Four million copies sold in early access. That number is apparently what it took for Krafton to open the vault and pay out the $250 million bonus that Unknown Worlds developers had been fighting for in court.
Subnautica 2 hit early access this month and immediately put up numbers that made the earnout conversation very short. South Korean business publication The Korea Economic Daily reports that Krafton has agreed to pay the bonus, structured at $3.12 for every $1, up to a maximum of $250 million. To put that in context, the paper notes the payout represents roughly 35% of Krafton's entire operating profit from last year.
How a legal battle became a $250 million payday
The backstory here is genuinely wild. Last year, Krafton abruptly removed three Unknown Worlds leadership figures: CEO Ted Gill, along with Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire. The trio fought back legally, and a judge ultimately found Krafton had wrongfully seized control of the studio. Ted Gill was reinstated, which cleared the path for Subnautica 2's early access launch in May 2026.
During the legal proceedings, the ousted leads alleged that Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han had consulted ChatGPT for strategies on how to avoid paying the bonus. Krafton, for their part, had publicly argued that the three had "resorted to litigation to demand a multimillion-dollar payout they haven't earned."
The early access sales figures appear to have settled that argument decisively.
What 4 million sales actually means for this deal
The earnout structure was tied to performance milestones, and Subnautica 2 clearing 4 million copies sold out of the gate triggered the full payout. Here's the thing: that kind of sales velocity for an early access survival game is exceptional. The original Subnautica had years to build its audience. Its sequel did it in weeks.
Krafton has not yet issued an official public statement confirming the payout. The reporting originates from The Korea Economic Daily, and the figure remains described as an agreement rather than a completed transaction.
For Unknown Worlds developers, this is the conclusion of a saga that disrupted the studio at a genuinely bad time, mid-development on one of the most anticipated survival games in years. That the game launched successfully despite all of it is a decent indicator of what the team was working with.
What players should actually take from this
From a pure gaming standpoint, a well-funded and legally-settled Unknown Worlds is good news for Subnautica 2's development trajectory. The early access roadmap is already packed with planned biomes, story chapters, and new creatures, and a studio not fighting a publisher in court is a studio with more bandwidth to actually build things.
The game already introduced a new planet in Zazura, 4-player co-op, the Tadpole vehicle, and overhauled base building at launch. With the legal cloud lifted and a reported $250 million bonus incoming for the team that built it, the conditions for Subnautica 2 to grow into something special look considerably better than they did six months ago.
For everything confirmed and coming to the game, the Subnautica 2 guides collection has the full breakdown of what's already in the water and what's still on the way.
