Krafton has filed two further legal documents after the founders and former leadership team of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds successfully blocked Krafton’s request for a court-ordered protective order to force the founders to turn over their devices for a forensic inspection.
New court papers sent to GamesIndustry.biz show that following the hearing on September 12, Krafton filed a combined motion seeking relief and opposition to the founders’ motion to compel. The company also shared an affidavit from the MD of Alvarez & Marsal’s Forensic Technology Services practice who was retained by Krafton to “identify, collect, and analyze electronically stored information (ESI) and perform forensic analysis in connection with the case.”
Details of the legal complaint against Krafton, Inc. by the former leadership of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds became public in July. The complaint concerns a $250 million bonus payout tied to revenue targets for the 2025 Early Access release of Subnautica 2, which the former shareholders of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, represented by Fortis Advisors LLC, allege owners Krafton, Inc. sought to avoid paying out by delaying the game using “pressure tactics.”
In its defense, Krafton accused the three former leaders of then threatening to self-publish Subnautica 2, “releasing it without Krafton’s backing, marketing, promotion, or distribution.” This, Krafton claims, left it with “no choice but to terminate their employment,” along with allegations that Max McGuire, Ted Gill, and Charlie Cleveland downloaded tens of thousands of “company files” and emails in the lead up to these terminations. The founders strenuously deny this, and claim the publisher “chang[ed] its story mid-litigation about why it fired the founders and seized control over Unknown Worlds.”
Now, the affidavit from A&M said it “observed numerous downloads within a short period of time occurring in June and July 2025,” indicative of a “mass download of complete folders and their contents from Google Drive.”
However, in its most recent filing, the founders’ deny wrongdoing, claiming they had an “absolute right” to “copy” the files as directors of the company.
In these latest papers, Krafton also stressed it “even offered to extend the earnout period if the Key Employees would come back to work. The Key Employees refused, threatened to self-publish Subnautica 2, and – anticipating their termination – stole hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents before they were fired, presumably in furtherance of their plan to unilaterally self-publish Subnautica 2 and capitalize on the earnout.”
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, a Krafton spokesperson said: “Krafton’s latest filings continue to highlight the former executives’ misconduct. Despite offering to extend the former executives’ earnout period if they returned to their positions, the former leaders refused to return to work, threatened to prematurely self-publish Subnautica 2, and stole hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents on their way out the door.
“Krafton will continue to present the evidence showing how the former executives violated their obligations and misused company resources, as the legal proceedings move forward. As Krafton has continued to make clear, at the heart of every decision Krafton makes are the fans, who deserve the best possible experience. Through this process, Krafton remains focused on what matters: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica’s fans.”
Read our timeline of the former Subnautica 2 leads versus Krafton here.