Subnautica 2 Writer Krafton launched an uncommon assertion final week. Unknown Worlds co-founders Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire had been being instantly faraway from the studio and changed by Putting Distance Studios chief growth officer Steve Papoutsis. A wholesale management change 20 years later, proper earlier than the launch of the second-most wishlisted sport on Steam? Followers obtained apprehensive.
Krafton had “sought to maintain the Unknown Worlds’ co-founders and unique creators of the Subnautica collection concerned within the sport’s growth,” however they had been leaving anyway, the studio wrote in its press launch. No motive was given for why that didn’t work out. Cleveland, who directed the primary sport, has now damaged his silence, shedding some potential gentle on an influence battle dealing with certainly one of 2025’s most-anticipated PC releases.
“We all know that the sport is prepared for early entry launch and we all know you’re able to play it,” he wrote on Reddit on Monday. “And whereas we thought this was going to be our resolution to make, at the very least for now, that call is in Krafton’s palms. And in spite of everything these years, to search out that I’m not capable of work on the firm I began stings.”
In accordance with Cleveland, the sudden upheaval got here as a shock. The underwater survival exploration sim was set to come back to Steam Early Entry in some unspecified time in the future later this yr, however as we reported final week the cryptic press launch from Krafton instructed that may not be the case. It alluded to qc and a milestone course of wanted to make sure the sport meets participant expectations.
“As a part of its oversight, Krafton is dedicated to reaching common milestones to evaluate progress throughout its artistic studios,” the writer wrote. “These evaluations, primarily based on clearly outlined metrics and targets, will assist be sure that video games meet each artistic and high quality requirements. This course of is crucial to delivering the proper sport on the proper time. Unknown Worlds’ new management totally helps this course of and is dedicated to assembly participant expectations.”
Studying between the strains of Cleveland’s Reddit put up, it feels like there was a basic disagreement over whether or not to ship sooner and get Subnautica 2 into gamers’ palms for suggestions, or wait doubtlessly till 2026 to make the sport playable to the general public. Cleveland and the others offered Unknown Worlds to Krafton in 2021, at which period the writer claimed it will proceed to “perform as an impartial sport growth studio.” I suppose in 2025 which means independently of the co-founders.
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