Subnautica 2, the sequel to the hit underwater exploration and survival crafting game, has already sold over one million copies in its first few hours of Early Access. With the popularity of the first game, the millions of wishlists, and the years of legal drama surrounding the development of its sequel, a hugely successful launch is no surprise. That said, the number of copies sold already is a wildly impressive feat.
Over one million copies of Subnautica 2 sold
The developers behind Subnautica 2 posted on social media a celebration for selling over one million copies of the game, though they modestly didn’t mention the incredible timeframe for the milestone. For reference, a tweet announcing the game’s Early Access launch went out at 11:13am EST, with the copies sold tweet following less than an hour later at 12:01pm EST.
Playercount begins to dominate Steam
While copies sold is obviously a great indicator of success for any title, the Steam charts for Subnautica 2 are also reflecting how momentously popular the game already is. As of the publishing of this article, Subnautica 2 has reached a peak of 467,582 players, passing Top Ten mainstays like Apex Legends, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and Rust on the leaderboard.
For comparison, the first Subnautica peaked at 51,156 players and Subnautica: Below Zero peaked at 42,115, though both titles kept remarkably steady player numbers in the years following their debut.
With Steam numbers in mind, there are also players on other platforms and consoles that aren’t easily tracked. This means Subnautica 2 likely has hundreds of thousands of more players exploring the deep, ballooning the game’s high player count even further.
After months of legal battles, a success
The first Subnautica game has been an indie staple for years since its release in 2018, but what drew major attention to its sequel was the extensive and dramatic legal battle between development studio Unknown Worlds and Krafton, its parent company.
The game’s development was delayed after Ted Gill, CEO of Unknown Worlds, was fired alongside other senior developers after it became clear they would be eligible for a $250 million bonus from Krafton – something the Krafton CEO tried to avoid with the aid of ChatGPT.
Earlier this year, a judge ruled that Krafton had breached their contract with Unknown Worlds, resulting in Gill being reinstated and Subnautica 2 successfully escaping a legally muddled development hell to the successful launch we’re witnessing today.
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