An unexpected turn of events surrounding Subnautica 2‘s development has led to legal motion involving the recently fired co-founders. Well, this might be one among the more out-of-nowhere stories involving game development to return about this month. Unknown Worlds, the studio behind the primary Subnautica game, which was a breakout hit for the indie studio, having sold over 6 million units, was sold to Krafton (inZOi, PUBG, The Callisto Protocol) in 2018 for $500 million. Co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, together with CEO Ted Gill, were all fired last week by the publisher, who then placed Striking Distance Studios (The Callisto Protocol, Redacted) CEO Steve Papoutsis as Unknown Worlds’ recent leader. Papoutsis replaced Glen A. Schofield, who left Striking Distance Studios following the disastrous launch of The Callisto Protocol.
Per Krafton:
“There may be nothing more necessary than the gamer experience. Given the anticipation around Subnautica 2, we owe our players nothing lower than the perfect possible game, as soon as possible. We’re thrilled Steve is joining us in our shared commitment at KRAFTON and Unknown Worlds to deliver Subnautica 2 as a more complete and satisfying entry within the series—one that actually lives as much as player expectations.”
CH Kim, KRAFTON CEO
While Krafton didn’t elaborate on why the previous leader team had been fired in its first statement on the matter, it has come to light that there was a $250 million payout bonus at stake. In response to initial reports (per Bloomberg), the bonus was to be paid if the studio hit certain milestones, but it surely’s been said that Krafton pushed back the discharge date in an effort to avoid committing to the payout. Cleveland has taken to Reddit (1, 2), telling his side of the story and defending his team’s repute, together with saying that Subnautica 2 is prepared for early release, something that Krafton denies.
“We all know that the sport is prepared for early access release and we all know you’re able to play it. And while we thought this was going to be our decision to make, no less than for now, that call is in Krafton’s hands. And in any case these years, to search out that I’m not in a position to work at the corporate I began stings.”
Charlie Cleveland
Krafton has gone on to issue a second statement defending its decisions to fireside the trio and beat back the second game’s release date. In response to the publisher, the team was to get the overwhelming majority of the payout, with a small percentage going to the remaining of the studio.
“Specifically, along with the initial $500 million purchase price, we allocated roughly 90% of the as much as $250 million earn-out compensation to the three former executives, with the expectation that they might show leadership and energetic involvement in the event of Subnautica 2.”
Krafton
Krafton continues in its statement that the trio had abandoned their duties as team leaders, resulting in missed deadlines and delays, leading to the sport not having enough content for early access. Charlie’s second post on Reddit counters this claim by saying that he, Max, and Ted have consistently shared payouts with the staff and again stating the sport is prepared for early access: “As I wrote last week, we all know in our souls that the sport is prepared for Early Access – that’s just how we roll.”
“As for the earnout, the concept that Max, Ted and I desired to keep all of it for ourselves is completely unfaithful. I’m on this industry because I adore it, not for riches. Historically we’ve all the time shared our profits with the team and did the identical after we sold the studio.You may be damned sure we’ll proceed with the earnout/bonus as well. They deserve it for all their incredible work attempting to get this great game into your hands.”
Charlie Cleveland
So, at this point, the three ex-studio heads have pursued legal motion and state that a lawsuit has been filed. Some folks on Reddit are already volunteering to offer money if they fight to hunt crowdfunding in an effort to pay for legal fees.