litigation There's been a new twist between former executives at Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton. In new documents filed in court, Subnautica director and designer Charlie Cleveland, Unknown Worlds co-founder Max McGuire and former CEO Ted Gill claim that Krafton executives turned to artificial intelligence in an attempt to get out of control. $250 million bonus it would be related if Subnautica 2 achieved certain financial goals.
The latest documents are based on conversations between Krafton CEO Kim Chang Han and the company's head of global operations, Richard Yoon, which were obtained through discovery. According to My cityThe documents claim that “Kim turned to artificial intelligence to help him find ways to avoid paying the reward. ChatGPT also said it would be “difficult to reverse the payout.”
The founders also stated that Krafton refused to publish these ChatGPT conversations and stated that they no longer exist. However, there is a series of messages between Kim and Yoon that seem to suggest that Crafton's failure to renegotiate the terms of the lower bonus payment led Yoon to say that “it might have been easier to take over.” [Unknown Worlds]”than to achieve better conditions.
In September Krafton has revised its legal documentation against the previous management team. Previously, Crafton claimed that the founders intended to release Subnautica 2 in Early Access before the game was ready to ensure a performance bonus. When pressed for evidence, Crafton retracted this claim and now accuses the founders of downloading files and storing devices containing confidential information. Crafton also argued that this retroactively justified their firing, although this only came to light after they were fired.
Krafton recently declared itself an “AI-focused company,” prompting Unknown Worlds to release a statement saying that Subnautica 2 won't have generative AI.
Subnautica 2 is expected to release in Early Access in 2026 on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
