Subnautica 2 studio reassures followers that it is not a live-service sport: ‘No season passes. No battle passes. No subscription’

In response to issues that arose after writer Krafton stated the upcoming Subnautica 2 will function co-op mulitplayer constructed on the “games-as-a-service mannequin,” developer Unknown Worlds has clarified that it will not be very completely different from the early entry releases of the earlier video games within the collection, and that there can be no battle passes or subscriptions concerned.

Krafton stated in its newest earnings launch that Subnautica 2 is “pursuing fandom snowballing,” which is a little bit of uniquely company terminology I have never run into beforehand, with “single or 1-4 participant co-op” and “games-as-a-service mannequin with enhanced replayability.” 

This resulted in instant consternation from followers: Subnautica and Subnautica: Under Zero are excellent survival-exploration video games that commerce closely on the sense of isolation they engender, and the thought of ditching that side of “you towards the world” in pursuit of the live-service development—microtransactions, season passes, in-game occasions, bizarre crossovers, no matter—didn’t go over effectively.

“Actually unhappy information for Subnautica followers,” redditor patchinthebox wrote. “I get why they’d do it, however it would not make it okay. Video games as a service are predatory.”

“This kinda bullshit is the results of top-down decisionmaking by administration sorts, actually not helped by the truth that Unknown Worlds was purchased by writer Krafton in 2021,” darps wrote in a separate thread. “Publishers do not make investments for enjoyable, they demand revenue maximization and all too usually trend-chasing.”

One redditor questioned if any Subnautica builders spend time on the subreddit so they may see the extensively adverse response to the Kraton report, and apparently the reply is “sure” as a result of in very brief order the studio launched an replace about its plans for the sport.

“In reference to ‘Video games-as-a-Service,’ we merely plan to repeatedly replace the sport for a few years to come back, identical to the earlier two Subnautica video games,” the studio wrote. “Assume our Early Entry replace mannequin, expanded. No season passes. No battle passes. No subscription.

“The sport just isn’t multiplayer-focused. Co-op can be a wholly elective method to play the sport. You’ll be capable of benefit from the sport as a single-player.”

The driving drive behind the response to Krafton’s monetary report is the dearth of a transparent definition of “games-as-a-service” within the first place. It is mostly considered within the context of video games like Fortnite, the place builders are always crashing out new content material, massive and small, to maintain gamers engaged, and in that gentle, yeah, Krafton’s alternative of phrases was undoubtedly ill-considered. 

However any sport that is being up to date frequently, no matter cadence, might be described as such. That is very true for early entry video games, the place gamers are leaping in earlier than improvement is even full. The unique Subnautica is a nice instance of that: It underwent a number of main updates between its early entry launch and 1.0 launch.

Separate from the games-as-a-service ingredient, there’s some real pleasure for co-op assist in Subnautica, and I feel that a part of it may work fairly effectively. I are usually extra of a solitary participant however it’s enjoyable typically to crew up with friends in video games like Valheim and Enshrouded, and the world(s) of Subnautica are actually ripe for that type of gameplay too. So long as we do not have to pay for boosters to get our bases constructed sooner or make the worst of these terrible undersea horrors go away us alone, I do not assume too many individuals will thoughts if we have now the choice to play with some buddies.

Unknown Worlds additionally clarified that Subnautica 2—which for the document is not the official title, the studio referred to it as “the following Subnautica”—just isn’t really set for early entry launch in 2024 (it has been slated for launch in 2025 however the Krafton report listed it below “Strategic titles for 2024”), “however we plan to share much more data later this yr!”