Fans call for boycott of Subnautica 2 amid early access delay and leadership overhaul
Developed by Unknown Worlds, the first Subnautica game came out in December 2014 and became a fan favourite, still sitting at Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam. Then the announcement for the sequel came in October 2024 and development seemed to be going according to plan. However, a lot of major changes have happened in the past few weeks that have now led to fans boycotting Subnautica 2, calling for gamers to not buy the game when it releases.
The Subnautica subreddit has a discussion simply titled “DO NOT BUT SUBNAUTICA 2” and it urges fans to show solidarity for the developers and stand against mega corporation Krafton by not buying the game.
The backstory
For context, Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds in October 2021. The dev team had been working on Subnautica 2 and ever since the teaser in October 2024, fans have been eagerly waiting for the sequel. In April this year, Design Lead Anthony Gallegos shared an update for the game and welcomed fans as the development moved towards early access. Everything seemed fine till this point.
The disdain for the upcoming game started when the original co-founders for Unknown Worlds, Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire were fired by Krafton early this month without a concrete reason. Then, Cleveland shared on Reddit that Subnautica 2 was ready for early access despite the layoffs, however, Krafton then announced that it would delay early access to 2026 to add more content. Later, it was reported that the developers at Unknown Worlds would have received a $250 million bonus if the game hit various revenue targets by the end of the year. This led fans to believe that the delay was so that the team would not receive the bonus. Hence the Reddit petition to boycott Subnautica 2.
Mixed response to the boycott
Some commenters believe this is the right move while others state that Krafton will make their money either way since a lot of people will still buy the game. Some others state that people should wait for a year or two after release and get the game when it is heavily discounted. Another point raised in the comments is that removing the game from wishlists on Steam should send a message to Krafton.
As it stands now, Krafton has not shared a release date for early access and it is unclear what state of development the game is currently in.
