Subnautica 2 publishers Krafton have reportedly agreed to pay the up to $250 million earnout to Unknown Worlds’ devs, this being the bonus which was a major point of contention in the legal dispute between the former and the three Unknown Worlds bosses who were ousted last year. Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill was reinstated as a result of the ensuing legal action, paving the way for Sub 2’s early access launch this month.

Now, South Korean business newspaper The Korea Economic Daily (via IGN) reports that, following Subnautica’s strong sales out of the gate, Krafton have agreed to pay the bonus.

That’d be the bonus the trio of ousted leads claimed during their legal battle that Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han had turned to ChatGPT for advice on how to avoid paying. The same bonus that Krafton were talking about when they claimed at one point in the legal wranglings that ousted Unknown Worlds bosses Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire had “resorted to litigation to demand a multimillion-dollar payout they haven’t earned”.

Yeah, that bonus, which The Korea Economic Daily reports will amount to $3.12 for every $1, or up to $250 million, which is around 35% of Krafton’s operating profit for last year according to the paper.

I’ve asked Krafton for comment.

Since launch, the Sub 2 legal hullabaloo has given way to heated debates on whether the ability to kill fish is neccessary to deliver the ideal underwater survival experience, something our Edwin dives into in this feature.