Subnautica 2 has been off to a stellar start despite some discussions over fighting alien fish, with 2m copies sold within 12 hours of launching on Steam and Xbox’s storefronts. Since its 14th May launch, its success has only become bigger, and now Krafton will be forced to pay developer Unknown Worlds $250m.
If you need a quick recap, you just need to know the publisher had reportedly tried to avoid paying this performance bonus of sorts – tied to certain revenue targets – but a legal ruling ultimately forced the reinstatement of Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill and other senior team members as well as honouring the promised $250m bonus.
Now, we know for sure (hat tip to IGN) Krafton has agreed to pay “3.12 for every $1” (up to $250m), as the studio’s revenue has topped the established $69.8m per month mark. The Korean Economic Daily shared the news on 27th May, citing “game industry sources” in Seoul. The update arrives shortly after Alinea Analytics’ report on Subnautica 2’s early access success story, which said the underwater survival-crafting title had sold over 4m copies by 20th May, just under a week since it launched.
That’s translated into more than $100m in revenue, which puts the studio well past the $69.8m mark established by Krafton before all the drama unfolded. While the majority of sales were on Steam – where the game hovers around 60k daily players at the time of writing – 2.4m gamers also jumped in via Game Pass during the first week. Xbox sales were under 100k a week ago though.
Eurogamer’s Matt Wales has found quite a lot to like in Subnautica 2 already, though he noted “co-op is a bit of an awkward fit” since “the breadcrumb narrative is explicitly designed to nudge you toward the important bits” in a way that feels better suited for solo playthroughs. A lot can change between now and its 1.0 launch, however.
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