful and equitable” compensation for the builders at Unknown Worlds, and that the corporate will “present the rewards they had been promised.” When reached for remark, a Krafton spokesperson declined to supply additional statements on the scenario.
