Fired Subnautica 2 leads allege that Krafton CEO asked ChatGPT how to get out of paying their $250 million bonus

The co-founders of Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds have alleged that publisher Krafton’s CEO asked ChatGPT for advice on how to get out of giving them a $250 million payout before firing them.

CEO Ted Gill, co-founder and creative director Charlie Cleveland, and co-founder and technical director Max McGuire were fired by Krafton earlier this year, with the publisher accusing the trio of an “absence of core leadership” and claiming it felt “a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them by our fans”.

The three claimed, however, that Krafton had betrayed them by firing them right before delaying Subnautica 2, a move they allege was designed to deliberately prevent its Early Access release, and avoid it selling well enough to trigger a $250 million bonus for the development team.

Now, a pre-trial brief filed by the trio’s legal team (as reported by Game Developer) claims explicitly that Krafton “fired the founders and delayed the launch of Subnautica 2 to avoid paying the earnout”, suggesting that “after Krafton’s finance department, in May 2025, forecast a base-case earnout of $191 million, Krafton needed a way to ‘cancel the earn-out'”.

The brief – which demands that the founders be restored to their positions at the studio – alleges: “Already concerned that Krafton had paid too much to acquire Unknown Worlds, [CEO CH] Kim feared that making any earnout payment to [the] founders would earn him a reputation as a pushover and endanger his position as CEO.”

It adds: “Since Krafton could not convince the founders to delay the game, Kim searched for another way to ‘cancel the earn-out’.” This included potentially firing the founders so the bonus didn’t have to be paid.

However, the brief alleges that Krafton’s global head of corporate development Maria Park told Kim that “it seems to be highly likely that the earn-out will still be paid if the sales goal is achieved, regardless of the dismissal with cause”.

It also claims Kim “turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout” but that “ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be ‘difficult to cancel the earnout'”.

The brief also includes Slack messages from June 27 which it says prove that Krafton was trying to either negotiate a smaller earnout with the founders, or execute a takeover of the studio. In the messages, Krafton CFO Richard Yoon is seen reportedly telling CEO CH Kim: “This time, they’re asking for 75 million for themselves and 40 million for the team members.”

He adds: “They say they won’t do it unless we negotiate the packages of the teams together. The bucket for the team members we thinking of at present is [around] 10 million. It might be easier to just take over.”

Kim seemingly approved, saying: “Set a date and send a letter if you need to send it in advance”. On July 1, Krafton fired the founders, took over control of Unknown Worlds and delayed Subnautica 2.

Krafton has denied the claims made in the brief, continuing to insist that the founders weren’t focused on developing the game in time and that the delay was necessary to improve the game, rather than to avoid paying the $250 million earnout.

“We were forced to make a change when the former leaders showed little interest in the development of Subnautica 2, which has always been our top priority,” the publisher told Kotaku in a statement. “Now, this trial comes down to plaintiffs asking to be restored to jobs they were not doing, said they had no interest in doing, and had previously declined requests that they come back and do those jobs.

“At the heart of every decision Krafton makes are the fans who deserve the best possible experience. Krafton made leadership changes at Unknown Worlds when the now-former executives focused on other priorities rather than Subnautica 2.

“Despite Krafton offering to extend the former executives’ earnout period if they returned to their positions, the former executives refused to return to work, and improperly retained hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents both just before and after they were terminated.

“Additionally, they failed to preserve certain files after their employment ended. Through this court process, Krafton remains focused on what matters: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica’s fans. Krafton will continue to present the evidence proving that the former executives did not comply with their duties as the legal proceedings move forward.”