Subnautica 2 reportedly delayed to 2026 "against the wishes" of devs and ousted leaders who stood to receive a $250 million bonus from publisher Krafton if it came out this year

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It seemed bound to happen

A woman in an underwater suit receiving a danger warning during the trailer for Subnautica 2.
(Image credit: Unknown Worlds)

Update: Unknown Worlds has confirmed that Subnautica 2's early access release date has been pushed to 2026.

In an update shared to the studio's website, Unknown Worlds says "there are a few areas where we needed to improve before launching the first version of Subnautica 2 to the world."

"With that in mind, we’ve made the decision to delay Subnautica 2’s Early Access release to 2026."

Soon after Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton claimed it might need to make "some adjustments" to the survival game sequel's release schedule, the company is reportedly indeed delaying the game one year from 2025 to 2026 – potentially barring developers from receiving the $250 million bonus they would have earned otherwise.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier shares that sources familiar with the matter say Krafton was due to pay Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds $250 million if the developer – which Krafton acquired in 2021, while stipulating this promise – reached certain revenue goals by 2025. This apparent delay was made "against the wishes," Schreier writes, of Unknown Worlds' former management – presumably, including co-founder and Subnautica director Charlie Cleveland, who was suddenly replaced earlier this month along with co-founder Max McGuire and CEO Ted Gill.

Ashley Bardhan
Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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