Subnautica 2 Sold 5 Million Copies in 22 Days & Gave KRAFTON Its Best Second Quarter Ever

Drama between the developer and publisher didn't affect the sales, it seems.

Unknown Worlds Entertainment

KRAFTON has published its Q2 2026 financial report, achieving record second quarter revenue of KRW 1.29 trillion (about $898 million), jumping 94.9% year-over-year.

Its operating profit reached KRW 410.9 billion ($286 million), up 67%, and one of the biggest reasons is definitely Subnautica 2, which entered Early Access in May and sold 5 million units within 22 days.

The whole series, including the prequel and Below Zero, brought the publisher KRW 232.5 billion ($161.8 million).

This success was seemingly not affected by the scandal that divided KRAFTON and Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Subnautica 2 was the game KRAFTON delayed to 2026 shortly after all three Unknown Worlds studio heads left – Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire then sued over a $250 million earnout tied to a 2025 release.

KRAFTON argued the creators had lost interest after the $500 million buyout, but whether it's true or not, the detail the internet will never forget is that KRAFTON's CEO reportedly asked ChatGPT how to avoid paying the devs their bonuses. Gill was reinstated earlier this year but left in July, after the publisher agreed to pay the bonuses.

Other than Subnautica, KRAFTON's earnings were led by PUBG, whose first-half revenue rose 25% year-over-year.

"KRAFTON will also unveil five new titles targeting release by 2027 at gamescom 2026 in August, demonstrating the company’s most recent global production pipeline. The company will present a new project based on the PUBG IP for the first time, along with NO LAW, Project ZETA, Age Twisters, and TARAE: The Unbound, beginning full-scale market validation of its next-generation franchise IPs. Building on its diverse IP portfolio, KRAFTON plans to strengthen its system for discovering and scaling up promising IPs to continue securing new franchise IPs," said the press release.

The PC segment of its business reached KRW 560.4 billion ($390.2 million) – 155.1% up YoY, while mobile brought in KRW 451 billion ($314 million), up 5.5% YoY. Console revenue came to KRW 23.8 billion ($16.6 million), up 143.3% YoY, and other revenue streams reached KRW 255 billion ($177.5 million), a jump of 5,010.6% YoY.

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