Unknown Worlds Entertainment has had a difficult time with the upcoming release of Subnautica 2‘s Early Access. With the sequel to the highly successful franchise starter, it makes sense that the team would want to take its time and secure a big victory.
Issues arose after the developer was acquired by Krafton, the Korean AI-first publisher, back in 2019. At the time, the publisher told the team that they would be allowed to work independently, which turned out to be a lie and spiralled into a lawsuit that, ultimately, saw Unknown Worlds Entertainment win. This is a hyper-compressed version of the story, as covering it in this article would simply be too much.
So, after delays and issues that arose due to the unlawful firing of the CEOs, following the lawsuit and the victory by the developer, the team was able to attain full control of the sequel. While Subnautica 2 isn’t set as published by Krafton, it’s worth noting that Unknown Worlds Entertainment is likely still fully owned by the publisher, as neither party has commented on it.
The lawsuit gained a lot of favour for Subnautica 2, as the team was acquired with a promised bonus that seemed to be the reason for the layoffs, with the CEOs to begin with. With the court ruling in favour of the developer, many have chosen to try to support the game’s imminent launch to ensure a payout to the developers is given.
Now, the history has been complex, and it is very likely that Subnautica 2 will continue to face a lot of issues along its path. But one thing is clear: Unknown Worlds Entertainment is ready to launch the title into Steam Early Access, with an imminent release date.
The upcoming launch is set to be on the 14th of May, with the team releasing new Dev Logs and updates for the imminent release. It’ll be released on PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Xbox through both Windows and Xbox Series X|S.
