Krafton CEO under fire for allegedly consulting AI to delay bonuses

A legal filing, submitted by lawyers for former Unknown Worlds executives Charlie Cleveland, Ted Gill, and Max McGuise, alleges that Krafton CEO Changhan Kim avoided paying substantial bonuses to employees. The former executives claim they were fired so Krafton would not have to pay the sizeable earnout required by the studio’s contract. 

The filing claims Kim consulted ChatGPT for methods of avoiding the substantial payout, to which the generative AI supposedly responded that it would be difficult to cancel the earnout. Krafton denied the AI allegations. Subnautica 2’s early access launch was supposedly delayed by the initiation of Kim’s Project X, resulting in the title’s early access release sometime in 2026. 

Krafton denied the AI consultation allegations. On Nov. 12, Krafton announced it would implement a voluntary resignation program, effective immediately. The program offers payments to those who choose to voluntarily resign based on their years of service. 

Calculations of the compensation according to the report:

• 1 year or less – 6 month salaries;
• 2 years or less – 12 month salaries;
• 5 years or less – 18 month salaries;
• 8 years or less – 24 month salaries;
• 11 years or less – 30 month salaries;
• more than 11 years – 36 month salaries.

Unknown Worlds is the development studio responsible for Subnautica 2. On July 10, 2025, Unknown Worlds co-founder Charlie Cleveland declared that he is filing a lawsuit against Krafton. Cleveland, together with Ted Gill and Max McGuire, was suddenly removed from his leadership position at Unknown Worlds and replaced by Steve Papoutsis on July 2. The former leaders of Unknown Worlds insisted that Subnautica 2 was ready for early access launch.

In late October, Krafton announced that it would shift its priorities to be an AI-first company, with plans to invest $69.5 million USD to build GPU clusters and even more investments annually, beginning in 2026.