Subnautica 2 has launched in early access after a protracted legal battle and has become a massive hit within just 12 hours of release. The survival game, which launched on PC and Xbox Series S/X on May 14, has sold 2 million copies in just 12 hours, developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment has announced.
Just ahead of its early access launch on Thursday, Subnautica 2 reached 1 million copies sold and hit the top of Steam’s global top sellers charts. Just a day later, the game has doubled its sales, reaching 2 million copies sold in just 12 hours of early access.
Subnautica 2 Legal Battle
The remarkable early access launch of the game comes after a lengthy legal battle between executives at developer Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton. Last year in July, Krafton announced a leadership shuffle at the developer, replacing CEO Ted Gill and studio co-founders Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire with Steve Papoutsis.
Days after the leadership change, reports emerged that Krafton was delaying the early access launch of Subnautica 2, initially planned for 2025, just months before it had to pay a $250 million bonus to the Unknown Worlds development team. The South Korean company would have had to pay the bonus if the studio met certain revenue targets by the end of 2025. Launching Subnautica 2 in early access late last year would have helped the developer reach the target.
The former leadership team of Gill, Cleveland, and McGuire filed a lawsuit Krafton, and earlier this year, a judge found that Krafton was in breach of agreement and ordered the company to reinstate Gill as CEO of Unknown Worlds.
Ahead of its early access launch, Subnautica 2 hit 5 million wishlishts on Steam.
On Steam, the survival title reached a peak concurrent player count of 467,582 just hours after launch, as per SteamDB charts. Subnautica 2 is now among the most played games on Valve’s platform.
“The Early Access launch of Subnautica 2 marks the beginning of an adventure to chart the unknown deep alongside players worldwide,” Fernando Melo, executive producer of Subnautica 2, said in a statement. “Player feedback is the compass guiding our direction, and we will continue building the experience together with the community throughout Early Access.”
Subnautica 2 is available in early access on PC (via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Xbox app) and Xbox Series S/X.
