After months of a lengthy lawsuit with publisher Krafton, Unknown Worlds has officially released Subnautica 2 in Early Access, and it’s safe to say the sequel is already a hit.
The game hit a whopping 1 million sales in just the first hour after launch, but now Unknown Worlds has announced that Subnautica 2 sold 2 million copies in the first 12 hours. According to SteamDB, the sequel hit a concurrent player count of 467,582 so far. Unknown Worlds’ press release then further confirms that factoring Xbox into the equation puts the peak concurrent player count over 651,000.
Those are good numbers for any sequel, no matter how you look at it, but it’s especially good news considering the long legal battle Unknown Worlds went through to get the game released.
Back in July 2025, after being fired by Krafton, the founder of Unknown Worlds filed a lawsuit alleging Krafton had breached the contract in the name of profit, to delay Subnautica 2. Essentially, the three founders had been fired by Krafton, which claimed they “abandoned” their responsibilities on Subnautica 2, leading to “repeated confusion in direction and significant delays.”
The founders countered with a lawsuit, which helped us learn Krafton had signed a deal with them for a $500 million up-front payment, plus an earnout that could reach up to $250 million depending on Unknown World’s performance through 2025. The lawsuit then alleged that Krafton sought to delay Subnautica 2 out of 2025, in order to avoid the payout altogether.
While the situation is far from over, in March 2026, a judge ordered Krafton to reinstate the fired CEO of Unknown Worlds, Ted Gill, and give the studio 9 more months to earn the 9 million bonus. The decision states,
“Krafton is enjoined from circumventing section 2.7(f) or impeding Gill’s authority over the early access launch of Subnautica 2 and must immediately restore his access to the Steam platform. Finally, the base earnout Testing Period is equitably extended by 258 days to September 15, 2026, and Fortis [the law firm representing Unknown Worlds] retains its contractual right to further extend the Testing Period to March 15, 2027.”
It’s important to note that litigation in the case is currently ongoing, with Krafton providing a statement to PC Gamer, saying “Today’s ruling does not resolve the former executives’ claim for damages or an earnout related to Subnautica 2, with further litigation still pending. In the meantime, Krafton’s immediate focus remains unchanged: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica’s fans.”
But with Subnautica 2’s already smashing success, it’s hard to see there not being some kind of payout for Unknown Worlds down the road.
Subnautica 2 is available on PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store) and Xbox Series X|S.
