The CEO of a video game publisher has been accused of asking ChatGPT how to wriggle out of paying out $250 million in bonuses.
As Kotaku reports, the three cofounders of the video game developer Unknown Worlds, which is behind the popular “Subnautica” franchise, sued the game’s publisher, Krafton, after being abruptly fired in July. It was a dramatic ousting that shook the gaming industry, raising questions over the franchise’s hotly anticipated sequel, whose release date was pushed back to 2026 at the time. (The game is currently the most wishlisted upcoming game on digital distribution service Steam’s charts.)
The studio’s cofounders allege that they were fired so that Krafton could avoid paying out their enormous bonuses, which were based on “Subnautica 2” hitting certain sales milestones.
A pre-trial briefing reviewed by Kotaku alleges that “Krafton terminated the Founders and seized control of Unknown Worlds in order to avoid the earnout.”
“Smoking gun documents show that Krafton was looking for ways to ‘cancel the earn-out’ and that its secret ‘Project X’ was designed to either make a ‘Deal’ on the earnout or execute a ‘Take over,’” it continues.
And that’s not even the headline-stealing detail: documentation allegedly shows that Krafton CEO Changhan Kim had “turned to artificial intelligence to help him brainstorm ways to avoid paying the earnout. ChatGPT likewise advised that it would be ‘difficult to cancel the earn-out.’”
The cofounders allege that Krafton refused to “produce the ChatGPT conversations and, when pressed, confirmed that they no longer exist.”
If confirmed, it could be yet another instance of the tech being used for ill-advised purposes. Large language model-based tools like ChatGPT have long been shown to be highly unreliable, including when it comes to legal advice. Despite the risks, both people representing themselves in court and even lawyers have been caught making use of the tech, resulting in cases that were hallucinated by AI being cited in court.
Krafton has since shot back in a statement to Kotaku, claiming that the ChatGPT accusation is “simply a distraction from their own efforts to destroy evidence.”
Besides taking aim at Krafton’s CEO, the Unknown Worlds cofounders accused the company of dealing damage to the studio’s morale, ultimately forcing “Subnautica 2” to be delayed.
In August, around the time the cofounders were abruptly fired, Krafton claimed that it was still willing to pay out bonuses to unaffected Unknown Worlds staff.
However, Krafton told Kotaku that the “former leaders showed little interest in the development of ‘Subnautica 2,’ which has always been our top priority.”
In short, it’s an ugly legal battle that left fans of the Subnautica franchise fuming.
“DO NOT BUY SUBNAUTICA 2,” reads one of the most upvoted posts on the franchise’s subreddit, which was posted after Unknown Worlds cofounders were ousted.
“This delay is simply so they don’t have to give those bonuses,” the post reads. “They’ve already made 250 million dollars off of scamming developers. Don’t let them make more.”
Others made light of Krafton’s CEO making use of ChatGPT.
“Countdown to Krafton trying to argue in court with AI, citing fake cases,” reads a comment on Kotaku‘s piece.
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