Subnautica 2 Is Heading to Early Access in May 2026

Subnautica 2 is getting an early access release in May 2026 for Xbox and PC, and both developer Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton are on board with the plan.

This news comes after months of legal drama between the two parties that had put the game's future in serious doubt.

Image via Unknown Worlds

For those who missed the saga, Krafton fired Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill, along with two other senior team members, back in July 2025, claiming they were "checked out" and had failed to deliver a game ready for early access.

The fired leaders hit back with a lawsuit, arguing that Krafton was simply trying to dodge a $250 million bonus that was promised during the acquisition of Unknown World in 2021, if the game reached a certain milestone by the end of 2025.

Things got messy from there, with accusations flying on both sides. One of the more striking claims was that Krafton CEO Changhan Kim had used ChatGPT to brainstorm ways to avoid paying the bonus. The fired leaders, meanwhile, faced allegations of making racist remarks toward Korea and the Korean people.

The tide turned recently when a judge ordered Krafton to extend the deadline tied to the bonus conditions and reinstate Gill in his former role.

According to IGN, Unknown Worlds head Steve Papoutsis sent an internal message to the team, stating, "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."

Papoutsis also acknowledged the hard work the team put in, noting that they have added more story chapters, built new creatures, and created new biomes, among many other features, over the past nine months.

Krafton, for its part, confirmed the early access plan while making it clear that it still disagrees with the court ruling. As per the statement shared with IGN, the publisher said, "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."

So what can players actually expect when early access drops? The team has been quietly building out the experience for a while now. Just last month, Unknown Worlds released a video walking fans through the co-op multiplayer implementation. Before that, they showed off a brand new deep-sea predator during a showcase.

An exact release date within May has not been confirmed yet, but with both sides now aligned on the launch window, that announcement should not be too far off.