Five million people put Subnautica 2 on their Steam wishlist before the game even launched. That is not a typo.
Subnautica 2 crossed the 5 million wishlist mark just days before its early access debut, and developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment is marking the moment with a gift for every single player who dives in.
Exploring the deep in early access
What Unknown Worlds is giving away
The reward is the Reaper Leviathan Statue blueprint, and it goes to every player across every platform from the moment early access opens. The team made one thing clear: this is not a timed exclusive. The blueprint is not locked to launch week buyers or pre-order holders. Every player gets it, full stop.
The studio announced the reward directly on the Subnautica 2 Steam page, writing: "Ever since we announced Subnautica 2, the excitement, theories, and support from the entire community has been incredible to watch. As we get closer to Early Access, your enthusiasm has continued to blow us away every single day."
Here's the thing about that approach: Unknown Worlds could have made this a week-one incentive to drive day-one purchases. They chose not to. For a game launching into early access, that kind of goodwill toward the community is worth noting.
Why 5 million wishlists is a big number
Wishlists on Steam are not just a vanity metric. They directly influence how Valve's algorithm surfaces a game to new players, how prominently it appears in sales and featured sections, and how the platform estimates demand before launch. Sitting at 5 million before early access puts Subnautica 2 in genuinely elite company among survival games.
The original Subnautica built its reputation slowly through early access, becoming one of the most beloved entries in the genre largely through word of mouth. The sequel is arriving with a level of pre-launch attention that the first game never had.
5 million wishlists confirmed
What most players miss is that this milestone landed despite a turbulent road to launch. Subnautica 2 went through a very public legal dispute involving its CEO and publisher Krafton, and a court-ordered reinstatement before the early access date was even confirmed. The fact that the wishlist count kept climbing through all of that says a lot about how much faith the community has in Unknown Worlds.
What to expect when early access opens
Subnautica 2 hits early access on May 14 across Steam, Epic Games Store, and Xbox. The game supports co-op play, which is a first for the franchise, and launches with what Unknown Worlds has described as its largest early access map yet. For a full breakdown of what the studio has confirmed is coming during the early access period, our Subnautica 2 early access roadmap covers all the planned biomes, creatures, and story chapters.
If you want to know whether Game Pass covers it from day one and exactly how to get in, our Subnautica 2 early access launch date guide has everything you need before May 14 arrives.
