Krafton has publicised new court filings it claims highlight the scale of misconduct committed by former Unknown Worlds executives Charlie Cleveland, Max McGuire, Ted Gill, who were fired by the company earlier this year for allegedly abandoning their posts and refusing to work on Subnautica 2.
The legal scuffle began shortly after Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill were fired by Krafton. They claimed they were ousted because they didn’t want to delay Subnautica 2, which in their view was ready to launch into early access this year. Notably, they claimed Krafton chose to push the title to 2026 to avoid paying a time-sensitive $250 million earnout tied to its successful launch.
They filed a lawsuit against the company alleging as much shortly after they were removed from their posts.
Krafton hit back and claimed all three leaders “lost interest” in developing Subnautica 2 after it purchased Unknown Worlds in 2021 and said they instead prioritized their own personal projects and monetary interests. Krafton subsidiary Unknown Worlds then filed a lawsuit against its former leaders in which it alleged they exited the company in possession of more than 170,000 confidential files.
The publisher has now elaborated on those claims in a motion to compel filed on September 15, 2025 in response to Unknown Worlds’ founders own motion to compel. In the filing, Krafton claims it offered to extend the earnout period of that hefty $250 million bonus in June 2025 if Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill (referred to as the ‘Key Employees’ in the filing) returned to work.
“The Key Employees were fired for Cause because they covertly abandoned their posts, deceived Krafton about it, and stole Confidential Information on their way out the door. When Krafton discovered their ruse, Krafton asked them to do the jobs they promised they would and finish developing Subnautica 2,” reads the filing.
“The Key Employees refused, threatened to self-publish Subnautica 2, and—anticipating their termination—stole hundreds of thousands of Unknown Worlds and Krafton confidential documents before they were fired, presumably in furtherance of their plan to unilaterally self-publish Subnautica 2 and capitalize on the earnout.”
Krafton claims Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill lied when confronted about their actions and have so far refused to identify devices containing confidential information and have only “selectively returned some.”
The publisher is arguing the theft is now relevant to its decision to terminate Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill for cause. It also claims Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill are pushing for an “expansive” discovery phase—which, according to the American Bar Association, is “the formal process of exchanging information between the parties about the witnesses and evidence they’ll present at trial—in order to “deflect from the Key Employees’ misconduct.”
“First, Plaintiff demands Krafton search and produce documents from 24 different custodians, a facially unreasonable and unrealistic request made just one month before the substantial completion deadline. Merely collecting and processing 24 custodial files (terabytes of data) would take Krafton weeks or months past the substantial completion deadline,” said Krafton, outlining its position.
“Applying Plaintiff’s proposed search terms against all 24 custodians would require Krafton to review millions of (irrelevant) documents, which would also be impossible in the time allotted.” Krafton claims the focus of the case is whether it “terminated the founders for cause and whether, as Krafton argues, the founders failed to operate Unknown Worlds’ business in the ordinary course.”
It feels Fortis Advisors, the firm representing Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill, is seeking an “unreasonably broad discovery” outside the scope of either issue. It has also requested the court issue an order requiring the preservation of the confidential information allegedly stolen by Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill—who it claims have “threatened to delete or access the information they downloaded.”
Krafton claims former Unknown Words execs began a “downloading frenzy” in anticipation of being fired
In the case of Gill, specifically, Krafton said he told the company he was merely “backing up a few things” when he was instead embarking upon a “two-day export of a full copy of his Unknown Worlds Google Drive and email, including volumes of confidential company materials.”
That download allegedly took place in late May 2025, which is after Krafton says it decided to delay Subnautica 2.
“By late June 2025, after refusing Krafton’s offer to extend the earnout and return to their jobs and work on Subnautica 2, Krafton told the Key Employees that Krafton and Unknown Worlds would ‘take all actions necessary to prevent inevitable and irreversible harm,’ including terminating them” continues Krafton.
“Anticipating their firing, the Key Employees began a downloading frenzy, presumably to release the game themselves.”
An affidavit submitted in support of Krafton’s motion by Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) managing director Kevin Negangard, who specializes in the preservation and investigation of electronic evidence from digital devices, attempts to outline the severity of the alleged data theft.
As noted by Krafton, A&M has been retained by the publisher to identify, collect, and analyze electronically stored information (ESI) and perform forensic analysis in connection with the case.
Negangard said A&M, which was provided with an Unknown Worlds Google Workspace account (with Administrator privileges) on July 18, 2025, observed “numerous downloads” within a short period of time occurring in June and July 2025. He claimed that is indicative of a “mass download of complete folders and their contents from Google Drive.”
Discussing the downloads of individuals, Negangard said audit logs recorded 72,140 download events initiated by Cleveland’s Account during that timeframe. He said a preliminary forensic analysis indicates that Cleveland downloaded tens of thousands of files, including some related to Unknown World’s turn-based strategy title, Moonbreaker.
“Cleveland exported hundreds of Subnautica Maya (.ma) files, which are used in 3D animation modelling and contain proprietary embedded data, providing, effectively, a blueprint for a game,” added Negangard.
Krafton claims Cleveland downloaded what “essentially amounts to a blueprint for Subnautica.”
McGuire is also accused of extracting similar data, with audit logs recording 99,902 download events allegedly initiated by their account.
“Preliminary forensic review indicates that McGuire downloaded hundreds of documents related to Moonbreaker’s development, with file names such as ‘Moonbreaker Roadmap,’ ‘Moonbreaker Monetization,’ ‘Moonbreaker Milestone Report Cards,’ and ‘Moonbreaker / Warpaint Business models,’ said Negangard.
“McGuire also downloaded over 100 Moonbreaker playtests and internal analyses of playtesters’ feedback. Beyond that, McGuire downloaded numerous documents that could potentially be confidential or proprietary to Krafton and/or Unknown Worlds: documents entitled ‘General Ledger,’ ‘UW hiring plan,’ ‘Unknown Worlds Budget and Projections,’ and similar names, hundreds of payroll and tax reports, and thousands of Subnautica branding and promotional materials.”
Krafton claims its latest filings further highlights the “misconduct” of Unknown Worlds’ former executives and said it will continue to present evidence demonstrating as much.
Game Developer has reached out to Krafton for more information on the case.