{"id":1959639,"date":"2026-05-28T12:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T09:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1959639"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T09:16:32","slug":"subnautica-2-publisher-krafton-now-forced-to-pay-250m-earnout-to-unknown-worlds-developers-after-more-than-4m-units-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1959639","title":{"rendered":"Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton now forced to pay $250m earnout to Unknown Worlds developers after more than 4m units sold"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica-2\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Subnautica 2<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton now forced to pay $250m earnout to Unknown Worlds developers after more than 4m units sold<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Deep sea treasure.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Subnautica-2---Storage-Header.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"An elaborate base with multiple floors in Subnautica 2 can be seen.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Subnautica-2---Storage-Header.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Unknown Worlds<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-28T12:16:32+00:00\">May 28, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"9b751be1-bde5-4ecd-8081-2abe2cce45b9\" data-name=\"Subnautica 2\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Subnautica 2\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Subnautica 2\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Subnautica 2\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Subnautica 2\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Subnautica 2\" title=\"Follow Subnautica 2\"><br \/>\n  Follow Subnautica 2<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica-2\">Subnautica 2<\/a> has been off to a stellar start despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-combat-response-update\">some discussions over fighting alien fish<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-sales-launch-one-million\">2m copies sold within 12 hours of launching<\/a> on Steam and Xbox&#8217;s storefronts. Since its 14th May launch, its success has only become bigger, and now Krafton will be forced to pay developer Unknown Worlds $250m.<\/p>\n<p>If you need a quick recap, you just need to know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/krafton-ceo-allegedly-asked-ai-to-brainstorm-ways-to-avoid-paying-earnout-bonus-to-subnautica-2-devs\">the publisher had reportedly tried to avoid paying this performance bonus<\/a> of sorts &#8211; tied to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-delayed-by-publisher-krafton-just-months-before-alleged-250m-payout-to-developers\">certain revenue targets<\/a> &#8211; but a legal ruling ultimately forced the reinstatement of Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill and other senior team members as well as honouring the promised $250m bonus.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Subnautica 2 &#8211; Official Early Access Gameplay Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5sU66p6w2P0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, we know for sure (hat tip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/subnautica-2-has-sold-so-well-that-krafton-has-to-pay-that-250-million-earnout-to-the-devs\">IGN<\/a>) Krafton has agreed to pay &#8220;3.12 for every $1&#8221; (up to $250m), as the studio&#8217;s revenue has topped the established $69.8m per month mark. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kedglobal.com\/games\/newsView\/ked202605270009\">The Korean Economic Daily<\/a> shared the news on 27th May, citing &#8220;game industry sources&#8221; in Seoul. The update arrives shortly after <a href=\"https:\/\/alineaanalytics.substack.com\/p\/subnautica-2-passes-4m-sold-and-100m\">Alinea Analytics&#8217; report on Subnautica 2&#8217;s early access success story<\/a>, which said the underwater survival-crafting title had sold over 4m copies by 20th May, just under a week since it launched.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s translated into more than $100m in revenue, which puts the studio well past the $69.8m mark established by Krafton before all the drama unfolded. While the majority of sales were on Steam &#8211; where the game hovers <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/1962700\/charts\/\">around 60k daily players<\/a> at the time of writing &#8211; 2.4m gamers also jumped in via Game Pass during the first week. Xbox sales were under 100k a week ago though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/co-op-is-definitely-the-worst-way-to-play-subnautica-2-but-as-a-big-old-sea-wuss-i-really-dont-care\">Eurogamer&#8217;s Matt Wales has found quite a lot to like in Subnautica 2 already<\/a>, though he noted &#8220;co-op is a bit of an awkward fit&#8221; since &#8220;the breadcrumb narrative is explicitly designed to nudge you toward the important bits&#8221; in a way that feels better suited for solo playthroughs. A lot can change between now and its 1.0 launch, however.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/subnautica-2\">Subnautica 2<\/a> has been off to a stellar start despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-combat-response-update\">some discussions over fighting alien fish<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-sales-launch-one-million\">2m copies sold within 12 hours of launching<\/a> on Steam and Xbox&#8217;s storefronts. Since its 14th May launch, its success has only become bigger, and now Krafton will be forced to pay developer Unknown Worlds $250m.<\/p>\n<p>If you need a quick recap, you just need to know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/krafton-ceo-allegedly-asked-ai-to-brainstorm-ways-to-avoid-paying-earnout-bonus-to-subnautica-2-devs\">the publisher had reportedly tried to avoid paying this performance bonus<\/a> of sorts &#8211; tied to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subnautica-2-delayed-by-publisher-krafton-just-months-before-alleged-250m-payout-to-developers\">certain revenue targets<\/a> &#8211; but a legal ruling ultimately forced the reinstatement of Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill and other senior team members as well as honouring the promised $250m bonus.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Subnautica 2 &#8211; Official Early Access Gameplay Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5sU66p6w2P0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, we know for sure (hat tip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/subnautica-2-has-sold-so-well-that-krafton-has-to-pay-that-250-million-earnout-to-the-devs\">IGN<\/a>) Krafton has agreed to pay &#8220;3.12 for every $1&#8221; (up to $250m), as the studio&#8217;s revenue has topped the established $69.8m per month mark. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kedglobal.com\/games\/newsView\/ked202605270009\">The Korean Economic Daily<\/a> shared the news on 27th May, citing &#8220;game industry sources&#8221; in Seoul. The update arrives shortly after <a href=\"https:\/\/alineaanalytics.substack.com\/p\/subnautica-2-passes-4m-sold-and-100m\">Alinea Analytics&#8217; report on Subnautica 2&#8217;s early access success story<\/a>, which said the underwater survival-crafting title had sold over 4m copies by 20th May, just under a week since it launched.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s translated into more than $100m in revenue, which puts the studio well past the $69.8m mark established by Krafton before all the drama unfolded. While the majority of sales were on Steam &#8211; where the game hovers <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/1962700\/charts\/\">around 60k daily players<\/a> at the time of writing &#8211; 2.4m gamers also jumped in via Game Pass during the first week. Xbox sales were under 100k a week ago though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/co-op-is-definitely-the-worst-way-to-play-subnautica-2-but-as-a-big-old-sea-wuss-i-really-dont-care\">Eurogamer&#8217;s Matt Wales has found quite a lot to like in Subnautica 2 already<\/a>, though he noted &#8220;co-op is a bit of an awkward fit&#8221; since &#8220;the breadcrumb narrative is explicitly designed to nudge you toward the important bits&#8221; in a way that feels better suited for solo playthroughs. A lot can change between now and its 1.0 launch, however.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Subnautica 2 Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton now forced to pay $250m earnout to Unknown Worlds developers after more than 4m units sold Deep sea treasure. Image credit: Unknown Worlds News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on May 28, 2026 Follow Subnautica 2 Subnautica 2 has been off to a stellar start despite some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1959639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1959639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1959639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1959639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1959639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}