SEOUL – South Korea-based conglomerate Krafton has now confirmed the validity of a recent internal leak regarding the development of survival-crafting game Subnautica 2, adding to anxiety over the highly expected title. The confirmation is during a turbulent period for studio Unknown Worlds, with extreme leadership shake-ups and a newly emerging legal controversy.
The leak, originally posted on a Subnautica 2-specific subreddit on July 11, included two slides of an internal review from May 2025. The two slides outlined a extremely high amount of content cut from the early access edition of the game. They were notably lacking two biomes, a Leviathan class animal, some of the lesser life forms and equipment, a transport vehicle known as “Trident,” character appearance customization, a custom game mode, and approximately six hours of narrative. Krafton’s announcement supported these rumors, asserting, “The document that has been surfacing on social media and covered by a number of outlets is actually part of an internal milestone review held within the scope of the Subnautica 2 project.”
This discovery is in line with previous signals that Subnautica 2 was originally going to be released to early access in 2024, a schedule later changed because of continuing creative choices that toned down its original scale. Although most of the features were pushed back rather than cut completely, their presence required the intended release to be rethought, cutting the early access build down considerably.
The news of the leak comes after Krafton’s firm response on July 2 when the firm made a release regarding the exit of the core leadership team members at Unknown Worlds, such as game director Charlie Cleveland, co-founder Max McGuire, and CEO Ted Gill. Krafton attributed the removal of its team leaders to making no progress, weak content, and inability to execute leadership positions, saying that the project was significantly behind schedule. Further, the removed co-founders were publicly vilified by Krafton, the firm specifically accusing Charlie Cleveland of making his “personal film project” more significant than his position as game director.
The removed executives have since countersued Krafton, suing for wrongful termination. Charlie Cleveland responded to the accusations on July 11 in a social media update, reaffirming that Subnautica was his “life’s work” and would “never willingly abandon.”. He also challenged Krafton’s contention that the game was not yet ready to be released in early access. The delay and rejection have enormous financial impacts on Cleveland and the other co-founders, insofar as they will forfeit an estimated $225 million in revenue target bonuses as part of Krafton’s 2021 acquisition of Unknown Worlds.
As a direct result of the above, Subnautica 2 itself has come under another delay, the release of which is now set for the year 2026 so as to secure an underlying degree of quality. The fate of the much-awaited sequel continues to remain under intense scrutiny as these internal and legal conflicts continue to evolve.
