Subnautica 2 has reached over 467,582 concurrent players on Steam, setting a new record for the underwater survival series. The milestone comes amid a legal dispute between developer Unknown Worlds and parent company Krafton.
Record player count fuels legal fallout
Krafton CEO Changhan Kim used ChatGPT for legal strategy in a contract dispute with Unknown Worlds. A Delaware judge dismissed Krafton's attempted corporate takeover to avoid paying a $250 million earnout bonus. Judge Lori W. Will noted that internal projections showed the new title would easily trigger the earnout, and that Kim consulted an AI chatbot to contrive a takeover strategy.
Valve veteran Chet Faliszek criticized Kim's reliance on AI for legal guidance. Faliszek, now with Stray Bombay, said in a YouTube video, "Half a million people are playing it right now," referring to the game's player count.
The case serves as a cautionary tale about executives outsourcing critical legal decisions to AI. Krafton has not confirmed whether it will pay the $250 million bonus.
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