KRAFTON has reportedly agreed to pay up to $250 million to the team behind Subnautica 2 after the game’s successful Early Access launch. The payment is part of a 2021 deal when KRAFTON bought Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The agreement allowed developers to earn extra money if the game reached certain post-release goals. After Subnautica 2 launched in Early Access, the game sold millions of copies within its first week. Reports now say the strong sales were enough to trigger the full $250 million payout.

Krafton is set to pay a $250 million bonus to the developers of Subnautica 2 after the game’s explosive Early Access launch. In 2021, when Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the deal included an earn-out clause. If the studio’s revenue from the Subnautica series exceeded $69.8 million, Krafton would owe $3.12 for every additional dollar generated, up to a maximum bonus of $250 million. Subnautica 2 launched into Early Access selling over one million copies in the first hour and surpassing two million in just 12 hours. These figures make it highly likely that the revenue targets will be comfortably exceeded before the court-extended deadline of September 2026. Krafton had previously delayed the release and changed studio leadership to prevent the bonus from triggering. A Delaware court ruled these actions were intended to avoid the payout, ordering the reinstatement of former CEO Ted Gill and granting additional time for the earn-out period.

Krafton, the company that made the game PUBG, starting in January 2025 gives workers $66,000 for every new baby born, plus two years of parental leave and job security while they are away. Because of this, the number of babies born to workers almost doubled, with 46 births in the first three months of 2026 instead of 23 the year before. The policy helps workers balance their job and family life in South Korea, which has one of the lowest birth rates in the world

Subnautica 2 developers Unknown Worlds have responded to community backlash over the game’s EULA following its Early Access launch The studio confirmed it will never take action against streamers or content creators and will not enforce clauses restricting gameplay recordings or monetization. Community representative Sam Dark addressed modding concerns “We will not take action against player-made mods as long as they follow the few simple rules Donya shared a while back (like not selling the mods). Many of us are in the modding Discord, the studio was founded by modders, and some of our playtesters are modders.” The team is reviewing other player feedback on the EULA terms, which include >a license-only ownership model >$50 maximum cap on damages >VPN restrictions This comes as Unknown Worlds has assumed self-publishing responsibilities after legal disputes with former publisher Krafton.

Subnautica 2 development leads have confirmed the team is using zero generative AI across the entire project. All elements, including creature behaviors and systems, are created through traditional hands-on work by the developers themselves using established tools like Unity Blackboard. This way is different from the publisher Krafton which rebranded as an AI-first company last year and provides optional AI resources to its studios But the Subnautica team said no. They think it would mess up their usual work. "No, we're not using generative AI in Subnautica 2 at all. It's all traditional person-done. When we mention AI, it's all traditional: a programmer has physically gone in and done it themselves, like [the] creature AI. We're using Unity Blackboard and things like that. It's basically all hand-done. It's interesting technology, but it's not something we're using at all."