July 2025 began on an interesting note—with the conflict between Krafton and Unknown Worlds. On the first day of the month, the Korean publisher fired its studio manager, who later filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming they were simply kicked out. Consequently, the PUBG creators responded to the lawsuit.
According to company representatives, they fired Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire because they "lost interest in working on Subnautica 2" and pursued side projects. For example, Cleveland began filming, McGuire focused on personal projects, and Gill began feigning activity in hopes of receiving the promised bonus (though he wasn't particularly concerned with the quality of the games).
Remember, Krafton acquired the Unknown Worlds studio for $500 million and promised the team an additional $250 million if they met their targets on time. The publisher insists that the former executives effectively sabotaged the second Subnautica game and forced the company to delay the game's Early Access release due to a lack of content.
By March 2025, the project was reportedly only 13% of the planned volume. The South Korean company concluded that at this rate of development, the full version of the game would only be released 30 years from now.
Steve Paputsis, one of the creators of Dead Space 2, is now in charge of Subnautica 2, rather than the disgraced trio. The release date of the new underwater game in Early Access remains in doubt.
