Following a protracted legal dispute with publisher Krafton, Unknown Worlds has officially launched Subnautica 2 in Early Access, and the sequel is already proving to be a significant hit.
The game achieved an astounding 1 million sales in its first hour. Unknown Worlds has since announced that Subnautica 2 has surpassed 2 million copies sold within its initial 12 hours. SteamDB reports a peak concurrent player count of 467,582, and the developer’s press release indicates that when factoring in Xbox players, the peak concurrent player count exceeds 651,000.
These figures represent strong performance for any game sequel, but they are particularly encouraging given the extensive legal challenges Unknown Worlds faced leading up to its release.
In July 2025, after parting ways with Krafton, the founder of Unknown Worlds initiated a lawsuit, alleging that Krafton had breached their contract in pursuit of profit, thereby delaying the release of Subnautica 2. Krafton had reportedly fired the three founders, claiming they had “abandoned” their duties on Subnautica 2, which led to “repeated confusion in direction and significant delays.”
The founders responded with their own lawsuit, revealing that Krafton had agreed to a deal involving a $500 million upfront payment, plus an earnout potentially reaching $250 million based on Unknown Worlds’ performance through 2025. The lawsuit contended that Krafton intended to delay Subnautica 2 beyond 2025 to avoid this payout.
While the legal proceedings are ongoing, a judge in March 2026 ordered Krafton to reinstate Ted Gill, the CEO of Unknown Worlds, and granted the studio an additional nine months to earn a $9 million bonus. The ruling stated:
“Krafton is enjoined from circumventing section 2.7(f) or impeding Gill’s authority over the early access launch of Subnautica 2 and must immediately restore his access to the Steam platform. Finally, the base earnout Testing Period is equitably extended by 258 days to September 15, 2026, and Fortis [the law firm representing Unknown Worlds] retains its contractual right to further extend the Testing Period to March 15, 2027.”
It is important to note that the litigation is still active. Krafton provided a statement to PC Gamer, noting, “Today’s ruling does not resolve the former executives’ claim for damages or an earnout related to Subnautica 2, with further litigation still pending. In the meantime, Krafton’s immediate focus remains unchanged: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica’s fans.”
However, given the immense success of Subnautica 2, it seems likely that Unknown Worlds will eventually receive a favorable payout.
Subnautica 2 is currently available on PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X|S.