Subnautica 2 is now out in early access, and despite all the drama preceding it—so much drama—the game itself is actually great. Hurray! But hold on a second, because publisher Krafton is not done trying to stab itself in the foot.
We’ve now got some post-launch drama to enjoy, courtesy of Subnautica 2’s ridiculously severe EULA. Now, EULAs often have weird stipulations, frequently serving as a reminder that we don’t technically own our games outright, we’ve just purchased a licence. This means, for instance, if you die and try to bequeath your Steam account to a family member, you’re out of luck.
Even with that in mind, there’s some wild stuff in the Subnautica 2 EULA, with a bunch of the worst offenders collected by Reddit user SickPois0on on the Stop Killing Games subreddit.
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I’ve already breached the agreement several times myself, even just in this article.
For instance, by poking fun at this overbearing EULA, by the broad language it uses I am arguably breaching the part of the agreement that says I cannot “harm the reputation of Company, our affiliates, our service providers or licensors, or the reputation of the Game, the Documentation or the Services”. Whoops!
If our autoplay video shows any clips of Subnautica that we’ve uploaded, this news story is also in breach of this part: “Any Gameplay Video must include the following prominent disclaimer either at the beginning of the Video or, if live-streaming, near the Video in a visible font: ‘This video is subject to the Game’s Terms of Service and was not endorsed or sponsored by KRAFTON, Inc.’ We may terminate the limited license granted to you to create, distribute or otherwise make available a Gameplay Video in our sole discretion without notice or liability to you.”
Some users have taken this section to mean that the same disclaimer needs to be included on images as well, but this seems to just be a misunderstanding stemming from the clause’s mention of images in the context of them appearing (along with music, sound effects and any other assets) in live or recorded videos.
It looks like I’m also breaking one of the clauses right this very second because I fired up the game while my VPN is active, and that’s naughty as well, apparently. Per the EULA, I cannot “use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the location of your use or Device, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on the use of the Game, the Documentation or Services or for any other purpose or in a way that violates these Terms”.
My VPN is frequently on while I’m at work so I can check game prices and deals in different regions, and I use it outside of work as well. I’ve never used it to circumvent any restrictions in Subnautica 2 because it’s readily available in the UK, but I guess that doesn’t matter because the clause includes “any other purpose”, which I suppose covers “I forgot to turn it off”.
Then there’s the clause that says I can’t use or permit the use of the game on more than one device at the same time without purchasing a “separate, additional license” from Krafton. Can I still have it installed on multiple devices? Does streaming it from my PC to my Steam Deck or my Shield TV count as using it on multiple devices at the same time? It’s a very broad clause, which is a bit of a theme in this EULA.
What else have we got? Oh yeah, here’s a good one—and by “good”, I mean “broad, confusing and extreme”. The EULA states that you cannot “engage in acts prohibited by applicable laws or generally unacceptable by social norms”. The other night I left a seaslug on the floor in my base to see if it would die because it was outside of its natural habitat. Is that animal cruelty? I think society would consider that ‘not normal’. Oh dear.
And you’re not allowed to post spam. Trolling a friend during your underwater adventure? Krafton might take the game away from you. But don’t worry, it looks like Krafton could do this at any time and for any reason.
It’s worth noting that a lot of the contents of this EULA are boilerplate, even the egregious stuff. This is a legal team ticking boxes. And EULA’s aren’t automatically enforceable—though this never stops them being full of things that would never pass muster in a court of law.
Also important to note: Unknown Worlds isn’t responsible for this EULA. This is Krafton’s doing. Over on the Subnautica Discord, animation programmer Sam Dark addressed some of the community’s concerns regarding the EULA, stating, “We will obviously never take any action against any player playing the game, streaming it on twitch or youtube or in discord to friends, you can play on linux with proton (we’re steamdeck verified), we have nothing that runs outside of the game exe, and we have someone looking into the EULA. You’re also welcome to mod the game as long as you follow the rules Donya shared a while back about not selling the mods etc.”
This was in direct response to a user worried about the video clause, as well as clauses regarding mod creation and the EULA giving Krafton the right to remotely access “Game Software residing on your Device”.
EULAs get changed, of course, and Krafton even notes that the terms of the agreement could change at any time (which, yes, makes it hard to know if you’re in breach of a clause), so we might see some cuts and clarifications coming up.
Frankly, Krafton could use a PR win right now. While Subnautica 2 is already a huge success, the messy legal battle has made the publisher look extremely foolish, particularly when it came to light that Krafton’s CEO regularly uses ChatGPT, and that he’d used it to try and find a way to get out of paying a bonus to Unknown Worlds’ studio heads.
Anyway, the drama continues.
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