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Of all the upcoming survival games we know about, Subnautica 2 is right up there as one of the most anticipated. There’s been a lot of excitement for a new underwater adventure, this time with full co-op support so you can explore alien seas with a friend. This week, that excitement has faded and been replaced with concern and anger after Krafton, the game’s publisher and owner of developer Unknown Worlds, removed the studio’s co-founders and president, replacing them with a new CEO. After widespread outcry, and even calls for a boycott of the game, Unknown Worlds has followed this news up with a statement reassuring fans that the vision for Subnautica 2 remained unchanged and that no extra monetization was being added to the game.
Unknown Worlds’ previous leadership team – Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire – were instrumental in shaping the vision and delivering the original Subnautica – one of the best survival games ever, in our view. They’ve been replaced by Steve Papoutsis, who was most recently the CEO of Striking Distance, the developer behind Dead Space-esque horror game The Callisto Protocol. Krafton says it tried to find a way to keep the departing trio involved in the development of Subnautica 2, but those attempts were clearly unsuccessful.
No explicit reason was given for Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire’s departure, but the wording of Krafton’s statement suggests that Subnautica 2 was potentially failing to meet some internal development goals.
“As part of its oversight, Krafton is committed to achieving regular milestones to assess progress across its creative studios. These reviews, based on clearly defined metrics and targets, will help ensure that games meet both creative and quality standards. This process is essential to delivering the right game at the right time. Unknown Worlds’ new leadership fully supports this process and is committed to meeting player expectations.”
This decision went over terribly with fans of the series. While it took more than three people to create the original Subnautica, the sudden removal of these key figures is concerning and unsettling. The community’s anger has certainly been made clear on forums and social media – one popular thread on the game’s subreddit is titled “Subnatuica’s soul has just been ripped out,” while another calls for a boycott of the game and demands players unwishlist on Steam. Subnautica 2 remains the second most-wishlisted game on Valve’s platform, at the time of writing, with only Hollow Knight Silksong above it.
Seeing this outcry, Unknown Worlds has released a statement to try and reassure fans that this change in leadership is not going to affect the initial vision of the game. “When it comes to Subnautica 2, the team that has been working on the game day-to-day over the last few years remains completely unchanged. That team includes veterans of the Subnautica series, dating back to the earliest days of the original Subnautica, to the many incredible and talented developers who came aboard to help us bring our vision for Subnautica 2 to life.”
The statement also debunks some speculation from fans that the change in leadership occurred because the old team was resistant to putting additional monetization into Subnautica 2. “Nothing has changed with how the game is structured. It will remain a single-player first experience, with optional co-operative multiplayer. No subscriptions. No loot boxes. No battle pass. No microtransactions.”
It’s a pretty definitive statement that’ll reassure fans on the gameplay front, but the entire post (and Krafton’s initial announcement) fails to explain why such a drastic decision was made so near to the Subnautica 2 release date – the game is set to drop in early access before the end of this year. Players certainly want answers, and I think a lot of the outrage could’ve been avoided if Krafton clearly provided them.
To see what else is on the horizon this year alongside Subnautica 2, check out our upcoming games list. Alternatively, if constructing bases was your favorite part of the original, here are the best building games on PC right now.
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