Ousted Subnautica 2 studio founder Charlie Cleveland has hit back at claims made by former employer Krafton in a newly unsealed court document, accusing the publisher of deliberately hindering the Subnautica 2 project in order to avoid paying out a $250m bonus.
Earlier this month, Krafton announced Cleveland – alongside chief executive officer Ted Gill and special projects director Max McGuire – had all departed Subnautica studio Unknown Worlds, but insisted it had “sought to keep the… co-founders and original creators of the Subnautica series involved in the game’s development”. Shortly after, though, it was claimed the team had been “pushed out”, and that the move was part of a plan by Krafton to avoid paying out a $250m bonus for the development team.
The report was followed by a delay for Subnautica 2 and Krafton’s own statement, insisting Unknown Worlds’ leadership team had “abandoned” their responsibilities. Specifically, the publisher said it had “asked [Cleveland] to devote himself to… Subnautica 2” but, “instead of participating in the game development, he chose to focus on a personal film project”.
However, as reported by Bloomberg, a lawsuit against Krafton, filed for breach of contract by Unknown Worlds’ former leadership team, claims that Cleveland was, in fact, working on a Subnautica movie the publisher is said to have specifically asked the studio to develop. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier later noted on social media that “Cleveland was also working on some sort of AI Christmas film, which Krafton was likely referring to. They just didn’t mention the Subnautica film part of it.”