Anonymous
7/10/2025, 4:36:47 AM No.715026319
I work at Unknown Worlds. I’m not going to say exactly where or who I am, but I’ve been on the Subnautica 2 team long enough to know exactly what’s going on. The game’s Early Access release got pushed to 2026. The official announcement says it’s because we "want to respond to community feedback" and "add more content". That’s complete PR bullshit.
The truth? There’s a performance bonus clause in our contracts. If we hit certain release milestones and sales targets by the original window, the dev team, everyone from artists to designers to engineers, would be owed a collective $250 million in bonuses. That’s not a typo. $250 million, spread across the whole team. It was the one thing keeping morale afloat for a lot of us. So, instead of honoring that agreement, higher ups made the call to delay the game past the payout window. Not because the game isn’t ready. It is. We’ve been running playtests. Players were enjoying it. It’s stable, it’s got content, it’s what you’d expect from an EA launch. Hell, that’s how the first Subnautica got built, launch early, iterate with the community.
But this time? They’re playing it safe with their wallets. Not yours. And now we’re expected to act like it’s for your benefit. Like this is all about "making the game better for the fans". That’s the company line. It’s complete horseshit. The real reason is money. They don’t want to pay us. I’m proud of what we’ve made. The team has worked their asses off. People have poured years into this game. And now corporate is dangling the finish line just out of reach to save themselves a fat check.
So when you see new trailers or dev vlogs in the coming months, just remember they aren’t doing that out of love. They’re doing it to distract you. To keep the community hyped while the devs keep grinding under a broken promise. We’ll keep working. Because most of us still care about the game. But don’t let them pretend this was about polish or feedback.
It was about profit. Full stop.
The truth? There’s a performance bonus clause in our contracts. If we hit certain release milestones and sales targets by the original window, the dev team, everyone from artists to designers to engineers, would be owed a collective $250 million in bonuses. That’s not a typo. $250 million, spread across the whole team. It was the one thing keeping morale afloat for a lot of us. So, instead of honoring that agreement, higher ups made the call to delay the game past the payout window. Not because the game isn’t ready. It is. We’ve been running playtests. Players were enjoying it. It’s stable, it’s got content, it’s what you’d expect from an EA launch. Hell, that’s how the first Subnautica got built, launch early, iterate with the community.
But this time? They’re playing it safe with their wallets. Not yours. And now we’re expected to act like it’s for your benefit. Like this is all about "making the game better for the fans". That’s the company line. It’s complete horseshit. The real reason is money. They don’t want to pay us. I’m proud of what we’ve made. The team has worked their asses off. People have poured years into this game. And now corporate is dangling the finish line just out of reach to save themselves a fat check.
So when you see new trailers or dev vlogs in the coming months, just remember they aren’t doing that out of love. They’re doing it to distract you. To keep the community hyped while the devs keep grinding under a broken promise. We’ll keep working. Because most of us still care about the game. But don’t let them pretend this was about polish or feedback.
It was about profit. Full stop.
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