Subnautica 2 has been delayed to 2026

Publisher Krafton and developer Unknown Worlds announced they have delayed the highly anticipated Subnautica 2 to 2026. The developer stated in their blog post that with all the great feedback received during playtests, there are a few areas for them to improve before releasing the first version of Subnautica 2.

“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.

Unknown Worlds said the direction of the game is not changing, or the team behind it. They are still confident in what they have created and just wanted to give more content for the first Early Access release. They provided a new Gameplay Reveal Teaser for fans on YouTube.

Subnautica 2 was originally planned to release in early access later this year on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam. Bloomberg reported that Krafton pushed out the leadership of its Unknown Worlds Entertainment studio.

The delay was reportedly against the wishes of the previous leadership at Unknown Worlds, and a $250 million bonus would kick in if the developer achieved certain revenue targets by the end of 2025. Now, with the delay of Subnautica 2, that goal will likely not be hit.

The bonus would have gone to the development team of Subnautica.