The Subnautica 2 Shake-up Is Very Sketchy | Unpacked

Ok I know there are two sides to every story but when it is a corporate entity with a history of questionable decisions around game release and a team of people who are in shock because of a very strange ‘ business decision’ I am 100% sure it is just to run and screw the team out of money they are rightly entitled to (whether or not you think it’s excessive isn’t the point, if it was agreed then this behaviour is despicable and I hope they win in court because that tends to be the only thing that corporate entities understand - fiscal consequence) Thanks again, Nick for an excellent piece of reporting 👍

What a mess. Something is definitely “fishy” here. Thank you for bringing your industry knowledge and patience to produce a well documented account, and then revising that account at the last minute.

We are so lucky to have Nick and this series. It felt foreign and disconcerting for a moment(and then very welcome!) to read a well-written, passionate but not alarmist, evidence-backed discussion about shady stuff happening in the games industry. Thanks Nick! (and we appreciate the work that goes into shooting and writing a series like this)

Remember: if you're a successful small video game company, ALWAYS sell whenever you get a good offer. It won't affect your releases, screw over your staff, get everybody fired, or ruin any future game you'll definitely still be able to make. Microsoft? Krafton? Embracer Group? It's all good. And you absolutely, definitely need a separate publisher for your games. Otherwise you're not cool.

Thanks for outlining what makes the situation suspicious. Something that still confuses me is the $250M bonus. Is that... typical? Even split 100 ways, that seems like a lot, but then I'm not familiar with the industry standards.

“We want to add more content into the game, but definitely no micro transactions.” Soooooo… micro transactions.

Don't worry, companies only lie to you when their lips are moving. Normally, with situations like this where there are two accounts of a situation, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Skewed towards one end or another or even sitting right in the middle, one side never gives the whole story. But if the lead devs of Subnautica 2 are suing Krafton like this, that means that Krafton lied in their statement, which was a very foolish thing to do on the surface. That's libel and that's grounds for a lawsuit, one that they could very well lose. They must either be really confident in their legal team to do as such or they don't understand that and now I'm worried because companies are thoughtless, short sighted, and ignorant to the ways of the world but they aren't truly stupid. They hire too many expensive lawyers to be stupid

What a fuster cluck