Subnautica 2 - Drowned Before it Began? Early Access Delayed Till 2026, Ex-Head Speaks Up

Just before the disastrous news of Microsoft’s Xbox and broader teams cuts rocked the landscape, yet again, the seemingly always steady Unknown Worlds was buckled at the sudden announcement that three studio heads were being removed from both the studio and production of its upcoming and hotly-anticipated Subnautica 2. These members were co-founder Max McGuire, CEO Ted Gill and Subnautica 2 designer and director, Charlie Cleveland. All three were to be replaced by Steve Papoutsis from Striking Distance (The Callisto Protocol) as directed by new Unknown Worlds parent company, Krafton. Information early on was sketchy, but the suddenness of it all immediately sparked fan backlash, fear and raucous speculation, leading to Unknown Worlds penning a letter in hopes to allay fears the studio's next project hadn’t drowned and would indeed surface from the depths of lengthy development. Read portions of it below, or click here for the full post.

Hello Subnauts,

We know that you have a lot of questions and concerns about the news from our publisher regarding the leadership changes at Unknown Worlds.

First, we want to take a moment to reflect on the vision and core values of the exploration and discovery that have defined Subnautica from the very beginning. They have not only shaped the identity of the entire series, but they continue to to guide how we think, build and create every day. We believe strongly in those values and are dedicated to upholding them in Subnautica 2.

We're also supporting Steve Papoutsis as he transitions into his role as CEO of Unknown Worlds. He's already expressed his excitement to check out everything we've been working on and is diving into supporting our ongoing vision and journey to releasing Subnautica 2 Early Access ...

One final thing we want to address, as we've seen some additional concerns about it: Nothing has changed with how the game is structured. It will remain a single-player first experience, with optional co-operative multiplayer. No loot boxes. No battle pass. No microtransactions...

Krafton cited “the gamer experience” as being so “important” that something clearly had to change from a production flow perspective to “deliver the best possible game, as soon as possible”. “Krafton is confident that Papoutsis, with decades of experience behind the planning, development and production of some of the highest-rated game franchises, will bring renewed energy and momentum to delivering the long-anticipated Subnautica 2 experience to fans,” the company said on its own site. All of which is a fairly easy narrative to understand. Milestones weren’t being met and though UW has stated from the beginning of its new stewardship under Krafton that it would still be acting almost as an independent studio, only with Krafton resources and support, it is still now clearly beholden to its parent company. An initial sentiment that seems to have fallen completely through.

Now fans are taking things into their own hands, calling for a boycott of Subnautica 2 and to have Wishlists on Steam rescinded in protest. And given at the time of all of this, Subnautica 2 was the second most Wishlisted game on Steam (behind only Hollow Knight: Silksong), such action could make waves. However, the remaining devs are steadfast that the shake-up has only affected those removed, thus far, and that “the team that has been working on the game day-to-day over the last few years remains completely unchanged”.

What happens from here is anyone’s guess, but our feel is that Papoutsis, who was also an architect of the perceived ‘action game’ destruction of Dead Space with its third contentious entry, might have some thoughts on things but it might be most important for players to see more of what they’ve been waiting anxiously for, for a number of years now in the wake of such tumult. A thought that was answered overnight as Unknown Worlds dropped an updated version of its initial teaser video with additional content highlighting new elements of the game-world as well as new creatures, tools and more. Swim through it below:

However, the above 'fresh look' was also caveated with news the promised "2025" Early Access window was now shut with a view to "2026" in order to "give ourselves a little extra time to respond to ... feedback before releasing the game into Early Access". You can read more on that here.

Ousted studio head Cleveland recently broke his silence in a Reddit post where he spoke lovingly of the brutal process of game development and also hinted at the fallout being that he and the other senior core felt the game was ready for Early Access, but Krafton clearly did not.

We know that the game is ready for early access [sic] and we know you're ready to play it. And while we thought this was going to be our decision to make, at least for now,that decision is in Krafton's hands. And after all these years, to find that I'm no longer able to work at the company I started stings.

We’re as dubious as everyone else as fans first, and journos second. So from here on out, we are cautiously optimistic and are firmly in the camp of needing more, especially given the history of this studio’s development transparency which feels like it could dry up at any moment.

Stay tuned for more as we have it.