The founders and former leadership team of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds have successfully blocked Krafton’s request for a court-ordered protective order, claiming the publisher “chang[ed] its story mid-litigation about why it fired the founders and seized control over Unknown Worlds.”
New court papers from September 12 and seen by GamesIndustry.biz confirm the court dismissed Krafton’s forensic inspection request, without prejudice, and also denied Krafton’s order compelling preservation, calling the request “unnecessary.” Both parties are now expected to meet and confer.
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.”
The company also alleged that Max McGuire, Ted Gill, and Charlie Cleveland downloaded tens of thousands of “company files” and emails in the lead up to these terminations and claimed the former leadership “refused” to return “or at the very least confirm” what devices and confidential information remained in their possession.
Now, the founders claim that while Krafton initially alleged it fired them because of the founders’ “supposed intention to proceed with a premature release of Subnautica 2,” and “withdrawn game readiness as a grounds to justify its actions,” it has now “pivoted to a new theory that it admittedly came up with only after the fact: that it terminated the Founders and seized control because the Founders backed up files they were entitled to access in their work for Unknown Worlds.”
“Krafton’s disorganized retreat raises more questions than answers,” the court filing stated. “To say Krafton’s new theory is a Hail Mary would be an understatement – both because the downloads were not wrongful and because Krafton claims not to have learned of them until after it had fired the Founders. The downloads cannot have been the actual motivation for termination.”
Consequently, lawyers for former CEO Ted Gill, co-founder and creative director Charlie Cleveland, and co-founder and CTO Max McGuire requested that the court deny Krafton’s request for a forensic inspection, as well as dismiss a motion for a protective order on the grounds of its “shift in theories.”
Read our timeline of the former Subnautica 2 leads versus Krafton here.