Soooooo by purchasing a copy of Subnautica 2 we could make a big, shitty company shell out $250 mil to the developers?
Not interested in the game, but I do like the sound of that.
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
179 points (98.4% liked)
Games
47380 readers
1755 users here now
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Authorized Regular Threads
Related communities
PM a mod to add your own
Video games
Generic
- !gaming@Lemmy.world: Our sister community, focused on PC and console gaming. Meme are allowed.
- !photomode@feddit.uk: For all your screenshots needs, to share your love for games graphics.
- !vgmusic@lemmy.world: A community to share your love for video games music
Help and suggestions
By platform
By type
- !AutomationGames@lemmy.zip
- !Incremental_Games@incremental.social
- !LifeSimulation@lemmy.world
- !CityBuilders@sh.itjust.works
- !CozyGames@Lemmy.world
- !CRPG@lemmy.world
- !horror_games@piefed.world
- !OtomeGames@ani.social
- !Shmups@lemmus.org
- !space_games@piefed.world
- !strategy_games@piefed.world
- !turnbasedstrategy@piefed.world
- !tycoon@lemmy.world
- !VisualNovels@ani.social
By games
- !Baldurs_Gate_3@lemmy.world
- !Cities_Skylines@lemmy.world
- !CassetteBeasts@Lemmy.world
- !Fallout@lemmy.world
- !FinalFantasyXIV@lemmy.world
- !Minecraft@Lemmy.world
- !NoMansSky@lemmy.world
- !Palia@Lemmy.world
- !Pokemon@lemm.ee
- !Silksong@indie-ver.se
- !Skyrim@lemmy.world
- !StardewValley@lemm.ee
- !Subnautica2@Lemmy.world
- !WorkersAndResources@lemmy.world
Language specific
- !JeuxVideo@jlai.lu: French
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
That's my read as well. I really liked the first one and if I can make this dick feel like he lost at the same time...
Huh. I wasn’t going to buy it at all. Now, I’m not sure. Damn.
I'm torn because it would still put money in that shitty company's pocket.
It depends, if the game never makes more than $250,000,000 in sales, then I’d say it’s good! Because the parent company had to give UW way more money than they made for them
I mean... surely they have to make more than 250,000,000 in sales to justify the original bonus being 250,000,000 in the first place.
No?
Krafton paid half a billion for Unknown Worlds. The 250 million bonus was in addition to that. Including operational costs and salaries, they need to make back almost a billion to break even.
If you want to help fuck over Krafton and support the devs, buy the game. The judge extended the deadline for Unknown Worlds to earn the $250 million payout until late September. That payout was the whole reason Krafton put together this scheme in the first place. You will actually hurt Krafton more if they have to pay out that $250 million versus not buying the game at all. Not to mention, UW does good work and absolutely deserves it.
I guess ill also wait for first reviews. Still want to have a good experience even though I want to support the devs.
That's fair, keep in mind it's releasing in early access. So you may want to wait for a bit before diving in. Though they originally planned to release in early access mid last year, so its probably fairly close to the final product.
They not sacking the Krafton CEO who used ChatGPT to strategise how to cheat the devs out of their money, overruled his legal team and has embarrassed the company?
All PR is good PR I guess. He did successfully promote Subnautica 2, judging by the reactions in this thread. Without this scandal I would have never known a sequel was on the way.
One of the top lemmy posts of all time is a warning not to buy Subnautica 2.
Link? Edit: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/post/640335
I have this one 4th for top all time.
Thanks. So it seems like the best case scenario for the shitty publishing corporation is to make $249 million?
And the best case for the devs who were fired is to make exactly 250 million and not any more?
Maybe I didn't scroll far enough, but it looks a lot like all the top lemmy posts are about Lemmy or about how Reddit sucks.
I guess my extensive block list might have something to do with it as well. Apparently I'm not missing much!
Without this scandal I would have never known a sequel was on the way.
Makes me wonder if this might actually all just be kayfabe to drum up free publicity...
Hanlon's razor applies here. It could be, but I doubt it. It's just yet another stupid CEO who thinks he, and his AI chatbot, are smarter than everyone else.
