Krafton has announced that upcoming underwater survival sequel Subnautica 2 has been delayed to next year, but we’ve got a new gameplay trailer to keep us going in the meantime.
In a news post on Steam, Krafton and developer Unknown Worlds (which Krafton acquired back in 2021) say that while early player feedback convinced the studios they were “swimming in the right direction”, more development time is needed to “improve” in “a few areas”, as well as to provide “a little bit more content” for the Early Access release.
This new content will, according to Krafton, include “more biomes, more vehicle upgrades, additional tools”, and an expanded story, as well as “more creatures to discover”. Given the breadth of the biological phenomena in the original Subnautica, I’d call that a good reason for a delay.
Although Subnautica 2‘s Early Access release won’t be happening in 2025 anymore, Krafton says it doesn’t intend to change anything about the game’s creative direction or the team working on it, although that presumably doesn’t include the former leaders of Unknown Worlds, who left the studio earlier this month. No reason was provided for their departure.
According to a Bloomberg report, the founders of Unknown Worlds were ousted shortly before a $250 million bonus payout was due to be shared out across the dev team, prompting some to suggest that this is why the delay was put into effect; if revenue targets were hit prior to the end of 2025, the bonus would be released.
Indeed, ex-Unknown Worlds head Charlie Cleveland says Subnautica 2 was effectively ready for release, but that the decision to release it is “in Krafton’s hands”. For its part, Krafton told Eurogamer the decision to delay was being discussed prior to Cleveland and company’s ousting, and was not “influenced by any contractual or financial considerations”.
New CEO Steve Papoutsis says he’s not familiar with the specifics of Krafton’s acquisition of Unknown Worlds, calling for “patience” with regards to Subnautica 2‘s delay. He also said he’d never been told the delay was happening “specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that”.
If you’re not familiar with Subnautica 2, it’s the upcoming sequel to the 2018 survival game Subnautica, which has already had one standalone followup in the form of 2021’s Below Zero.
Unlike the original game, Subnautica 2 will emphasize co-op play, although it will also feature a solo play option. The game will tell a new story set on a brand new planet full of strange aquatic life to discover (and run away from screaming, if it’s anything like the first game).
Subnautica 2 is due to launch for PC and Xbox Series X|S via Early Access in 2026. Stay tuned for more.