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Up until Subnautica 2 released in May, the writing on the wall was making the aquatic survival game look like a blood-splattered horror movie. Developer Unknown Worlds and parent company Krafton locked horns over launch delays, spontaneous firings, and a missing $250 million bonus that's at the center of an ongoing lawsuit – but the whole time, lead designer Anthony Gallegos was confident in his team.
"The development teams always just kind of put their heads down and made the best thing they possibly could," Gallegos tells MinnMax host Ben Hanson in a new interview while discussing how relieved Unknown Worlds was that Subnautica 2 succeeded after a year of scary headlines.
"Anytime there's, like, any sort of controversy or drama or anything like that around a game – or, in our case, a delay – [...] sometimes people tend to start assuming the worst. Like, 'Ah, there's going to be no way that this could be good,'" Gallegos continues. "And we're like, 'Oh man, I wish we could just show you guys.' Like, 'I think you're wrong.'"
"We were always here trying to make the best thing," Gallegos explains, "and there wasn't a point for a bunch of people where everyone was like, 'Ah, whatever. Just collect our checks until we get fired.'"
I find this surprising considering how delicate the state of Unknown Worlds seemed barely one year ago, when Krafton abruptly replaced Subnautica leadership, "effective immediately."
But Gallegos suggests Unknown Worlds developers' genuine love of everything Subnautica drowned out the noise surrounding it.
"They were always in it to try and make something that would live up to fan expectations," he says. "Even when we all get together for our work retreats every year, all anyone does is talk about Subnautica anyways. People love the game on the team as well."
"That's even counting people like me," Gallegos continues, "who are new to the team, and also people that have been at the studio for, like, 15 years who still love Subnautica, even though they've been working on it for the better part of over a decade." And love might be slightly more powerful than a GamesRadar+ headline, I admit.
