He didn't want to be a "pushover".
Unknown Worlds
Krafton is in the middle of a lawsuit with Unknown Worlds, the creator of Subnautica 2, whose bosses, Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire, were ousted by the publisher.
In a pre-trial brief filed by lawyers representing the trio, it is claimed that Krafton's CEO, Changham Kim, consulted ChatGPT to find a way to avoid paying the devs bonuses.
UW was supposed to get the earnout of $191 million if sales targets were achieved, but Kim thought it was "professional embarrassment" that made him a "pushover" and he'd lose the company because he overpaid for the studio, acquired in 2021.
Alas, even AI told him it would be "difficult to cancel the earnout," supporting the opinion of Krafton's head of corporate development Maria Park.
The brief says that "Krafton did not produce the ChatGPT conversations and, when pressed, confirmed that they no longer exist," and the company itself denied the allegations in a statement to PC Gamer.
"This claim is simply a distraction from their own efforts to destroy evidence, such as Charlie’s reminder to the other Key Employees (Max and Ted) to delete anything ‘incriminating’ from their own ChatGPT accounts. Contrary to Fortis’s claims, Krafton offered to extend the earnout period if the Key Employees returned to their contractually required roles."
In an attempt to skip the earnout, Kim allegedly started "Project X," an initiative aimed at making the founders delay Subnautica 2 or forcing a takeover of the studio.
Krafton denied these claims as well, saying that as a result of Cleveland and McGuire's actions, "Krafton was forced to gather and keep track of the ongoing attempts to repair those relationships, try to get Charlie and Max back doing their jobs, and work to release a successful Subnautica 2. The former executives are trying to turn that hard work into something nefarious."
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