Considering the length of its tenure as Steam’s most-wishlisted game, it was safe to suspect that Subnautica 2 would draw a crowd. Now that its early access launch day is here, those suspicions have been thoroughly validated: Less than an hour after launch, its oceans are already packed with eager explorers.
Within moments of Subnautica 2’s launch time at 11 am Eastern, there were over 100,000 players in-game according to SteamDB data. 30 minutes later, that number had more than tripled to over 370,000 concurrent players.
At time of writing, at 11:44 am Eastern, that number has crested another watermark: Steam’s own Most Played chart lists 426,000 users currently playing Subnautica 2, meaning it’s currently the fourth most popular game on the platform behind Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, and Dota 2.
To put those numbers in context, Subnautica 2’s concurrent player count is already in the neighborhood of Silksong’s launch concurrent peak of 562,000—and it’s done so without the benefit of Silksanity-induced collective mania. These are users being organically drawn by the siren call of a terrifying alien ocean.
It’s a clear sign of a successful launch, but there are probably some at Krafton that aren’t entirely thrilled: In July 2025, the publisher placed itself in a messy legal dispute by abruptly driving out Unknown Worlds’ CEO and founders, a decision we later learned was informed by Krafton CEO Changhan Kim consulting ChatGPT about how to avoid paying the studio’s leadership an agreed-upon $250 million bonus contingent on Subnautica 2’s sales success.
In March 2026, a judge ruled that the dismissal of Unknown Worlds leadership constituted a breach of contract and ordered its CEO’s reinstatement in a decision that extended the studio’s timeline for earning that $250 million bonus by nine months. At this point, it’s unclear whether they’ll need that extra time.
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