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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99Subscribe now Essential Hardware Abiotic Factor Dune: Awakening PC Gaming Show Recommended reading Survival & Crafting Krafton confirms Subnautica 2 leak showing that the publisher wanted more content for the early access launch, leading to delay and leadership ouster Survival & Crafting Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton confirms 2026 delay, says the change 'was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations' Survival & Crafting Krafton accuses former Subnautica 2 bosses of abandoning the game in surprising new statement: 'We feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them' Gaming Industry Unknown Worlds founders' lawsuit accuses Krafton of a 'months-long campaign to delay Subnautica 2' so it wouldn't have to pay $250M earnout Survival & Crafting 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' The Subnautica 2 saga gets nastier, with ousted leaders confirming they'll sue Krafton: 'It continues to be an explosive and surreal time' Ousted Subnautica studio co-founder says it was a 'shock' to get fired, Subnautica 2 is 'ready' for early access release, and no longer working 'at the company I started stings' Gaming Industry Subnautica 2 Krafton says the Subnautica 2 delay proves its milestone process is being 'rigorously managed' because it didn't just shove the game out the door even though lots of people would've bought it Andy Chalk 30 July 2025 Well, it's an interesting argument. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Krafton) July was an ugly month for Subnautica 2 and developer Unknown Worlds. In the course of fewer than 30 days, the studio's leadership was gutted, the anticipated early access release was delayed, harsh words were exchanged, and a lawsuit was filed. The dispute turns largely on whether or not Subnautica 2 is ready for early access release: The ousted leaders of Unknown Worlds insist it is, but Krafton says it needs more content and polish before it's ready to see the light of day. It's obviously not an ideal situation, but during the company's Q2 FY2025 earnings call, Krafton said its willingness to delay the game amidst all the furor is actually a good sign because it proves the company's commitment to getting it right. "I do fully understand that from the outside, you may think that because there's talk of legal proceedings of Subnautica 2 and it being delayed, that could make you think that maybe within Krafton, our milestone process is being mismanaged," Krafton chief financial officer Dongkeun Bae said in response to a question about whether the game had become "too burdensome" to be properly managed. Related Articles Krafton confirms Subnautica 2 leak showing that the publisher wanted more content for the early access launch, leading to delay and leadership ouster Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton confirms 2026 delay, says the change 'was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations' Krafton accuses former Subnautica 2 bosses of abandoning the game in surprising new statement: 'We feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them' But while he claimed to understand that reasoning, he also said that viewing the game's development as mismanaged reflects something of a "reasoning gap," because the steps Krafton has taken over the past month "actually represent that things are effectively being managed." "[The] Subnautica IP basically has this big follower base, big fandom base," Bae said. "So as long as we market it and we release it into the market, people would say that a certain level of sales from this title would be guaranteed. But what we are seeking to do is, we want to make sure that we satisfy the highest level of satisfaction that the gamers have, their aspirations. "And so because we've managed the whole milestone process very rigorously within the company, we were able to make the decision that we made regarding Subnautica 2. And because we felt that the game was not up to par, not up to the level that we had wished it to be—I think that case really goes to show that our milestone process is being rigorously managed." [ENG] KRAFTON 2Q25 Earnings Release - YouTube There's some logic to that I suppose, although managing a milestone system isn't the same as leading the development of a game. Whether or not a project is ready for an early access release is also a big, very opinion-driven question: If there's one thing we learned from Baldur's Gate 3, after all, it's that being short on content and long on jank isn't necessarily the kiss of death. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. And really, we saw the same thing with Subnautica, a game that presented as "underwater Minecraft" when we first saw it in early 2015 and came out the other end as a memorable journey to "beautiful and terrifying depths" three years later. I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes at Krafton but I do know that Unknown Worlds put out an absolute banger with Subnautica, through early access warts and all, and my inclination would be to trust them to do it again with the sequel. Of course, Krafton has good cause to claim that it knows what it's doing, too: The company said the first half of its 2025 fiscal year was its best H1 ever, with revenues up nearly 12% to 1.536 trillion Korean won ($1.1 billion), and operating profit increasing 9.5% to 703.3 billion won ($505 million). The company attributed the growth to a strong mobile business driven by Battlegrounds Mobile India and the continued success of PUBG: Battlegrounds. Best PC build 2025All our favorite gear 👉Check out our list of guides👈 1. Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 2. Best motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi 3. Best RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200 4. Best SSD: WD_Black SN7100 5. Best graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070 Social Links Navigation US News Lead Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill. 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. Krafton confirms Subnautica 2 leak showing that the publisher wanted more content for the early access launch, leading to delay and leadership ouster Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton confirms 2026 delay, says the change 'was not influenced by any contractual or financial considerations' Krafton accuses former Subnautica 2 bosses of abandoning the game in surprising new statement: 'We feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them' Unknown Worlds founders' lawsuit accuses Krafton of a 'months-long campaign to delay Subnautica 2' so it wouldn't have to pay $250M earnout 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' The Subnautica 2 saga gets nastier, with ousted leaders confirming they'll sue Krafton: 'It continues to be an explosive and surreal time' Latest in Gaming Industry Itch.io is 'actively reaching out to other payment processors' after pressure from credit card companies to curtail NSFW content, and that compared to Valve, it has 'limited ability to push back' Game developers association decries 'financial censorship' amidst payment processor crackdown on NSFW games, calls for 'greater transparency and fairness in how adult games are moderated' After losing $200 million on Suicide Squad, WB Games has another live service game in the works 'based on one of the iconic IPs from the vast Warner Bros. and DC Comics catalog' 'Maybe I've directed my last game,' Dead Space creator Glen Schofield says after being unable to secure funding for his new project: 'With the industry on pause, AAA feels like it's a long ways away' Roblox CEO horrifies every parent alive with his ambition that the platform become a dating hub, even if he promises age verification: 'A virtual date to start, and then if they connect, move to the physical world' Visa and Mastercard pressuring Itch.io and Valve does 'nothing to protect' women, and shock games will just be 'side-stepping the ban entirely', say affected indie devs Latest in News Space Marine 2 publisher says even he 'didn't believe that we could hit 7 million unique players,' but it's proof that players are hungry for sicko games: 'When the execution is right, it ends up resonating with many more people' Dune: Awakening is testing out a fix for ornithopter griefing and making an unforgivable change to flour sand farming Battlefield 6 probably isn't going to cost $80: 'We're not looking to make any changes on pricing at this stage,' EA CEO says Microsoft study suggests folks can't tell the difference between real and AI-generated images about 62% of the time—but can you do any better? 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