Subnautica 2 launched despite Krafton, and it's the first time buying a game feels like a political act

There are situations in the games industry where the right decision and the politically satisfying decision coincide perfectly. Subnautica 2 in Early Access is one of them. Buying this game simultaneously means playing something good and sending $3.12 extra dollars into the developers' pockets for every dollar spent beyond a certain contractual threshold. Here's why.

What happened

In 2021, Krafton, the South Korean conglomerate behind PUBG, acquired Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the studio behind Subnautica. The acquisition contract included a performance clause: if the studio's revenue exceeded $69.8 million before September 2026, Krafton would need to pay $3.12 for every additional dollar earned, with a cap at $250 million.

Krafton's CEO, Chang-han Kim, accepted this clause while betting the studio could never reach that threshold. It was his way of making the acquisition more attractive without real risk, he thought.

He was wrong.

When it became clear Unknown Worlds would hit those numbers with Subnautica 2, he sought to escape his obligations. He first consulted his lawyers: they explained he couldn't exit the contract and that trying would be foolish. He then asked ChatGPT. The first response was the same: no, this would be illegal, don't do it. He continued rephrasing the question until he got a favorable response. This illegal plan was internally named "Project X".

Among the actions taken under this project: laying off part of the development team just before the Early Access launch, in order to delay the game sufficiently to pass the contractual deadline. Unknown Worlds took the case to court. Krafton lost. The judge also extended the deadline to September 2026 to compensate for the deliberate calendar sabotage.

Subnautica 2 launched in Early Access, reaching one million players in under 48 hours.

Why this matters

This isn't simply the story of a company that misread a contract. It's the story of a CEO who actively looked for ways not to pay his developers, got a green light from a chatbot after rejecting the honest answers, put an illegal plan into place, fired people to delay a game, and lost in court on all fronts.

The cap is set at $250 million in bonuses. The game is in Early Access at around $30. If Subnautica 2 hits the contractual threshold by September 2026: developers receive their bonus. Every copy sold contributes to that equation.

It's rare in the industry to have such a direct mechanic between "I buy a game" and "a developer receives what they were promised".

The game

It would be a mistake to present Subnautica 2 purely as an activist act. The game deserves to be judged for what it is.

The good news: it feels like Subnautica. Not like Below Zero, which had decided to undermine its underwater atmosphere with overlong land zones and safe spaces every ten meters. Here, the ocean is the sole playing field, the abysses open at the end of the map with that familiar impression of "better not go there yet", and base building has been seriously improved. The engine switched from Unity to Unreal Engine 5 and it shows: seafloor rendering, light play in the biomes, the creatures, everything is visually above the first game. And it runs well, even on dated configurations.

The main new feature is co-op. Being able to explore the ocean with another player fundamentally changes the emotional dynamic: the fear of isolation largely disappears, replaced by something different but not unpleasant.

The bad news: the content is limited for an Early Access. Between 4 and 15 hours depending on your play style, you'll hit explicit progression walls with messages like "this area isn't available yet". Biomes are smaller than in the first game. The fauna outside the starting zone is sparse. And above all, the sense of danger isn't there yet.

Subnautica 1 used thalassophobia as a gameplay mechanic in its own right. The anxiety of diving too deep, sounds changing in the abyss, the first encounter with a Leviathan that redefined the map's mental space: all of that created tension that Below Zero was already struggling to recapture, and that Subnautica 2 doesn't have yet. Maybe it's a matter of content to add. Maybe it's structural. We don't know yet.

Should you buy it now?

If you've never played Subnautica 1, wait for 1.0. The discovery experience is what makes the series, and wasting that discovery on an incomplete version robs you of a moment that's hard to recreate.

If you've played the first and are fans: the game has enough for a pleasant ten hours. The foundation is solid. Just know you'll hit a wall and need to wait for the following updates.

If you want to weigh in on the contractual count and help developers receive their bonus: now is when it matters, not at the 1.0 release.

Our take

Krafton tried not to pay its developers using ChatGPT as legal counsel, put an illegal plan in place, laid off people to sabotage a schedule, and lost its lawsuit. The game launched anyway. It's in Early Access and it lacks content. It's also the direct spiritual sequel to one of the best survival games ever made, with a solid technical foundation and a co-op dimension that gives it something new.

There are two reasons to buy Subnautica 2. One is political. The other is that it's a good game.

Both are valid.