By now, it’s no secret that Krafton has completely lost the fight with the founders of Unknown Worlds Entertainment over Subnautica 2. The judge grilling Krafton for its numerous sins in their ruling yesterday should be evidence of that. With Ted Gill back in control of Unknown Worlds and its games at long last, the future of Subnautica as a whole looks very bright now. Indeed, it looks even brighter now that Subnautica 2 finally has its long-awaited release window…and just a day after the ruling to boot.
IGN has just reported that Subnautica 2 has finally received its long-awaited launch window for Steam Early Access. That Early Access window will apparently be sometime in May 2026 for PC and Xbox. That information came directly from Krafton’s acting CEO for Unknown Worlds and part-time CEO of Striking Distance Studios: Steve Papoutsis in an internal message to Subnautica 2‘s development team. That message reads:
Team,
We want to take a moment to sincerely thank every member of the Unknown Worlds team and our partners. Over the past nine months, you have worked incredibly hard to bring Subnautica 2 close to the finish line. That effort has resulted in a game we are truly proud of, one that each of us and our partners at KRAFTON unanimously determined is ready for Early Access release in May.
Thanks to your dedication and talent, we’ve added more story chapters, built new creatures, and created new biomes along with many other features. With this significant progress, we have passed KRAFTON’s milestone review last week and are now ready to start our open development journey alongside our community. We have full confidence that we have reached a point where we can deliver an experience our players will love.
We look forward to working with Ted Gill to support a smooth transition and work toward a successful launch. Our priority is getting this game into the hands of the community that has been eagerly waiting for it—and that means honoring the work you have already done to make that possible.
Krafton themselves then confirmed the message’s authenticity with PC Gamer. Not only that, but they then added their own statement, which you can read below:
The team has made meaningful progress following the milestone review approved earlier this month, and has been working toward an early access release in May.
While we respectfully disagree with this week’s court ruling and intend to explore all legal avenues, our goal is to minimize disruption to the team and to the release plan. We remain committed to an open development approach, working closely with the community as development continues, and are focused on delivering the best possible experience to players.
Subnautica 2 Finally Entering Steam Early Access in May 2026
Rejoice, fans of Subnautica! For it certainly looks as though Krafton has finally caved to pressure now that they face legal consequences for not doing so, and are finally releasing Subnautica 2 in just under two months as of this writing. It’s been a very long wait to boot, especially since the game has been ready for Early Access since at least June 2025. It’s sad that it required a court order for Krafton to release the game, but now it’s done, and we can look forward to finally experiencing what Ted Gill and the rest of Unknown Worlds has in store for us on the brand new world of Zezura.
Alas, Krafton can’t help but try to get in one last jab even in their statements, insisting that this release schedule had been their plan all along, and barely mentioning Ted Gill or the legal ruling at all. That insistence rings very hollow though in the face of that legal ruling. It will be most amusing to watch Krafton continue to try to save face in the wake of being so thoroughly trounced by the court. I do believe we can all look forward to a bit of laughs at Krafton’s expense in the future.
What do you all think? Are you excited to finally be able to play Subnautica 2 in May? Tell us your joyously aquatic thoughts in the comment section below.
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