Krafton reached a mutual settlement with Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, and that agreement brought the KRAFTON Unknown Worlds CEO departure. Gill stepped down as part of the deal, while Krafton said Unknown Worlds will keep leading development of Subnautica 2.
The settlement also ends pending legal proceedings tied to the studio’s bonus dispute. Krafton said Unknown Worlds' entire staff will get their bonuses, and the company said it will support the game’s success as it moves through Early Access toward its full 1.0 release.
Ted Gill and the settlement
The key personnel change is Gill’s exit as CEO. Krafton’s statement said the parties had reached “a mutual settlement and agreed to dismiss all pending legal proceedings.” That leaves the studio with its current development work intact, but without the executive who had been at the center of the fight over pay and control.
Gill’s departure follows a case that began after Krafton fired him, Cleveland and McGuire in the summer of last year. Krafton then said the game’s launch had been delayed and blamed Gill for the delay. Gill and the co-founders responded with a lawsuit.
Subnautica 2 bonuses
The financial issue at the center of the dispute was a proposed $250 million bonus tied to Subnautica 2. In March, Lori Will ordered Krafton to reinstate Gill and extend the proposed bonus to staff. Krafton had argued that the fired leadership had turned to litigation to demand “a multimillion-dollar payout they haven't earned.”
Will’s ruling also described Changhan Kim’s view of the bonus as a “bad deal” and said he felt “taken advantage of.” The ruling said Kim was warned that the earnout would still need to be paid even if the leadership was dismissed for cause, and that it could expose Krafton to lawsuit and reputation risk. Kim then turned to ChatGPT for help.
Unknown Worlds and Krafton
The settlement now closes that legal path. Krafton, Unknown Worlds Entertainment and the three former studio leaders have agreed to dismiss all pending proceedings, and the company said the studio will continue leading development with Krafton providing support.
For players, the practical change is simple: the studio stays on Subnautica 2, and the bonus dispute no longer sits over the project in court. The game has already sold 4 million copies since its early access launch on May 14, and it reached more than 467,000 peak concurrent players on Steam.
What the deal does not spell out is the exact split of concessions beyond the bonuses and the court filings’ end. The remaining open question is who leads Unknown Worlds next, and the settlement does not name a new CEO.
