The legal battle between Krafton and the former heads of Unknown World studio continues. According to GamesIndustry.Biz, the court rejected two requests from Krafton: for a forensic examination and for the forced preservation of data, considering them "unnecessary". Moreover, the main reason for the refusal is that the co-founders of Unknown Worlds — Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire — claim that Krafton suddenly changed one of the key arguments in its defense.
Initially, Krafton stated that it fired the co-founders for trying to release Subnautica 2 before it was ready. However, the company has now changed its position, claiming that the reason for the dismissal was that Gill, Cleveland and McGuire copied files to which they had access as part of their work at Unknown Worlds. The law firm Fortis Advisors, representing the interests of the co-founders, calls this new theory of Krafton "a desperate attempt", pointing out that copying files was not illegal, and Krafton learned about it only after the dismissal.
Judge Laurie W. Will expressed bewilderment at Krafton's change of arguments, noting that the initial reason for the dismissal was the attempt to release the game early. According to PC Gamer, Krafton also did not show due cooperation, providing only a limited set of emails as evidence, which mentioned the words "dismissal" and "bonus".