Pretty wild!
Wow so allegedly Krafton wanted to avoid paying a $250 million bonus by firing the CEOs and delaying the release. Quite scummy.
As much as I like Subnautica, I’m not buying Subnautica 2 if Krafton stands a chance at seeing any of the revenue. I might be the only human capable of voting with my wallet, and I’m going to use this power.
I’m American, I strongly believe in collateral damage, I will willingly make the children of the Unknown Worlds Entertainment staff go hungry. That’s the choice Unknown Worlds’ higher-ups made going into business with shifty Asian shit-for-fucks promising executive bonuses bigger than the gross revenue of anything their studio has made.
Subnautica was Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s biggest seller. I don’t have exact sales figures but Wikipedia says “over 5 million copies.” Assuming every copy sold at the full retail price of $30, that’s a gross revenue of $150 million. Below Zero sold for the same price and probably fewer copies, so the entire Subnautica franchise has grossed an estimated $300 million total. They have other games which are small potatoes compared to Subnautica. So, you’re the CEO of Unknown Worlds, you know your games pull about $150 million gross each. What kind of smoke do the Koreans blow up your ass to convince you your next game is going to do so well they’ll be able to cover $250 million in bonuses while still covering rent, bills and normal wages?
I’m American, I strongly believe in collateral damage
Damn dude.
21st century satire is a pissy little bitch, ain’t it?
Amen brother. I’m not buying it either if that’s the case. Didn’t say I wouldn’t play it.
Ahoy there me matee.
Hola 🏴☠️🏴☠️
My son and I are on board, that’s 2 more licenses/fans lost.
I have already decided I am pirating it. Not a chance in hell Krafton is getting a single cent from me.
I am ok with making their children go hungry
But that not what you’re doing. They work for the company, company makes decisions. By choosing to work for that company you are standing by their decisions. When the company makes a bad decision, that’s on you. They are ok with their children starving because otherwise they wouldn’t be working for a company that pulls this bullshit.
And yeah, there’s always the chance that the company started good, and people didn’t realize what it had become until it became an issue. But when it becomes an issue, either deal with it, or leave. They’re top tier game developers, any team would be lucky to have them. If no other team will have them, they can start their own team. By choosing to stick with the company making shitty decisions you are making those shitty decisions. They made their bed, you aren’t the one sleeping in it.
It’s a sales bonus, so the 250m is probably a cap not the floor, or a projected amount based on prior sales. I never read anywhere that it was literally a flat value owed based only on release date, but if somebody has some more specific reference to that I’d like to read.
My understanding was it was for getting the game out on early access by a certain date, which they were going to hit, which is why they were unceremoniously and illegally fired.
Yeah I’m imagining there’s more criteria to the payout than just that. The release date might have been the only milestone they could frustrate in a deniable way
Never assume reasonableness when businessman will suffice.
Yes but it was a little more complicated than that
Did you not read the article…?
Zero chance this end well. Once you overstay your welcome you leave or you take down the product in large orgs. Too much opportunity for fuckery at that level.
What would help is everyone involved with that decision got the fucking boot, got fined and/or jail time, but as usual the ramifications of these things don’t have any real punishment for the people who broke the law.
They were the shareholders weren’t they? The IP literally belongs to them. At this stage the community can write it off. I agree with you that there should be some form of deterrent so that others companies are not pulling the same crap.
Rampant, sociopathic, infinite growth corporate leadership is one thing, but I always assumed someone was being served by these CEOs. What this brief says about Kim is incredible, and that he didn’t settle this case is just icing on the cake of incompetence here.
I’m old enough to remember when CEOs got held to account for this sort of thing, but I guess the big boys are all kings of their castles now. I’d be pissed if I was a Krafton shareholder.
I think they can come in, release a decent game and maybe make their bonus. Then everyone leaves and makes a new company and it’s poisoned by investors.
I’m not familiar enough with the gaming industry but ego is a bitch at c-level pretty much everywhere. To what extent will EVERYONE with enough influence want their bonus ? Or will they chose fuckery…
I don’t care what they do … I just really hope that a decent Subnautica sequel comes out of it.
I’m definitively hoping with you. But this ain’t a good news :-/
Yeah me too. With all this creative tomfoolery though I can’t imagine it’s helpful to to guys in the trenches coding the thing.
I’m looking forward to something like “Undersea Survival” made by the same creatives they’re taking a shit on now - after the real talent leaves to found a new studio or two.
If that’s already happening, someone please link me to it.
It’s not yet been decided what monetary damages, if any, will result from the ruling, nor is it clear if Subnautica 2’s release will be affected.
Sounds to me like fair damages would start with removing Unknown Worlds from Krafton’s ownership.
Would absolutely love that. Just split the two. Unknown Worlds cut loose, existing publishing agreements severed, they walk away with a developed game and their IP. Free to contract with Krafton or anyone else to distribute the game, or they could just self-publish pretty easily.
Sadly I doubt that will happen but we can always hope.
This has been one of the craziest stories in gaming in a long while.
So does this mean that the old Unknown Worlds founders are back in as well?
The court leaves that up to the reinstated CEO
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