Judge rules that Krafton must rehire fired Subnautica director
A judge has ruled that publisher Krafton must reinstate Ted Gill as CEO of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, . The company fired Gill and two other co-founders last year as part of a shake-up .
The Delaware judge said Krafton violated the terms of its contract with Unknown Worlds by firing the executives. “To remedy these violations, Gill is reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds with full operational authority over the studio,” Judge Lori W. Will wrote.
A Krafton spokesperson said in a statement that “we respectfully disagree with today’s decision” and that “we are evaluating our options to determine our path forward.” Other litigation regarding potential damages is still pending.
This legal battle has been brewing for a while. Krafton bought Unknown Worlds in 2021 and the contract stipulated that executives and staff would share a $250 million bonus if they reached certain revenue targets by 2025. These targets were not met and could not be met, because .
According to the pre-trial brief, Krafton CEO Changham Kim canceled the payment because it would constitute a “professional embarrassment” and make it seem like “child’s play.” He reportedly asked for ways to avoid paying the bonus and, curiously, appeared to consider a hostile takeover by a newly created entity.
Judge Will criticized the CEO on both counts, saying Kim regretted engaging in the payment and “consulted an artificial intelligence chatbot to develop a corporate ‘takeover’ strategy.” Engadget contacted Krafton and the company reiterated that it was unhappy with the decision, but said it was not resolving the ongoing litigation.
As for the game, Krafton says Subnautic 2 arrive as soon as possible. We’ve heard this one before.
