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One of the biggest questions surrounding Subnautica 2 isn't about the game at all, but rather the typically dull, staid business side of its development: When is Krafton going to eat that whopper of a bonus it promised Unknown World principals Ted Gill, Max McGuire, and Charlie Cleveland when it acquired the studio in 2021? And the answer, according to a Korea Economic Daily report (via IGN), is, soon.
Citing industry sources, the report says Krafton agreed to pay the trio $3.12 for every $1 (presumably in revenue generated, although that point isn't made precisely clear) whenever Unknown Worlds' revenues exceeded $69.8 million in a single month—to a maximum of $250 million. The problem for Krafton is that Subnautica 2 came out of the gate like a horny rabbit, selling four million copies in less than a week.
Do some simple math—four million copies at 30 bucks each, minus Valve's 30% (we're just gonna slice that off the top of the whole thing to keep it simple) and you end up $84 million—in less than a week.
That figure is way over the reported chicken dinner threshold, and it's no doubt still going up: Subnautica 2 was, until it launched, the most wishlisted game on Steam, and the bulk of those listings remain unconverted. And unlike some early access releases, Subnautica 2 is really good even in its technically pre-release state, boasting a "very positive" rating across more than 94,000 user reviews on Steam.
The strength of the Subnautica 2 launch—the fastest-selling game of 2026 so far, according to Alinea Analytics, outpacing Slay the Spire 2, Resident Evil Requiem, and Crimson Desert—made the big payout seem more or less inevitable, but the KED report nails it down in a way I haven't seen before. If accurate, it also shines a very bright light on a very pointed question: What the hell was Krafton thinking?
You'll recall that getting out of this deal was, in the opinion of the courts, the real reason for Krafton's very sudden and unexpected removal of Gill, McGuire, and Cleveland in 2025. Krafton initially claimed the studio's leaders were trying to rush the game out before it was ready in order to cash in, and then shifted gears to claim they'd "abandoned" their jobs and absconded with confidential company data.
But it came up during the trial that Krafton was well aware of what the Unknown Worlds bosses were doing prior to their termination, and approved of it; worse, it was revealed that Krafton CEO Changhan Kim had consulted with AI on how to get out of the contract because, in the words of Delaware judge Lori Will, he was afraid "he had agreed to a 'pushover' contract" in the Unknown Worlds acquisition, and was about to get rinsed.
Which, y'know, he absolutely is: Krafton reported operating profit of 1.1 trillion Korean won in its 2025 fiscal year, which converts to about $736 million—meaning that the bonus on the Krafton deal alone, if paid out in full, is going to suck up more than a third of the company's annual profits all by itself. Ouch.
I've reached out to Krafton for comment and will update if I receive a reply.
