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Recommended reading Gaming Industry Krafton fires back at Unknown Worlds lawsuit, says Subnautica 2 was at risk of causing 'irreversible harm to the entire franchise' like Kerbal Space Program 2 The Subnautica 2 saga gets nastier, with ousted leaders confirming they'll sue Krafton: 'It continues to be an explosive and surreal time' 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 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' 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 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' 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' Subnautica 2 The Subnautica legal dispute takes a surprise twist as Unknown Worlds—not Krafton—sues its former bosses for stealing confidential material on their way out the door Andy Chalk 20 August 2025 The lawsuit says the three former Unknown Worlds principals used confidential material to "harm Unknown Worlds and jeopardize the future of the Subnautica franchise." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Unknown Worlds) The legal dispute between Krafton and the former heads of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds took an unexpected turn today as Unknown Worlds—not Krafton, but Unknown Worlds specifically—has sued its former bosses for abandoning their responsibilities to the studio and Subnautica 2, breaching their employee agreements by stealing confidential materials prior to their dismissal, and damaging the reputation of the studio and the next Subnautica game. The broad strokes of the matter are already pretty well known: The former heads of Unknown Worlds—Subnautica designer and director Charlie Cleveland, CEO Ted Gill, and studio co-founder Max McGuire—accuse Krafton of sabotaging and intentionally delaying Subnautica 2 in order to avoid paying a $250 million earnout to the studio, while Krafton insists Subnautica 2 is nowhere near ready for release, even in early access, but that the trio were determined to push ahead with it anyway, even though doing so risks turning it into another Kerbal Space Program 2. This lawsuit adds a new layer, though, by alleging that the "key employees," as they're called, violated their confidentiality agreements by downloading tens of thousands of documents shortly before their termination. Gill allegedly downloaded "a full and complete copy of his Unknown Worlds email account" in early June, triggering an IT alert in the process; he reportedly did it again on June 30, days after he was informed of his imminent termination. Related Articles Krafton fires back at Unknown Worlds lawsuit, says Subnautica 2 was at risk of causing 'irreversible harm to the entire franchise' like Kerbal Space Program 2 The Subnautica 2 saga gets nastier, with ousted leaders confirming they'll sue Krafton: 'It continues to be an explosive and surreal time' Unknown Worlds founders' lawsuit accuses Krafton of a 'months-long campaign to delay Subnautica 2' so it wouldn't have to pay $250M earnout Cleveland reportedly downloaded 72,140 files from his Unknown Worlds Google Drive and company share folders, and "almost certainly was stopped in progress—his last download occurred just eight minutes before the Company shut off his system access," the lawsuit states. It also claims that a preliminary review indicates those files "include reams of sensitive, proprietary, and confidential information, including game design files and Subnautica concepts." "McGuire completed the trifecta of mischief," the suit continues, claiming that he downloaded 99,902 files on June 27, including hundreds of files related to Moonbreaker, Unknown Worlds' turn-based "digital miniatures experience" that died on the table in February 2024. Unknown Worlds says it sent cease-and-desist letters to all three, and demanded they return everything they'd taken; in response, they denied breaching their confidentiality agreements and "threatened to delete the information themselves," which Unknown Worlds did not find satisfactory because it would thwart further investigations into the matter. As for why this particular twist to the tale matters in Unknown Worlds' lawsuit, the studio alleges its former heads have "improperly used or disclosed" the information to members of the press in order to publicize their claims against Krafton: "Such public disclosure has harmed and will continue to harm Unknown Worlds and jeopardize the future of the Subnautica franchise." For the most part, this lawsuit looks like a pretty typical courtroom counter-punch, but the fact that it comes from Unknown Worlds and not Krafton, the parent company and central player in everything that's happened so far, struck me as odd: Why would Krafton not file its own action, in its own name, against the former Unknown Worlds bosses? 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. "Unknown Worlds is the legal entity directly harmed by the former executives’ misconduct," a Krafton representative told PC Gamer in an email. "While Krafton is the parent company, the contracts, intellectual property and confidential information at issue belong to Unknown Worlds. The defendants were executive leadership at Unknown Worlds, and their obligations, including confidentiality and fiduciary duties, were owed to that entity." While undoubtedly technically accurate, I still wonder about the value, and frankly the point, of the distinction, and whether Krafton is maybe hoping to engender a sort of "even their own studio is against them" feeling among observers. Unknown Worlds is wholly owned by Krafton, after all, and so any harm suffered by the studio is suffered by Krafton as well. It also seems likely that Krafton has some hand in directing this lawsuit: Richards, Layton, and Finger, the law firm representing Unknown Worlds in this lawsuit, also represents parent company Krafton. The Unknown Worlds lawsuit is demanding the return of all materials taken by its three principals, as well as an order awarding it "all rights, title, and interests" in any properties they developed during their employment "including but not limited to all movie scripts, movie footage, game design, game code, playtests, or other software development," plus damages and legal fees. 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 fires back at Unknown Worlds lawsuit, says Subnautica 2 was at risk of causing 'irreversible harm to the entire franchise' like Kerbal Space Program 2 The Subnautica 2 saga gets nastier, with ousted leaders confirming they'll sue Krafton: 'It continues to be an explosive and surreal time' Unknown Worlds founders' lawsuit accuses Krafton of a 'months-long campaign to delay Subnautica 2' so it wouldn't have to pay $250M earnout 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' Krafton confirms Subnautica 2 leak showing that the publisher wanted more content for the early access launch, leading to delay and leadership ouster 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' Latest in Games Mount and Blade 2's massive War Sails expansion delivers viking death metal in this new trailer—and don't worry, it's not delayed again Resident Evil Requiem's protagonist is 'an introverted and fearful character,' but to be fair there's a giant monster chasing her If EA won't make another Battlefield Vietnam, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is here to pick up the slack Hyper Light Breaker has shadow dropped a new update with floating islands, difficulty modifiers, a beefy new tank character, and a challenging duo boss that's 'technically 4 bosses' depending on what order you beat them in Bloodlines fans rage as Paradox locks 2 playable clans behind $30 DLC: 'Is Paradox smoking crack?' 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