The atmosphere at the office is likely to be nice
Kotaku shared a judge’s ruling in the case between Krafton and the studio’s three ex-executives, focusing first on the case of former CEO Ted Gill. Finally, ex-former CEO, since Krafton is now legally forced to rehire Ted Gill in this position, while giving him control over the Early Access launch of Subnautica 2 :
“ Judgment is rendered in favor of Fortis [qui représente les fondateurs d’Unknown Worlds] regarding its Phase One claims. Krafton breached the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) by terminating key employees without cause and improperly taking operational control of Unknown Worlds. »
And that’s not all. The court also decided to extend the window during which the studio could receive the $250 million bonus initially promised by Krafton.and which was suspected of being the real cause of the dismissal of the three leaders. The studio now has until September 15, 2026 to display performances that would allow it to receive this bonus (which can begin to be received after $69.8 million in revenue).
The judge ruled that the justifications for the dismissals were invalid. For example, he points out Krafton’s accusation concerning Cleveland and McGuire, the publisher believing that the two no longer took their responsibilities on the project, while it was Krafton who entrusted other roles to the duo. The judge also believes that the CEO of Krafton did indeed realize that the payment of the bonus was becoming an increasingly credible hypothesis with forecasts that made Subnautica 2 a success, thus forcing him to keep his commitment to this enormous jackpot.
However, the matter is not over, since the case for damages has not yet been determined (this is the second phase). It also remains to be seen when Subnautica 2 will be able to come out, even if we can now estimate that this will happen before September.