The chief executive of a popular videogame publisher has suffered an embarrassing setback in court after he tried to use ChatGPT to wriggle out of paying a US$250 million performance bonus.

The legal spat started in July 2025 after the founders of US game studio Unknown Worlds – best known for the breakout underwater survival game Subnautica – were unexpectedly fired by South Korean publisher Krafton in the lead-up to the highly anticipated sequel title Subnautica 2.

Former shareholders of the studio claimed Krafton and its chief executive Changhan Kim wrongly terminated the cofounders, as well as chief executive Ted Gill, to avoid paying the multi-million-dollar bonus if the title reached certain sales milestones.

Court documents revealed Kim – dissatisfied with the agreed contract – engaged AI chatbot ChatGPT to draft a corporate “takeover” strategy which involved stymieing the release of Subnautica 2.

What followed was a “campaign to seize control of the studio”.

The executives were abruptly fired, their board positions were replaced by Krafton representatives, and Unknown Worlds was locked out of its own publishing platform.

“As ChatGPT recommended, Krafton locked down publishing rights to ensure Unknown Worlds could not publish Subnautica 2,” a court decision read.

Under ChatGPT’s guidance, the publisher also posted public “critical messages” on Unknown Worlds’ website.

Information Age understands these included a post which informed millions of fans of an “inevitable leadership change” driven by “project abandonment”.

Krafton took the fight to the game studio’s fanbase. Source: Reddit

On Monday, Krafton was ordered to reinstate Gill and give him control over Subnautica 2’s early-access release plans.

ChatGPT tells CEO to form a taskforce

Court documents revealed that Krafton, eager to “capture [Unknown Worlds’] creative magic”, acquired the studio in 2021 for US$500 million upfront, plus up to US$250 million in “contingent earnout payments”.

As Subnautica 2 soared to the top of wishlist charts on games distribution platform Steam, Kim was busy consulting ChatGPT on how to avoid the bonuses.

“[Krafton] looked to buy time,” court documents read.

Though the chatbot first told Kim the earnout would be “difficult to cancel”, ChatGPT later suggested Kim form an internal task force dedicated to either negotiating a “deal” or executing a “take over” of Unknown Worlds.

Dubbed “Project X”, the initiative saw Krafton grow “non-responsive” to Gill’s intended launch plans, leaving the studio with “zero progress” on many key initiatives.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT was serving up a “response strategy” for how Kim and Krafton could proceed if they failed to reach a new deal on the earnout.

Part of this involved a “pressure and leverage package”, as well as a calculated “key summary of responses” Krafton could deliver to the studio’s key employees.

ChatGPT told Krafton to maintain that "protecting quality and fan trust is the highest priority" so the company could undermine any potential "large corporation vs indie" framing of its actions.

“Undermine the ‘Large corporation vs indie’ framing.

“Lock down Steam/console publishing rights and access rights over code/build pipeline through both legal and technical aspects.

“For the earn-out freeze, keep room for negotiations through provision, stating ‘immediate removal if specific development results are achieved’.”

Court documents showed that over the next month, Krafton followed the majority of ChatGPT’s recommendations.

Why listen to lawyers when you have AI?

Notably, Kim appeared to follow ChatGPT's advice instead of initial suggestions discussed with Krafton’s head of corporate development Maria Park and the company’s legal department.

Though he was warned via messaging platform Slack that a “dismissal with cause” could still expose Krafton to “lawsuit and reputation risk” and “would not eliminate the earnout obligation”, Kim complained the company was in a “contract under which we can only be dragged around”.

“It’s not about the money – it just feels awful to be taken advantage of,” Kim said in professional communications.

Park warned that Unknown Worlds had not been so poorly managed as to “deliberately deceive the parent company”, though Kim proceeded to engage ChatGPT.

Krafton followed a ChatGPT suggestion to prepare “systematic materials for legal defence”, including “contract negotiation memorandums” and a “legal letter” which told the studio’s founders to rededicate themselves to the development of Subnautica 2.

The founders and Gill were later removed from their positions under the pretence they had intended to proceed with a premature release.

Notably, Kim admitted at trial he had deleted specific ChatGPT logs, including a chat which followed internal conversations about potential staff dismissals.

The case is ongoing at the time of writing, though Information Age understands a board resolution that saw Gill and others terminated was “declared ineffective to the extent it infringes on Gill’s operational control right”, while the deadline for the studio to secure a bonus payout has been extended to 15 September.

“While we respectfully disagree with today’s ruling, we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward,” Krafton told Kotaku.