Publishers Krafton have told workers at Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds they would still get a promised bonus if they ship enough of the game by the end of 2026. In other words, they’ve been given an extension to hit their targets. The bonus money was in question after the surprise firing of senior staff a couple of weeks ago, and the enforced delay of the survival game by Krafton. After worker concerns and fan outrage, now the corp says “don’t worry, we’ll pay!” Although it’s not the huge $250 million they were originally supposed to.
A report by Bloomberg says the sweetener would include a $25 million payout to be shared (unequally) among roughly 40 specific developers at the studio. All other workers would meanwhile get a bonus paid this year, an advance on the “projected 2026 profit-sharing bonus pool”. Although the amounts involved for those employees isn’t specified.
It’s a big wad of cash. It is also just one-tenth of the $250 million Krafton were due to pay out to the studio if it achieved certain sales figures by the end of 2025. So a relative bargain for the South Korean corporation. The reasons for all this are muddy. So let’s go mudlarking.
In 2021 the studio were bought by Krafton for $500 million, with a further $250 million “earnout” promised if the studio hit a certain level of revenue by the end of 2025. The bulk of that earnout would be claimed by the leadership at the studio, who’ve since said they planned to share some of that money with other employees. Meanwhile $25 million of the earnout was ringfenced for the 40 employees mentioned above, with each getting a different sum, “most in the six or seven figures” according to paperwork seen by Bloomberg.
With all that cash at stake, things went wrong. Subnautica 2 was due to come out this year. Studio co-founder Charlie Cleveland believed the game was “ready for early access”. Krafton disagreed. They wanted more work done on it. Naturally, whoever lost this argument would potentially lose quite a bit of dough. Presumably at an impasse, Krafton pulled out an axe and decapitated the studio heads Charlie Cleveland, Ted Gill, and Max MacGuire, and now claim that they abandoned their duties. The publisher installed Steve Papoutsis, a producer from Striking Distance (another Krafton studio) as new CEO, then publically delayed the game until 2026.
This left remaining workers concerned they too wouldn’t see their promised bonuses. But Krafton have now extended their deadline by a year, until the end of 2026, says Bloomberg. Seems promising for those who’ll benefit, although we haven’t seen what Krafton consider as “ready” for release, nor know if it’s achievable in that year.
Basically, it looks like Krafton understand that they have created a legal and financial headache for themselves – the three ousted devs are now suing the publisher, for one thing. They now look to be throwing some money at the problem. If one were inclined to think like a spreadsheet-brained corporate entity, one would surmise that as long as said throwin’ money soothes current staff and does not exceed the $250 million they have been avoiding so far, it will all work out in the green.
It’s a dirty mess soaked in cash, and it will likely get dirtier in court. Earlier this week, a document was “leaked” on Reddit that purpotedly showed how Subnautica 2’s scope was reduced in the last two years. Krafton still haven’t responded to our question asking if they themselves were the source of this leak.
