The situation seems to be a cluster fuck with both sides not in the clear.
Krafton did a scummy move but the devs have a poor track record:
• Fucking over the composer for the god like soundtrack for the first game.
• the DEI slop of the Below Zero expansion
In my opinion, Krafton may have done the bonus to encourage them to work to earn it, similar to what happened to Obsidian and Fallout New Vegas. Unlike that situation where their publisher fucked them over to not give it, this seems more that the publisher still saw no results so fired them than risk the franchise.
• Fucking over the composer for the god like soundtrack for the first game.
Not just composer. Sound designer too. In other words without him Subnautica would have never been as successful as it was as the sound design is the very heart of the game.
More recent IGN archive link containing salty comments from predditors and the founder Charlie.
Quick summary is that Krafton (PUBG publishers) bought Unknown Worlds in 2021 for $500 million. They apparently agreed to a conditional bonus of a further $250 million over Subnautica 2, most of which would go to the 2 founders plus former CEO. Early 2024 came and went which was when the game was supposed to be ready for Early Access, but Krafton say it was in no fit state and that these three guys are derelict or absentee, so they're out the door with no $250m and replaced with the boss from devs of Callisto Protocol. UW guys now say they're suing, game's fine and gibsmedat. Lots of commenters are crying over evil corpos or having to wait for their wokeslop, but quite a chunk are also acknowledging that there's no smoke without fire and that anyone would get lazy for $250m.
After careful reflection, considering both sides, I will cautiously state my own conclusion that:
Karma's a bitch, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
First firing the sound designer who was single-handedly responsible for the success of Subnautica because he dared to make anti-woke jokes on Twitter and now getting ousted themselves.
Haven't touched the game since he was fired and swore to myself to never ever touch another Unknown Worlds game even though I very much liked Natural Selection 2 back in the day. Couldn't be more happy about those cunts getting fucked by the publisher. Hopefully the lawsuit is gonna fuck them even harder.
A Bloomberg report said the dismissed studio leadership had planned to share the full $250 million bonus with all of the estimated 100 employees at Unknown Worlds, which could mean a massive reduction in payouts if Krafton only allocates the 10% they were originally due to get.
Hahaha, no fucking way and no wonder the game's delayed if the devs were retarded enough to actually believe that.
"Yeah, I negotiated the contract so that the payout goes directly to me and my buddies, but that's just a technicality. I'm actually gonna share it all with you guys, really, just trust me bro!"
And that's not to mention that old blog post Charlie made about NS2 development that laid out that his attitude to money in game dev is basically just "fuck you, got mine!"
Yeah, Below Zero put the writing on the wall for the franchise with its switch from a largely mute, solitary experience, to having a sassy negro MC babbled at by a robotic indian. It was first released in Early Access in 2019 and was a good filter to find out whom in your Subnautica-enjoying circle were either completely lacking in taste or fully paid up to the culture war on the opposing side. I loved the first game and wasn't even tempted to pirate BZ.
Below Zero quite obviously began life as a DLC/expansion pack and was released as a standalone for a quick money injection. In that vein 2 would be the sequel, but the devs have a history of being scammy grifters.
I saw Arch's take as many others.
The situation seems to be a cluster fuck with both sides not in the clear.
Krafton did a scummy move but the devs have a poor track record:
• Fucking over the composer for the god like soundtrack for the first game.
• the DEI slop of the Below Zero expansion
In my opinion, Krafton may have done the bonus to encourage them to work to earn it, similar to what happened to Obsidian and Fallout New Vegas. Unlike that situation where their publisher fucked them over to not give it, this seems more that the publisher still saw no results so fired them than risk the franchise.
Not just composer. Sound designer too. In other words without him Subnautica would have never been as successful as it was as the sound design is the very heart of the game.
I bought the soundtrack for that game because it was so good, them fucking him over like that soured any desire to buy anything else they make.
Hell I only played the first game again as an update brought in larger rooms.
Same. Messaged him on then twitter about how good his work was. Seemed like an alright guy.
More recent IGN archive link containing salty comments from predditors and the founder Charlie.
Quick summary is that Krafton (PUBG publishers) bought Unknown Worlds in 2021 for $500 million. They apparently agreed to a conditional bonus of a further $250 million over Subnautica 2, most of which would go to the 2 founders plus former CEO. Early 2024 came and went which was when the game was supposed to be ready for Early Access, but Krafton say it was in no fit state and that these three guys are derelict or absentee, so they're out the door with no $250m and replaced with the boss from devs of Callisto Protocol. UW guys now say they're suing, game's fine and gibsmedat. Lots of commenters are crying over evil corpos or having to wait for their wokeslop, but quite a chunk are also acknowledging that there's no smoke without fire and that anyone would get lazy for $250m.
After careful reflection, considering both sides, I will cautiously state my own conclusion that:
Karma's a bitch, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
First firing the sound designer who was single-handedly responsible for the success of Subnautica because he dared to make anti-woke jokes on Twitter and now getting ousted themselves.
Feels good.
Just what I was thinking.
Haven't touched the game since he was fired and swore to myself to never ever touch another Unknown Worlds game even though I very much liked Natural Selection 2 back in the day. Couldn't be more happy about those cunts getting fucked by the publisher. Hopefully the lawsuit is gonna fuck them even harder.
The new CEO would bring back so much good will to hire back the old sound designed and composer.
I loved the first game but below zero was so shit I dont even care about the sequel.
Don't care. They hate you, don't give them money.
isnt subnautica 2 the one with that mongrel woman with hammer head eye placement?
That's the one. Lesbian too I believe. Not disabled though. They should have her in a wheelchair, it's current year.
Hahaha, no fucking way and no wonder the game's delayed if the devs were retarded enough to actually believe that.
"Yeah, I negotiated the contract so that the payout goes directly to me and my buddies, but that's just a technicality. I'm actually gonna share it all with you guys, really, just trust me bro!"
And that's not to mention that old blog post Charlie made about NS2 development that laid out that his attitude to money in game dev is basically just "fuck you, got mine!"
Holy crap, that isn't out yet? Was in prerelease before COVID wasn't it?
Edit:reading the comments below, I am apparently thinking of Subnautica:Below Zero. Silly me for thinking Subnautica 2 would be the second game.
Yeah, Below Zero put the writing on the wall for the franchise with its switch from a largely mute, solitary experience, to having a sassy negro MC babbled at by a robotic indian. It was first released in Early Access in 2019 and was a good filter to find out whom in your Subnautica-enjoying circle were either completely lacking in taste or fully paid up to the culture war on the opposing side. I loved the first game and wasn't even tempted to pirate BZ.
Below Zero quite obviously began life as a DLC/expansion pack and was released as a standalone for a quick money injection. In that vein 2 would be the sequel, but the devs have a history of being scammy grifters.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/krafton-accuses-former-subnautica-2-bosses-of-abandoning-the-game-in-surprising-new-statement-we-feel-a-profound-sense-of-betrayal-by-their-failure-to-honor-the-trust-placed-in-them/
Here is the unarchived link to avoid the archive.is captcha.
This game is so fucked. The 2nd title was such a piece of ass. This one is going to be even worse.
I stopped getting excited when I saw they were going to try and do some bs online store or micro transactions.
Is it possible to mod out the nonsense in Subnautica:Below Zero?
Not with the mods that currently exist, I looked into it. You could make your own, which I'm tempted to do but not worth the effort imo.