#krafton

Krafton CEO looks at the hype surrounding Subnautica 2, goes over the contract between Krafton and Unknown Worlds, realizes he'll have to pay out bonuses and freaks out because shelling out those bonuses will make him look like a pushover.

CEO goes to his legal department, asks them to come up with a plan to weasel out of paying bonuses. Legal tells him the contract is iron-clad and to accept the loss.

CEO refuses to take the loss, asks ChatGPT for a plan. ChatGPT says the exact same thing the legal department did.

CEO demands a plan from ChatGPT, which dutifully spits out a plan at this point because clearly the CEO is a goddamn idiot.

CEO deletes the chat logs, failing to understand that 'delete' doesn't permanently remove things.

CEO follows plan, and is surprised when Unknown Worlds sues for breach of contract despite being told by both humans and an LLM that is exactly what would happen.

Court does not go well for Krafton's legal department. It comes out that after ignoring the sound legal advice of human beings, the CEO went to ChatGPT and asked for a plan. When asked for the logs by the court, Krafton's legal team states they were deleted, thus that it's simply herersay. Judge goes "Oh, that's okay, we'll have our IT folks recover them." Krafton's legal team is astounded that's even possible.

The chat logs are recovered. It comes out that even ChatGPT was in agreement with Krafton's legal department, and only spat out a plan after being asked a second time.

The judge, now thoroughly done with the stupidity of Krafton's CEO at this point, rules in favor of Unknown Worlds. Her ruling doesn't simply undo the scheme, but effectively leaves all control over Subnautica 2's development in the hands of Unknown Worlds, including the early access release date, reducing Krafton to just publishing out of contractual obligation. Krafton must also return all social media platforms for Unknown Worlds and Subnautica 2 to Unknown Worlds' control. Financial damages will be determined at a later date.

Krafton proceeds to violate the court order in less than 72 hours by trying to set an early access release date before returning Unknown Worlds' social media platforms.

If you don't want to play it anymore I have no business in that, but I keep seeing people calling for a full-scale boycott.

Guys that's not gonna help.

Pre-orders for the long-awaited physical edition of Hi-Fi RUSH will go live via Limited Run Games from January 16 to March 1, the distributor announced.

The physical release will be available in the following three editions:

Rhythm Edition ($39.99)

-Hi-Fi RUSH Deluxe Edition

T-hree downloadable content costume packs

Bossplay

Traditional Garb

Templay

Smidge Edition ($69.99)

-Hi-Fi RUSH Deluxe Edition

-Three downloadable content costume pack

Bossplay

Traditional Garb

Templay

-Three-disc soundtrack, including liner notes

Armstrong Edition ($174.99)

-Hi-Fi RUSH Deluxe Edition

-Three downloadable content costume pack

Bossplay

Traditional Garb

Templay

-Three-disc soundtrack, including liner notes

-Hardcover art book

-Eight-inch 808 plush

-Six-inch Chai’s guitar replica

-Chai’s Project Armstrong pass

-Jumbo glow in the dark spinning MP3 player pin

-Individually numbered certificate of authenticity

- You get a license, you don't actually own the game

- You aren't allowed to publish recordings, screenshots etc. or stream the game without a disclaimer that the activity is not supported by Krafton Inc. (and that the footage is subject to the EULA)

- Cannot upload such content to a paid platform (presumably such as Patreon or a Youtube members-only video)

- Krafton can take away your access to the game at any point for any reason without prior notice (something they continuously bring up in the EULA)

- The terms of the agreement can change at any point for any reason without any notice by Krafton and you of course must regularly check the terms to make sure.

