Subnautica 2, the new underwater survival game from Unknown Worlds, took less than an hour to rocket up Steam’s charts. The game has already sold 2 million copies in its first 12 hours of availability, and it also reached a peak of 467,000 concurrent players on Steam. Unknown Worlds says that across all platforms — Steam, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store — Subnautica 2 reached a peak concurrent player count of 651,000.
Subnautica 2 is having a huge launch on Steam
It’s already sold 2 million copies, and it hasn’t even been out for a day.
It’s already sold 2 million copies, and it hasn’t even been out for a day.
Image: Unknown Worlds
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
The huge launch isn’t a total surprise. Before release, Subnautica 2 got five million wishlists and was the most-wishlisted game on Steam. It’s a follow-up to the well-received Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero. And it was also at the center of a lengthy legal dispute between Unknown Worlds executives and the Unknown Worlds’ owner, Krafton — and around when that happened, the game was delayed from a planned 2025 early access launch, ostensibly due to feedback from playtests.
After a judge’s ruling in March that reinstated the studio’s CEO and extended the eligibility window for a potentially significant bonus for Unknown Worlds’ developers, the game got its new early access launch date. The studio expects that the early access period will last for “about” two to three years.
Updated, May 15th: Added more up to date stats for sales and player count.
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