However, internet users are also stupid. They think buying the game will hurt them. In what world does that make sense? They company made the purchase with this deal, assuming they'd pay it. They expect it to make them money. The CEO just thought he could just squeeze extra profit out of it by getting out of the deal. It doesn't mean they'll lose money by paying it. It just means the game is making them a ton of money, but they'll have to give some of it back to the studio.
"We look forward to working with Ted Gill", sure you fucking do. Do those people take us for absolute idiots? Everybody knows they'll just try to fuck Unknown Worlds over at the first chance they get.
Love Subnautica but I'm not giving Krafton a single cent.
You'd hurt Krafton more if Unkown World earns enough revenue to trigger the $250 million payout. Obviously a single word from Krafton can't be trusted, but that's all the more reason to hit them with this. I'm all for not giving money to a shitty company. But the payout was the whole reason they tried to pull this hostile takeover shit in the first place. If Krafton doesn't end up having to pay that money to UW, then it's a victory for them. If you really want Krafton to be punished, buy the game and make them pay, literally. If UW has all that money at the end of this, it will put them in a stronger position to not get pushed around by Krafton. Ultimately, Krafton put itself in this position because they made a deal they regretted, and tried to weasel out of it. Don't let them succeed if you hate them and love Subnautica.
How much would $250 million really hurt Krafton in comparison to the money they'd make?
In any case, I won't be giving money to Krafton because that'd mean endorsing this bullshit: https://www.pocketgamer.biz/krafton-signs-strategic-alliance-with-hanwha-aerospace-to-develop-real-world-ai-systems/
Enough that they were willing to risk doing this to their reputation against the advice of lawyers. So I'd say pretty damn bad. But if you decide it's not where you wanna put your money, that's fair too.
But it also helps the game sell better. I'd bet, if the game does well, Kraft on will make far more than that back. They didn't purchase the company to lose money. They just thought they could get out of paying that money and make more profit. It's not that they'd not make a profit by avoiding this, just less.
Krafton's CEO felt that they had severely overpaid for UW if they had to pay out that bonus. They bought it in 2021 during Covid, when more people were staying inside playing video games. It inflated the value of a lot of game companies, which is why they initially agreed. Now the economic situation is different, so they are probably taking a pretty nasty hit if they have to pay that out. However, you're probably right that they will still profit. But they'd make more by not paying it out. I'm more than happy to help take that away from Krafton and give it to UW who is far more deserving. Krafton deserves punishment, and if they get out of paying that money, they get a win.
Their 2024 gross revenue was about $1.9 billion, so $250 million would be over 13% of their total annual revenue
Krafton a single
Krafton signals
People gotta be doing this on purpose
Dude this publisher is totally dogshit. I'm torn between paying for it to support the dev or not.
And what happens to the denier of reality? That dude should be in jail.
i still remember this game having AI Generated assets. that's not exactly something i can look past. how ironic that the devs were taking an environmentalists angle for the first game, now we're here
If there are any AI generated assets, and I don't believe there are, they certainly aren't anything substantial. The devs have been showing off their work for months. At a minimum, the creatures, vehicles, bases, and writing is all created by humans. I know Krafton claimed a few months ago they were gonna start putting AI assets in their games, but from everything I've seen of Subnautica 2, it does not have AI generated assets. If you have a source that says otherwise, I'd be interested to see it.
IMO, ai-generated assets are not a deal-breaker, especially if it's done in moderation. For example, using AI to generate the texture for a human-made 3D model.
If major portions of the game are AI-generated, that's going to be terrible. But if they're just using it as a shortcut to fill in some of the minor details, that's probably fine.
So you're okay with AI taking texture maker's jobs but not 3D modeller's?
I don't give a shit about anybody's job. I'm just talking about what AI might or might not be able to do a decent job of and not ruin the product.
Oh you’ll care if it comes after your job.
It already has.
Full nihilist mode here, bruh.
Ofc its a company with "AI first" philosophy
Success corrupts I suppose. Or is it another of those games with a completely different team doing the sequal?
from what i recall which may be wrong, the only people of the original subnautica team that were fired were the original 3 founders of the team. the rest of the team is in tact i believe