- They reserve the right to remote access the game, whatever they mean by this

- It is not allowed to use the game for commercial gain (presumably such as streaming etc.) without Kraftons permission

- You cannot play the game on more than one device without purchasing additional licenses

- You cannot modify the game illegally and if you do Krafton owns that modification

- A bunch of weird clauses that just prohibit behaviour outside of the game, including tarnishing Kraftons reputation

- You are not allowed to deceive or exploit Krafton, the definition of which is determined by Krafton

- You are not allowed to exploit bugs

- You are not allowed to use external programs such as macros or cheat engine

- You are not allowed to have indecent nicknames or nicknames that cause negative associations

- You are not allowed to use someone else's account to access the game

- You are not allowed to USE A VPN or any technology that masks your location

- You are not allowed to spam content from the game

- YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE ACTIONS THAT GO AGAINST "SOCIAL NORMS"

- You are not allowed to create any content that is based on the IP (presumably such as fan art etc.), and if you do, they own it

- Any player created from the game content belongs to them as well

- They do not guarantee a smooth gameplay experience

- A bunch of clauses that they cannot be held accountable if you suffer any damages, but even if they could, they would pay a MAXIMUM of 50 US-Dollars

- Not sure if the EULA counts as documentation for the game, but if so, then "using" the documentation of the game means you give up the right to sue Krafton or their employees for anything.

So, presumably, by reading the EULA (using the documentation) you already give up the right to sue them.

- You have no right to a refund under any circumstances unless forced to by law or enforced by the platform the game was sold on.

- If you break the TOS outlined in this EULA, you give up the right to a refund

- They can delete your account if your information is not accurate

- Most of these terms continue to apply AFTER termination of the contract (such as when uninstalling or refunding the game or when they take away your access to it)

- If you have any issues with the EULA you have to inform them in writing first

- If that doesnt work, you have to fight them on terms set by them in San Ramon, California under US Law (in english)

- You give up the right to have a judge or jury preside over the case. I don't even know how that would work but you give up that right (including class actions of course)

- They can make demands of you without having to show any damages they have suffered

- If you think they stole art or other copyrighted material from you then in order to get it removed you must give them a bunch of personal information including your real identity and signature

- Despite having a lower age rating in most places, you still have to be 18 to play the game

- They can harvest your personal data (email, phone number, IP, birth date, gender, country etc.) as well as device information (including the unique ID of your device)

- They pass this data on to third party providers such as cloud services or marketing agencies

If you have not been following the drama, Krafton acquired the studio Unknown Worlds with an agreement that if Subnautica 2 launched on time and did well, they’d have to pay the studio a $250 million bonus. The CEO of Krafton did what all CEOs do — he didn’t interfere with the studio, was supportive, and acted in an honorable fashion ha ha! Who am I kidding? No, he turned to Chat GPT to concoct a plan to weasel out of the obligation while piously bleating that this was to “protect the community”.

It went as well as you would expect, and courts ordered him to reinstate studio leadership (whom he had fired as part of the chat bot’s plan) and to extend the deadline to account for his fuckery.

Anyway, it’s on Steam Early Access for only $30 and apparently it sold well over 1 million copies in the two hours.

Also: I got a new game today, wheeee!

here's another article on the subnautica 2 case, and one that goes into details about the $250mil bonus:

"At the heart of the legal battle was a bonus worth up to $250 million that was attached to Krafton’s acquisition of Unknown Worlds in 2021. The deal contract stipulated that the bonus would be paid out to Unknown Worlds executives and staff if the company hit certain revenue targets by the end of 2025, with an option to extend the period to June 2026. If Unknown Worlds earned more than $69.8 million in revenue, Krafton was obligated to pay $3.12 for each additional dollar of sales up to a cap of $250 million, according to legal filings.

[…] The turmoil began in May 2025, when Krafton’s finance team put together earnout projections in preparation for an August 2025 early access launch of Subnautica 2. Krafton expected the game to sell 1.67 million copies by the end of the year, which would trigger an earnout payment ranging from $191.8 million to $242.2 million, according to the ruling.

When he saw the numbers, Krafton CEO Changhan Kim scrambled to find a way out of paying the earnout, according to the judge’s ruling, which quoted messages from Kim calling it a 'bad deal' and saying that paying the bonus would make him seem like a 'pushover.'"

Project Windless

Reveal Trailer