Latest developments makes it seem like Krafton just wanted to save the cash to plow into their lame AI venture.

I mean honestly, when has a video game company actually been on the right side when things came to a head with the founders?

"The termination notices of the founders gave one reason for their termination," said Fortis, "and that was the supposed lack of readiness of Subanutica 2 for release. Krafton reiterated that basis for its actions repeatedly."

Fortis called it a "seismic shift in the case" and "a little bit bewildering". This was also echoed by the judge, Lori W. Will, when the parties met for a ruling on the filed motions, saying: "Well, that's something that we definitely need to get to the bottom of today, because that is precisely what was cited as the reason in the answer."

Krafton's representatives were not clear about why this argument has been taken off the table, only that it has been, and that it's no longer why they are saying the founders were terminated.

Instead, Krafton is focusing on the argument that the founders "abandoned their posts" and "deceived" their employer. Causing more confusion is the accusation that the founders downloaded files and kept devices with confidential information on them. This only came to light after the termination, so its relevance has been questioned.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/the-subnautica-2-lawsuit-is-getting-even-messier-with-krafton-doing-a-massive-u-turn-confusing-both-the-ousted-founders-lawyer-and-the-judge-this-is-a-little-bit-bewildering/

Shortly after came this announcement 🙄

Nothing about PUBG and Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton's recent decision to become an "AI-first company" look good. The company plans to drop over 130 billion won ($88 million) into the project, recently stopped hiring new employees, and started a voluntary resignation program for its employees in South Korea this week.

Far down the ladder from these decisions is Eleventh Hour Games, the developer behind Last Epoch, which Krafton acquired in July. The timing couldn't have been worse as it happened right after the founders of Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds were unceremoniously fired for what they claim was a move to avoid paying a $250 million earnout.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/as-krafton-evolves-into-an-ai-first-company-the-boss-of-the-recently-acquired-last-epoch-studio-says-he-doesnt-think-the-doom-and-gloom-is-warranted/

There's been a ton of back and forth finger pointing but the more I hear about it (and other news about Krafton), the more my gut tells me that Krafton are the bad guys.