Media: KRAFTON will indeed pay the creators of Subnautica 2 $250 million
The South Korean company KRAFTON has agreed to pay the studio Unknown Worlds a promised multimillion-dollar bonus. This was reported by sources from The Korea Economic Daily.
Subnautica 2
According to the publication, KRAFTON was compelled to take this step due to the excellent sales of Subnautica 2. As a reminder, the game was released in early access on May 14, 2026, and in the first five days, it sold over 4 million copies, with gross revenue within the same period estimated by analysts at $100 million.
Let us clarify where the $250 million bonus originated from. It's all about the conditions of the deal made five years ago between KRAFTON and Unknown Worlds. When KRAFTON acquired the developers in 2021, they promised to pay a total of $750 million, with $500 million given upfront and the remaining amount set aside as an additional payment, which the studio could receive only upon achieving certain benchmarks. It was expected that Unknown Worlds would meet the set goals following the launch of Subnautica 2. However, things turned out to be more complicated than anticipated.
Last year, the bonus became a key issue in the legal dispute between KRAFTON and Unknown Worlds. In the summer, KRAFTON unexpectedly dismissed three of the studio's executives. According to them, the company did this to prevent them from releasing Subnautica 2 on time, thus avoiding the payouts. Subsequently, the court sided with the developers and ordered KRAFTON to reinstate the studio's CEO and extend the bonus deadline.
Neither KRAFTON nor Unknown Worlds commented on The Korea Economic Daily's information.