Latest news with #StrikingDistance
Engadget
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Subnautica 2's early access release delayed to 2026 amid developer drama
Subnautica 2 is one of the most highly anticipated games around. It's the second-most wishlisted game on Steam behind (you guessed it) Hollow Knight: Silksong . However, you'll need to wait longer than anticipated to try Subnautica 2 in four-player co-op, as the survival game's early access release has been delayed until early 2026. Developer Unknown Worlds said that community members who took part in playtests provided positive feedback about the story, creatures, environment and general direction of the game. However, the studio said, they "also provided some insight that there are a few areas where we needed to improve before launching the first version of Subnautica 2 to the world. Our community is at the heart of how we develop, so we want to give ourselves a little extra time to respond to more of that feedback before releasing the game into early access. With that in mind, we've made the decision to delay Subnautica 2 's early access release to 2026." To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. The delay will afford Unknown Worlds a chance to add more biomes, tools, vehicle upgrades and creatures while expanding the story, the studio said. Players can expect more details in the coming months. But news of the delay comes amid behind-the-scenes drama at Unknown Worlds. Bloomberg reports that the studio had been in line for a $250 million bonus (which the leadership group planned to share with employees) from Krafton if it hit revenue goals by the end of this year. The delay reportedly means Unknown Worlds is very unlikely to hit those targets. As such, Bloomberg 's sources suggest that means the team of around 100 people may not be eligible for the payout. Last week, Krafton — which bought Unknown Worlds in 2021 — turfed out the studio's leadership team of CEO Ted Gill and co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire. The publisher brought in Steve Papoutsis, a former executive at The Callisto Protocol developer Striking Distance, as the new CEO of Unknown Worlds. "There is nothing more important than the gamer experience. Given the anticipation around Subnautica 2 , we owe our players nothing less than the best possible game, as soon as possible," Krafton CEO CH Kim said in a statement, "We are thrilled Steve is joining us in our shared commitment at Krafton and Unknown Worlds to deliver Subnautica 2 as a more complete and satisfying entry in the series — one that truly lives up to player expectations." Per Bloomberg , Papoutsis told employees this week that Krafton didn't believe Subnautica 2 was ready for an early access release and claimed he didn't know the specifics of the contract regarding the quarter-billion-dollar bonus. "It's never been told to me that we're making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that," he reportedly told staff. According to Cleveland, however, Subnautica 2 is actually "ready for early access release." The studio's co-founder wrote in a lengthy X post on July 5 that "while we thought this was going to be our decision to make, at least for now, that decision is in Krafton's hands." A Krafton spokesperson told Eurogamer that the decision to delay Subnautica 2 was "based solely on our commitment to quality and to delivering the best possible experience for players" and it was not "influenced by any contractual or financial considerations." They added that "the decision had already been under discussion prior to recent leadership changes at the studio."
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Callisto Protocol studio lays off more employees, but 'remains operational'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Krafton has confirmed another round of layoffs at Callisto Protocol developer Striking Distance Studios, but says it remains operational and that the cuts will not impact any projects currently in the works. The layoffs were first reported late last week by multiple former employees on LinkedIn: One said "most of the devs were laid off," while another reported "lots of layoffs" at the studio and a third said "many other great colleagues" had been let go. Krafton, the parent company of Striking Distance Studios, declined to share specific numbers but confirmed in a statement provided to PC Gamer that layoffs had been made. "Striking Distance Studios has reduced the size of its team to remain agile, which creates a sustainable environment for the studio at its current stage of development," a representative said. "The studio remains operational, and these changes will not impact any planned ongoing support. No further changes are planned at this time." This is the second round of layoffs at Striking Distance, which put 32 people out of work in August 2023, not long after the release of The Callisto Protocol's first and only story expansion. Despite its pedigree—Striking Distance was headed up by Dead Space executive producer Glen Schofield—the survival horror game failed to make a big splash with players, and fell well short of Krafton's sales expectations. Schofield left Striking Distance in September 2023, a little over a month after the first round of layoffs. Striking Distance's follow-up game, the top-down shooter Redacted, landed with even less of an impact, amassing an all-time peak concurrent player count on Steam of just 169. The studio hasn't announced anything new since then, but as noted by 80lv, a handful of employees have said on LinkedIn that early work on something new has begun: Lead gameplay programmer George Coomber wrote that he's "leading a team of 12 gameplay engineers to prototype an action game in Unreal 5." The layoffs at Striking Distance follow recent cuts at Bossa Studios, Liquid Swords, Iron Galaxy, BioWare, and engine maker Unity, which themselves are merely the latest in a long line of devastating layoffs stretching back to at least the beginning of 2023. Announcing the cuts at Bossa, studio co-founder and co-CEO Henrique Olifiers said the industry-wide bloodshed is not a "phase" but instead the new normal: "A fundamental transformation of the games industry, a reshape of how games are made and by what kinds of teams."
