Krafton plan to delay Subnautica 2 and deny the studio a $250 million bonus

Subnautica 2 is being delayed into 2026 by its publishers Krafton, which would lead to the survival game’s studio missing out on a previously agreed $250 million bonus, meant to be shared among employees. The revelation comes via a report from Bloomberg, and could finally explain why Krafton ousted the studio’s most senior figures last week.

Three higher-ups at the studio were summarily kicked out last week and “replaced” with the CEO of Striking Distance, Steve Papoutsis. The studio’s original co-founder, Charlie Cleveland, was one of those who felt the sharp toecap of Krafton’s boot, and has since said it came as a “shock”.

In a letter posted to social media, Cleveland wrote that the game was “ready for early access”. This is in contradiction to Krafton, who have spoken about delivering “the right game at the right time” and communicated via Unknown Worlds that there would be an “update to our schedule”.

However, during an all-hands meeting, workers at Unknown Worlds questioned new CEO Papoutsis about the reasons for a planned delay. And those clever sneaks at Bloomberg heard a recording of his response.

When asked about the coup and the intended delay, Papoutsis reportedly said: “While yes, the software that everybody worked on is in a great spot and it felt like, ‘Hey we should launch this,’ that wasn’t where both parties aligned around.” (Let us award the producer of The Callisto Protocol some corpopoints for using “aligned around” instead of human language like “agreed”.)

When asked whether a delay was being enacted to avoid paying out the bonus, Papoutsis replied: “It’s never been told to me that we’re making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that.”

We’ve contacted Krafton for comment. They have confirmed the delay to IGN. A statement on Unknown Worlds’ website says the delay is meant “to give ourselves a little extra time.”

“[The] events of this week have been quite a shock,” said Cleveland in that letter to fans. “We know that the game is ready for early access release and we know you’re ready to play it. And while we thought this was going to be our decision to make, at least for now, that decision is in Krafton’s hands. And after all these years, to find that I’m no longer able to work at the company I started stings.”

It’s good at least to have a little clarity about the reasons why such a dramatic power shuffle has occured. The former Unknown Worlds leadership and Krafton disagreed about the game’s readiness, and both parties had an incentive to be right. In this case, Krafton used a blugeon to settle the issue.

In April, Krafton reported record profits in the first quarter of 2025, hitting $608 million in sales and $308 million in operating profit. Its CEO, Kim Chang-han, received a bonus last year of $3.9 million.

Subnautica 2 is the second most wishlisted game on Steam, only beaten by Hollow Knight: Silksong.