Key Takeaways
1. Unknown Worlds’ founders were dismissed by Krafton just before Subnautica 2’s early access, initially citing the game’s readiness as the reason.
2. The founders have filed a lawsuit against Krafton, claiming their termination was unjust and asserting that they were not neglecting their responsibilities.
3. Krafton has changed its justification for the dismissal, now focusing on allegations of deception and abandonment rather than the game’s readiness.
4. Accusations have emerged regarding the founders downloading confidential data, which Krafton claims contributed to their firing, but this information surfaced post-termination.
5. Krafton is facing accusations of being uncooperative in the lawsuit, leading to surprise from both the judge and the founders’ legal team regarding the shifting allegations.
Back in July, the creators of Unknown Worlds, the studio known for the Subnautica series, were dismissed by their parent company Krafton just before the early access of the second game, citing the game’s readiness as the cause. Shortly after their termination, the founders took legal action against Krafton, and the situation has become increasingly complicated. The newest update indicates that Krafton now considers the main reason for their firing as irrelevant and is shifting focus to other allegations.
Lawsuit Developments
After the lawsuit was initiated against Krafton, Unknown Worlds assured its supporters that the work on Subnautica 2 would continue as planned. Not long after, the studio filed a lawsuit against the former co-founders, claiming that their behavior contributed to delays and limited progress on the game. The lawsuit also asserted that the founders had “largely abandoned” their responsibilities as creative and technical leads.
Changing Arguments
As per a report from PCGamer, Fortis Advisors, representing the co-founders, mentioned, “The termination letters for the founders cited one reason for their dismissal, which was the alleged lack of readiness of Subnautica 2 for launch. Krafton has consistently reiterated this justification.” However, according to the report, Krafton has now altered its stance and removed the initial reason regarding the game’s readiness from consideration.
Now, Krafton asserts that the state of the game was not relevant to the termination of the co-founders; instead, they claim the issues were about deception and abandonment. They stated that the previous leadership “abandoned their positions” and “deceived” their employer, leading to their dismissal. Additionally, Krafton accused the former founders of downloading files and retaining devices containing confidential data. This information only came to light after the termination, so it couldn’t be cited as a valid reason for their firing. Furthermore, the co-founders maintained that they were entitled to those documents and devices, a point supported by the judge.
Accusations and Surprises
Moreover, Fortis has also charged Krafton with being uncooperative regarding information about the substantial earnout and has contested the requests for discovery. The renewed allegations from Krafton caught Fortis and Judge Lori W. Will off guard, with the judge demanding immediate clarification. Ultimately, both sides agreed to discuss further and concluded that the game’s readiness was not the cause of the co-founders’ termination.
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