Krafton's ChatGPT Gamble Backfires in Subnautica Studio Dispute

0:00On March 18th, a Delaware court has ruled that Krafton must reinstate the leadership of its game studio, Unknown World, after the company's CEO tried. Using Chad G.P.T. to dodge a huge bonus payment. The studio, known for the Subnautica Games, was bought by Krafton for $500 million back in 2021, with promises of. Independence and an earn out worth of the $250 million if performance targets were hit. As Subnautica 2 geared up for release last year, projections showed those targets would be met, triggering the payout. Krafton's CEO, Changhan Kim, saw it as a problem despite legal warnings that firing the leaders for cause would not cancel the earn out and could lead to lawsuits. Ignoring the advice, Kim turned to Chad G.P.T. for ideas on how to handle it. The AI suggested forming a task force to either renegotiate or take over the studio. And Krafton followed through with many of those steps, including ousting the co-founders

1:00and CEO Ted Gill. In her ruling, Vice Chancellor Lori Will ordered full operational control back to Gill and extended the time frame for meeting the earn out goals, siding firmly with the studio leaders. Krafton says it disagrees with the decision and is reviewing next steps, but insists it's pushing hard to polish Subnautica 2 for early access, keeping fans in mind as the saga plays out.