The former heads of Subnautica studio Unknown Worlds are taking Krafton to court. 

In a post on Reddit, studio founder and the director of the original Subnautica, Charlie Cleveland, wrote that the details of said lawsuit would come out in the coming weeks. This follows Cleveland and his fellow founders, CEO Ted Gill and special projects director Max McGuire, being fired by parent company Krafton. They were replaced by company and industry veteran Steve Papoutsis. 

Their firing comes alongside word that Subnautica 2 had been delayed. This, apparently, would have resulted in Unknown World missing out on a massive $250 million bonus payment; Krafton has since said that it earmarked 90 per cent of this for studio leadership. 

"Suing a multi-billion dollar company in a painful, public and possibly protracted way was certainly not on my bucket list," Cleveland wrote. 

"But this needs to be made right. Subnautica has been my life’s work and I would never willingly abandon it or the amazing team that has poured their hearts into it.

"As for the earnout, the idea that Max, Ted and I wanted to keep it all for ourselves is totally untrue. I’m in this industry because I love it, not for riches. Historically we’ve always shared our profits with the team and did the same when we sold the studio. You can be damned sure we’ll continue with the earnout/bonus as well. They deserve it for all their incredible work trying to get this great game into your hands."