Publisher Krafton’s removal from the Subnautica 2 Steam page may have been “blown up a little bigger than it was meant to”, as developers from Unknown Worlds have reaffirmed that the partnership is ongoing.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Subnautica 2’s creative media producer Scott MacDonald and design lead Anthony Gallegos, while not directly involved in the management of the Steam page, provided some insight into the situation.
Gallegos said: “I’m not sure I have that good an insight into the Steam page, but what I can say is we’re co-publishing the game [with Krafton], so they’re not not the publisher anymore.”
MacDonald followed up, saying: “As you can tell with Krafton people in this call, we’re working with them for all promotional material, it’s a co-publishing thing. It’s just one of those things on Steam I think that just happened. It may have blown up a little bigger than it was meant to, but you know, Krafton are still very much helping us with the launch of the game.” The Krafton PR rep concurred with MacDonald and Gallegos’ statements.
The Steam page fiasco is one part of an on-going public fallout between Unknown Worlds’ founders and Krafton. When this happened, Krafton released a statement in which it emphasised it was “currently focused on successfully supporting the Early Access launch of Subnautica 2,” adding “we have nothing further to share at this time.”
Last month, a judge ordered removed members of the Unknown Worlds senior leadership team must be reinstated, having been previously removed by Krafton. Krafton responded to this ruling, stating: “we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward”. More legal trouble brewed, as lawyers representing Unknown worlds leadership alleged that the release date was “intentionally leaked” by Krafton.
