Subnautica 2 studio begs rioting fans for benefit of the doubt after leadership axed by owner Krafton: 'The team that has been working on the game day-to-day over the last few years remains completely unchanged'

Diver looking at a fish — (Image credit: Unknown Worlds Entertainment)

Developer Unknown Worlds has shared a letter asking for patience from Subnautica fans after publisher Krafton announced the departure of its senior leadership⁠—including studio co-founder Max McGuire⁠—and the installation of Dead Space producer and Striking Distance (The Callisto Protocol) CEO, Steve Papoutsis, as the new studio head.

The news prompted a backlash from fans, including a popular post calling for a boycott of the upcoming Subnautica 2 on the PC gaming subreddit. We don't know what prompted the removal of Unknown Worlds designer/director Charlie Cleveland, CEO Ted Gill, and co-founder Max McGuire.

It's largely lacking in substantive information or argument. An update to Subnautica's early access timeline is "coming soon"—it's hard to imagine it hitting its 2025 early access launch window at this rate. The letter does not mention Cleveland, Gill, or McGuire by name, nor does it elaborate on why they were shuffled out.

The letter does firmly deny that the game will be live serviceified or otherwise experience a monetization change. I haven't seen concerns about this specifically regarding Subnautica 2, but such tactics are an understandable ambient gamer bête noire, one the largely mobile gaming-focused Krafton clearly wanted to get ahead of.

TOPICS

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.