"New leadership is the best way for the studio to move forward," says CEO Ted Gill

Image credit: Unknown Worlds/Krafton

Krafton has settled its lawsuit with the former leadership team of Subnautica 2 developer, Unknown Worlds, and agreed to pay the $250 million disputed bonus.

Details of the legal complaint against Krafton, Inc. by the former leadership of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds became public this time last year.

The complaint concerned 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 by delaying the game through "pressure tactics."

In its defence, Krafton accused the three former leaders of 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."

A new report by Bloomberg now claims Krafton has agreed to pay bonuses to "the entire staff of subsidiary Unknown Worlds Entertainment" following a settlement with the studio's CEO and co-founders.

As part of the settlement, CEO Ted Gill has stepped down from his role – which was initially stripped from him until a court ordered Krafton to reinstate him earlier this year – insisting "we mutually agreed to part ways" and "new leadership is the best way for the studio to move forward."

"We're all super excited about Subnautica 2 and its tremendous success," Gill said.

Bloomberg states the bonuses will be paid across three instalments to developers across the team, even recent recruits. It's thought the team will be "compensated significantly more" than initially agreed.

It's thought Krafton will look to appoint an external CEO to lead the studio.

For more, read GameIndustry.biz's timeline of the former Subnautica 2 leads versus Krafton here.

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