“Subnautica,” is one of the most popular indie survival horror games ever made and with the announcement for a sequel and its trailer dropping last year, many fans have been waiting with baited breath for early access to become available to the public. However, with Krafton acquiring Unknown Worlds Entertainment on Oct 29, 2021, fans were a bit speculative in how this game would turn out, while Krafton did state that Unknown Worlds would continue to operate as an independent studio.
That seemingly changed, however, with Krafton suddenly letting go the entire leadership team of Unknown Worlds at such a crucial stage in the game’s development, it’s hard to have confidence in how well the game will turn out. According to IGN, “Former Striking Distance CEO, Steve Papoutsis, is joining Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds as CEO amid the shock announcement that the previous leadership team — Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire — have been replaced “effective immediately.”
This isn’t the first time big changes have occurred during the development of a Subnautica game. While not nearly to this extent, during the development of the spinoff game, “Subnautica: Below Zero,” the studio changed writers to Jill Murray, which led to drastic changes in how the game played after launch. This led to the story of “Subnautica: Below Zero,” feeling very stilted, half baked, nonsensical and full of holes on release. It’s uncertain if “Subnautica 2,” will follow in the same path, as early access has yet to even launch, but it is a worrying sign that there is something going on behind closed doors with the development of “Subnautica 2,” that we aren’t seeing.
