The latest update in the Krafton versus Unknown Worlds founders saga that circles Subnautica 2 comes from two filings that Krafton has publicized. The core of these motions are allegations that Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, two of the three co-founders who are all currently in a legal battle with their former parent company, "stole hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents" prior to being fired.
Krafton then goes a step further to speculate that the theft was to further a plan to release Subnautica 2 on their own, without Krafton, and take the earnings from that to the bank, in so many words. Krafton also claims that what Cleveland specifically stole was "hundreds of Sunaturica Maya (.ma) files, which are used in 3D animation modelling and contain proprietary embedded data, providing, effectively, a blueprint for a game."
If you've not been following what's happened in what is an increasingly long timeline between the co-founders of Unknown Worlds, and the original creatives behind Subnautica and their former parent company, Krafton, then there's a bullet-point list at the bottom of this article to catch you up.
For now, we'll stick to what's new. One of the two filings is an affidavit from Kevin Negangard, a forensics technology expert who, per the affidavit, specializes in "the preservation and investigation of electronic evidence from digital devices, the interrogation of complex data sets, and leading large-scale electronic discovery projects," and is where the key allegations of theft come from.
The other is a motion from Krafton to compel the court to allow for a forensic examination of Cleveland, McGuire, and Ted Gill's devices to further determine what was allegedly stolen, and asking the court to issue a protective order against Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire's side from obtaining all the documents it has asked for. Essentially, Krafton is asking to block the co-founders' requests for information from Krafton, while also asking to get more information from the co-founders to further its investigation and claims of theft.
While furthering its claims that the co-founders stole confidential files from Krafton and Unknown Worlds, Krafton also furthered its allegations regarding the co-founders having "abandoned" their roles, and puts that as at the center of why they were fired, alongside their alleged theft. "The Key Employees were fired for Cause because they covertly abandoned their posts, deceived Krafton about it, and stole condifential information on their way out the door," the combined protective order and compel motion reads.
"When Krafton discovered their ruse, Krafton asked them to do the jobs they promised they would and finish developing Subnautica 2. Krafton even offered to extend the earnout period if the Key Employees would come back to work. The Key Employees refused, threatened to self-publish Subnautica 2, and - anticipating their termination - stole hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents before they were fired, presumably in furtherance of their plan to unilaterally self-publish Subnautica 2 and capitalize on the earnout."
Besides the filings, there's also a new statement from Krafton, which reads, "Krafton's latest filings continue to highlight the former executives' misconduct. Despite offering to extend the former executives' earnout period if they returned to their positions, the former leaders refused to return to work, threatened to prematurely self-publish Subnautica 2, and stole hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents on their way out the door."
"Krafton will continue to present the evidence showing how the former executives violated their obligations and misused company resources, as the legal proceedings move forward. As Krafton has continued to make clear, at the heart of every decision Krafton makes are the fans, who deserve the best possible experience. Through this process, Krafton remains focused on what matters: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica's fans."
These filings follow a recent update from the legal battle, where two requests made by Krafton were denied by the court, and where Krafton seemed to make a major U-turn on one of its key arguments around why the co-founders were fired.
Ultimately, these allegations from Krafton, and from the co-founders around Krafton's own alleged shady tactics, are just that, allegations. We likely won't know the full truth of the matter even after it's all sorted out in the courts.
But it's clear that both sides are not backing down in their language and in their attempts to make their narrative the one that's widely known, even when some of the allegations, like how the co-founders allege Krafton's chief executive officer said the company would be "embarrassed" by having to pay Unknown Worlds its $250 million bonus, or Krafton's much-repeated claim that the co-founders flat-out refused to do their jobs, feel unbelievable at face value.
If you need a recap on this whole saga, here's a timeline with everything save for today's news to catch you up:
- On July 2, it was reported that the founders of Unknown Worlds, Ted Gill, Max McGuire, and Charlie Cleveland, were fired and replaced by former Striking Distance Studios head Steve Papoutsis. No concrete explanation for their dismissal was offered at the time, with Krafton instead emphasizing its commitment to delivering a game that players deserved.
- On July 3, a statement from the Unknown Worlds website did its best to calm concerns from fans about the fact that the three original core creatives behind Subnautica were suddenly not at the studio.
- The next day, on July 4, the situation began to grow even more confusing, as Cleveland claims Subnautica 2 was "ready for early access release" and that his and his fellow co-founders' dismissals were "quite a shock."
- Five days later, on July 9, a report from Bloomberg adds a shocking allegation to the mix: that Krafton was delaying Subnautica 2 to avoid paying Unknown Worlds a $250 million bonus the studio would have been owed if they hit particular sales goals, which they would have done with Subnautica 2's launch. The delay was confirmed hours after the report went live, and Krafton held that the delay was due to Subnautica 2 not being ready, citing feedback from internal playtesting.
- On July 10, Krafton went on the offensive, blaming co-founders Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire, claiming they had "abandoned" their roles to pursue personal interests. Krafton also clarified that 90% of the aforementioned $250 million bonus would go directly to the co-founders, with the rest to be split among the employees. Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire held that they always intended to distribute the bonus to other employees.
- Also on July 10, Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire filed a lawsuit against Krafton.
- On July 11, an internal document from a milestone review of Subnautica 2's progress leaked on Reddit, seemingly showing further support to Krafton's claims that the game wasn't ready, citing a lack of content on top of previously mentioned internal playtest feedback.
- Over the following weekend on July 13, Krafton confirmed the documents to be real.
- A few days later, on July 17, when the co-founders' suit against Krafton became publicly available, we discovered allegations that Krafton had been sabotaging Subnautica 2 to ensure it would be delayed. There was even a claim that the CEO of Krafton met with the co-founders and admitted that having to pay out the $250 million bonus "could be disastrous financially and hugely embarrassing for Krafton." It also attacks every other claim Krafton had made up to this point, and that the feedback received on Subnautica 2 playtesting "unequivocally proved" the game was ready for an early access launch.
- Jumping ahead to August 12, Krafton shoots back at Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire's lawsuit, again arguing that the co-founders were absentee leaders who abandoned their roles, and continued to hold that the game wasn't ready for an early access launch.
- Eight days later, Unknown Worlds files its own separate lawsuit against its co-founders, telling Wccftech in an email that this suit "is a direct response to their misconduct, including the theft of confidential information and attempts to pursue personal financial gain to the detriment of the company's interests."
- On September 19, a report revealed that the court denied two of Krafton's motions, and Krafton seemingly U-turned on one of its key arguments regarding why the co-founders were fired in the first place.
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