Replace February eighth 2:07PM: Unknown Worlds has launched a weblog publish addressing among the claims Krafton made about Subnautica 2 in its current earnings presentation.
Within the publish, Unknown Worlds says that Subnautica 2’s Early Entry interval “isn’t supposed for launch in 2024”, however that heaps extra data in regards to the recreation is on its means later this yr.
The studio additionally says that the live-service components of Subnautica 2 will merely lengthen to continuous updates, “similar to the earlier two Subnautica video games”. In accordance with Unknown Worlds, there will probably be “no season passes, no battle passes, [and] no subscription”.
Whereas co-op will probably be accessible, Subnautica 2 additionally will not be multiplayer-focused. As an alternative, co-op will probably be “totally optionally available”, and you’ll play it single-player if you want. Authentic story follows beneath.
Authentic story: Krafton, the mother or father firm of Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds, seems to have confirmed that Subnautica 2 will launch in 2024, and that is not all.
In accordance with the corporate’s 2023 earnings presentation, the upcoming sequel will permit gamers to discover an “totally new alien planet” powered by Unreal Engine 5. It’s going to help both single-player or co-op multiplayer, with as much as 4 gamers in a position to discover the identical area collectively.
![The player scanning an alien creature underwater in Subnautica, representing the 2024 release of Subnautica 2](https://techraptor.net/sites/default/files/styles/content_inline_mobile/public/images/subnautica-2-2024-release-subnautica-gameplay.jpg?itok=y1YIrK1Y)
Considerably extra apparently, nonetheless, Krafton additionally says that Subnautica 2 will undertake a “game-as-a-service mannequin with enhanced replayability”.
It is not totally clear what this implies but, for the reason that time period “game-as-a-service” is fairly broad. Typically talking, nonetheless, it doubtless means we are able to count on common content material updates for Subnautica 2 reasonably than an enclosed one-and-done narrative expertise akin to the primary recreation.
The second Subnautica recreation (if we do not rely Under Zero, in fact) was quietly revealed through a job posting again in 2022. That itemizing sought a senior narrative designer to create “the following recreation within the Subnautica universe”, which might happen on “a brand new science fiction world”.
Within the interim, Unknown Worlds has additionally launched turn-based “tactical skirmish” recreation Moonbreaker, which was formally revealed throughout 2022’s Gamescom occasion and launched in full simply final week.
![A chaotic turn-based combat scene in Brandon Sanderson and Unknown Worlds' Moonbreaker](https://techraptor.net/sites/default/files/styles/content_inline_mobile/public/images/moonbreaker-unknown-worlds.jpg?itok=G0-sbSMl)
After all, Subnautica 2 is not the one recreation on Krafton’s slate of upcoming titles.
The corporate can be trying to launch cell efforts like Dinkum Cellular and Darkish and Darker Cellular this yr (authorized battles allowing, in fact), in addition to “extremely anticipated” life sim Inzoi and extraction shooter Black Finances.
On the whole, it has been a reasonably robust yr for Krafton financially, with income reaching 1.9 trillion Korean received (about $1.43 billion), an “all-time excessive” for the corporate. Krafton’s flagship IP PUBG was apparently the principal driver behind this success.
Within the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, Krafton raked in 534.6 billion Korean received (round $401.7 million), citing “progress in PC, cell, and console regardless of low-seasonality”.