Krafton are no longer listed as Subnautica 2's publishers on Steam and the Epic store, following a quiet switch

Though, their name does still appear in a different section on the game's Steam listing

Krafton have quietly disappeared from the publisher sections of Subnautica 2's Steam and Epic Games store pages. The changes appear to be recent, with SteamDB suggesting the former was made just last week to that platform's listing. Developers Unknown Worlds - now once again operating under CEO Ted Gill, amid long-running legal action between parent company Krafton and three current and former studio leads - are now cited as the game's sole publishers.

Yep, in the latest twist to the Subnautica 2 saga, if you look at its Steam and Epic pages as of writing, you'll find no mention of Krafton in the publisher sections, as was previously the case.

Judging by SteamDB's update history for the listing on Valve's storefront, the change took place on April 7th. It's worth noting that while it's seen Krafton's name pulled from the publisher section of the listing, their name looks to have been added to the 'Franchise' section at the same time, meaning the company haven't been totally removed. It's tougher to tell when the Epic listing was changed, but as of March 9th it still listed Krafton in the publisher section.

I've asked Krafton for comment. As of right now, it's unclear whether these quiet switches mean Krafton and Unknown Worlds' publishing relationship has changed, or if they're linked in any way to the long-running legal battle with original Subnautica 2 studio leads Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max MacGuire.

As mentioned earlier, Gill has recently been reinstated as Unknown Worlds CEO. The legal wranglings between the two sides erupted when Krafton fired the trio last year, accusing them of abandoning their duties on the game. Cue lots of lawyering over whether and when Subnautica 2 might be ready for an early access launch, with a substantial cash bonus from Krafton to Unknown Worlds tied to how well the game does out of the gate.

We'll have to see if these store changes are just routine admin or something more noteworthy. In the interim, I can at least thank them for leading me to discover that someone's tried to switch Sub 2's "choices matter" user tag on Steam to "hentai" twice within the past five days, only for it to be hastily switched back.