Krafton and Unknown Worlds have settled the dispute over Subnautica 2 bonuses, and Ted Gill is stepping down as part of the deal. The settlement ends the legal fight that had put the studio’s leadership and staff compensation at the center of the conflict.
The change lands now because it resolves a fight that was hanging over Unknown Worlds while Subnautica 2 moved through early access and drew a large audience. The game has sold 4 million copies since its May 14 launch and reached more than 467,000 peak concurrent players on Steam, numbers that help explain why the compensation tied to the project became so closely watched.
Under the settlement, the entire staff of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds will receive their bonuses. Krafton, Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire also agreed to dismiss all pending legal proceedings, closing out a dispute that had widened far beyond a management change. Unknown Worlds will continue leading development of Subnautica 2 with Krafton providing support, so the studio’s day-to-day work is set to continue even as the leadership table shifts.
The fight grew out of Krafton’s decision to fire Gill, Cleveland and McGuire in the summer of last year after it said the game’s launch had been delayed. Gill and the co-founders responded with a lawsuit, and a court ordered Krafton in March to reinstate Gill and extend the proposed $250 million bonus to staff. Krafton had argued the fired staff had not earned the payout, but the ruling forced the company back to the negotiating table and changed the leverage in the case.
The settlement’s exact financial and employment terms have not been laid out, but the outcome is clear: staff bonuses will move ahead, Gill is out, and Unknown Worlds stays on Subnautica 2 under Krafton’s support. For a studio already carrying the weight of a hit early access release, the next test is no longer the courtroom. It is whether the game can keep its momentum while a new CEO search begins.
