KRAFTON's CEO used ChatGPT to avoid Subnautica 2 bonuses, lawsuit says

The controversy surrounding KRAFTON and Unknown Worlds, developer of Subnautica 2, escalated after the pre-trial document presentation by the former studio heads. The document accuses KRAFTON CEO, Changham Kim, of actively seeking ways to avoid paying an earnout bonus to the Subnautica 2 team, even consulting an AI tool, ChatGPT.

The allegations arise after KRAFTON delayed the early access launch of Subnautica 2 to 2026 and removed key members of the Unknown Worlds leadership, including Charlie Cleveland, director of the original Subnautica.

According to the document released by GameDeveloper, the dismissed leaders claim that CEO Kim and KRAFTON only decided to take control of the studio after they held firm positions in the bonus payment negotiations. CEO Kim was "obsessed with finding a way to avoid Krafton's obligation to pay the earnout":

"Already concerned that Krafton had paid too much to acquire Unknown Worlds, Kim feared that making any payment of earnout to the Founders would earn him a reputation as a 'pushover' and jeopardize his position as CEO," states the document.

The document alleges that Kim turned to ChatGPT to "brainstorm ways to avoid paying" the bonus, after KRAFTON's Chief Corporate Development Officer, Maria Park, told the CEO that the payment would be due if sales targets were met, "regardless of dismissal for cause".

The alleged advice from ChatGPT was that it would be "difficult to cancel the earnout" if the targets were achieved. KRAFTON's solution would have been to change the early access launch of Subnautica 2 to be outside of the earnout window. A footnote in the document indicates that KRAFTON did not provide the ChatGPT conversations and "confirmed they no longer exist".

These allegations come just weeks after KRAFTON declared itself an "AI-first company" in October, promising to "put AI at the center of problems solving". PUBG creator, Brendan Greene, had already distantiated himself from KRAFTON's AI mandate, saying he was "encouraged" to see people speaking out against the use of generative AI in game development.

KRAFTON was sued by the former leaders of Unknown Worlds who claim that CEO Changham Kim used ChatGPT to figure out how to avoid paying an earnout bonus for Subnautica 2 after postponing the early access to 2026. The pre-trial document suggests that Kim's fear of being seen as a "pushover" and the bonus commitment motivated the developers' departure.