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A Subnautica 2 designer says one of the many things that makes the survival game genre grand is that you don't really need to worry about the FOMO that MMO players go through.
Speaking to Edge Magazine, Anthony Gallegos shares that he often has peace of mind when a player spends time away from Subnautica 2, as it's likely that they've just played all the content they've paid for. Indeed, a far cry from the likes of World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 that have to give a player reason to keep paying their subscription cost.
"There are a lot of genres where players are very monogamistic," he says. "A lot of players are like 'I only play this shooter'. MMOs, same way. When all the MMOs were trying to copy World of Warcraft, people were like 'I'll go play the first free month of it, then I'm coming back to WoW.
"If I see people play through all the content of Subnautica and then they leave for a little bit until we do a content patch, that doesn't alarm me, because I know what they're doing. They just move from one to [another] with their friends, or by themselves. But they play them all."
Gallegos goes on to say that the original Subnautica was an "exploration game first" that then incorporated survival elements later on. "Charlie [Cleveland], the original creator, if you asked him about it, I think he would tell you that he listened to the community to figure out what they wanted," he adds.
An interesting peek at what's coming with Subnautica 2, though we'll need to see what that actually looks like. As I'm sure you'll recall, Subnautica creators and Unknown Worlds co-founders – including Cleveland – have been replaced, and Subnautica 2's early access launch has subsequently been delayed. As ever, we need only wait and see.
