This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
And to think this game almost got cancelled because the CEO made a promise, got cold feet, and asked ChatGPT to weasel his ass out of it, and FOLLOWED THE PLAN, and LEFT RECEIPTS.
Rich people aren't smart for getting rich. They're incredibly fucking stupid as a baseline.
I totally want to know more about this
If you want to dive into the court documents, you can here: https://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.aspx?id=392880
But I would just recommend listening to some lawyers comment on the situation, like Opening Arguments: https://www.patreon.com/posts/idiot-ceo-used-153623405?collection=867807
Steam review excerpt from Ulrich
--" Their EULA specifically calls out the following behavior and actions as not allowed and will result in the termination of your license:
They also mention that they:
Might want to read the eula for the game, otherwise you might lose access to it.
Wouldn't they lose access to their own rights by causing a scandal that tarnishes Kraftons reputation?
why would they include themselves in it when they can make onesided demands?
Link to the terms of service here: https://subnautica.com/en/policy/tos
I didn't see anything about VPNs.
Besides that, it's definitely an overreaching document. I expect it to get a failing grade at ToS;DR.
Edit: found the part for VPNs listed under the "prohibited uses" (emphasis my own):
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;
What's funny is that the EU has already ruled the EULAs are not legally enforceable. So that custom EU version is irrelevant and they may as well have not bothered.
Shouldn't there be a Steam EULA or something that overwrites BS like this? I don't know. I'm genuinely curious if that holds up. If developers really can terminate your license willy-nilly and damage Valve's reputation by doing so. Because it would sound like a PR nightmare for the store front too.
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.
Disgusting if true.
What do you mean if true? They went to court and produced the ChatGPT logs that Krafton CEO used to strategize how to get out of paying the bonus.
And people buy it in record numbers anyway? 😬
Yeah, the judge reversed the layoffs and reinstated the Unknown Worlds team, and now they'll get the bonus. But yes very awkward all around.
OK I didn't see the article mention that. Only that they leaders were fired, and everybody lost the bonus.
I guess it ended OK then?
Personally - I'm not buying the game. Krafton still owns the studio, and they've done nothing to make the situation better. Court mandated remediations aside, krafton tried to abuse these devs and steal what they were owed. They're still working under a hostile parent company and likely will become a skeleton crew in no time.
Best case scenario unknown worlds can use the money to split themselves into a new studio.
It's sad the the gaming industry so often turn toxic. 😒
It does mention:
Earlier this year, publisher Krafton was accused of ignoring a court order by announcing to staff that the game was releasing in May, despite such a decision seemingly being the responsibility of the newly reinstated CEO Ted Gill.
Gill is the first person named as part of "the three".
The judge extended the deadline on the bonus by 9 months (to September).
If Subnautica earns $69.8million in revenue by then, Krafton will need to pay up the full $250million to the team.
https://gamerant.com/subnautica-2-250-million-bonus/
Considering it sold 2 million copies in 12 hours, at $30 each, I'm assuming they're very close to reaching that (if they haven't already).
70 Million in revenue (not profit) for a 250 Million bonus ... all else aside, was the executive who signed that high on coke?
That's correct, revenue, not profit.
The CEO of Krafton was the one who signed the deal. He definitely had buyers remorse which is why he ended up ignoring his lawyers and turning to ChatGPT for advice on how to delay the release of Subnautica 2 and avoid the payout.
I suppose that if you're another development studio working with Krafton, like InZOI, you're probably looking with a lot of suspicion at every move from your publisher now.
I sure haven't, and won't. If that's what their leadership wants, I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. There are many other games, I don't need to play this particular one that badly.
Kinda shitty for the site to phrase this as an allegation; it is exactly what the court found occurred, so there's no risk of misstating or libel exposure.
Yes, if you are unfamiliar with the situation, like I was, it isn't 100% clear IMO.
Imo, the part of this whole controversy that's really been danced around is how much of the disputed $250m bonus is developer bonus and how much is executive bonus. I would be very interested in more details around this breakdown and eligibility if anyone has seen it.
As far as I've seen, the only indicator that this was anything other than an executive bonus dispute was one executive claiming they were totally going to share it with the rest of the team after the shit went down and the story was in the press. Sorry if I find that claim less than reputable. What Krafton did was undeniably greedy and illegal, but how worked up am I supposed to get about executive payouts? It seems like the other employees weren't in the sale language at all, and there's a very real possibility they may end up getting larger bonuses now that the executives have resorted to using their development team as a tool to garner additional public sympathy.
It's fine. It's just the first game with a shitty UE5 plaster on top and a slightly different story. Wish they'd improved upon the general depth of interaction with the world, but it's exactly the same as the other two.
They fixed a bunch of mechanics and are adding multiplayer so that’s nice.
Co-op with my brothers and dad (who was a scuba trainer) is gonna be a blast.
I have a general unease about the sea and water in general so I'm sure it'll have some lovely tense moments once we get playing.
My kids and I did Raft together and it was a fun bonding experience I hope Subnautica 2 can replicate.
Sells would mean the people owns it. In this case the EULA is clear, you are renting the game...
You aren't wrong, that's why I use Goldberg/steamless to keep my library of steam games safe, even if steam shits the bed
Fuck this game. The CEO ties to fuck over employees and last year they announced shifting to "AI first" for gaming. Fuck Krafton and every game they make or buy.
The CEO got punished for it, dude. Let go. The game is only alive because the employees fought the dipshit tooth and nail at every turn and he got shafted. Now he owes all the employees 250 million.
caveat: the game still has to sell at least 3M copies for the devs to get the $250M
They sold 2M copies in the first 12h, I think they'll hit that target.
The CEO got punished for it, dude.
How many years did he get?
Lost full rights of any managerial ability with subnautica 2 & reinstated the old CEO & required to pay the bonus out if sale targets are hit and the deadline was extended to September/w the ability to delay the deadline further to march 2027 at the choice of Unknown World.
That's also ignoring monetary damages and punishment for it which is phase two of the lawsuit and currently in the courts still.
I doubt jail time will be done(nor should it really as this is all monetary issues) but, punishment for the blatent breakage of the EPA terms is likely nowhere near over for krafton.
I have a soft spot for the first two, but that's mainly because I can play them on my phone and the controls actually aren't awful like most mobile games.
So only a year wait, until it's stable and affordable.
It's already stable and $30 for the amount of content already is worth it. I've got almost 20 hours with 2 other friends playing coop on it and having an absolute blast so far.
It's less than $30 for a game worth more than that imo. I also haven't had any stability issues with it on Linux.
