What happened

The dispute centered on the 2025 breakup between Krafton and Unknown Worlds, the studio behind Subnautica 2. 

Court filings alleged that Krafton CEO Changhan Kim asked ChatGPT for ways to avoid paying the founders’ earnout, then moved ahead with a takeover-style plan that included removing the founders and controlling publishing rights. 

Reports said the founders were fired, the game’s release was delayed, and the resulting actions affected both the executives directly and the studio’s staff and players indirectly.

Why it happened

The apparent root cause was a financial conflict over a contractually owed payout, with Krafton allegedly deciding the deal was too expensive and trying to reshape the situation to escape the obligation. 

The controversy also points to a transparency problem: the company allegedly relied on internal AI-assisted planning while refusing, when pressed, to produce the ChatGPT conversations. That made it harder for outsiders, including courts and affected founders, to understand who decided what and on what basis.