The legal battle between the former leaders of Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton has taken another turn. In new documents filed with the court, Subnautica director and designer Charlie Cleveland, Unknown Worlds co-founder Max McGuire, and ex-CEO Ted Gill allege that Krafton executives turned to AI as part of a bid to get out from under a $250 million bonus that would have been due if Subnautica 2 met certain financial goals.
At the heart of the latest filings are exchanges between Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han and the company's head of global operations Richard Yoon that were obtained via discovery. As reported by Kotaku, the documents allege "Kim turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout. ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be 'difficult to cancel the earn-out.'"
The founders also alleged that Krafton refused to produce those ChatGPT conversations and stated that they no longer exist. However, there is a series of messages between Kim and Yoon that appear to suggest that Krafton's inability to renegotiate a lower payout for the bonus led Yoon to say "it might be easier to take over [Unknown Worlds]," than to obtain better terms.
In September, Krafton revised its legal filing against the former leadership team. Krafton previously argued that the founders intended to release Subnautica 2 in early access before the game was ready in order to secure their performance bonus. When pressed for proof, Krafton withdrew that assertion, and now accuses the founders of downloading files and keeping devices that had confidential info on them. Krafton also argued that this retroactively justifies their termination, even though it wasn't revealed until after their termination.
Krafton recently declared itself to be an "AI-first company," which led Unknown Worlds to issue a statement indicating that Subnautica 2 will not feature generative AI.
Subnautica 2 is expected to hit early access in 2026 on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
Source
At the heart of the latest filings are exchanges between Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han and the company's head of global operations Richard Yoon that were obtained via discovery. As reported by Kotaku, the documents allege "Kim turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout. ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be 'difficult to cancel the earn-out.'"
The founders also alleged that Krafton refused to produce those ChatGPT conversations and stated that they no longer exist. However, there is a series of messages between Kim and Yoon that appear to suggest that Krafton's inability to renegotiate a lower payout for the bonus led Yoon to say "it might be easier to take over [Unknown Worlds]," than to obtain better terms.
In September, Krafton revised its legal filing against the former leadership team. Krafton previously argued that the founders intended to release Subnautica 2 in early access before the game was ready in order to secure their performance bonus. When pressed for proof, Krafton withdrew that assertion, and now accuses the founders of downloading files and keeping devices that had confidential info on them. Krafton also argued that this retroactively justifies their termination, even though it wasn't revealed until after their termination.
Krafton recently declared itself to be an "AI-first company," which led Unknown Worlds to issue a statement indicating that Subnautica 2 will not feature generative AI.
Subnautica 2 is expected to hit early access in 2026 on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
Source