Subnautica 2 is already having a huge launch on Steam

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FollowSee All NewsSubnautica 2 is already having a huge launch on SteamIt’s already sold one million copies, and it hasn’t even been out for a day. It’s already sold one million copies, and it hasn’t even been out for a day. by Jay Peters Jay PetersSenior ReporterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

Technical Details

FollowSee All by Jay PetersMay 14, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Image: Unknown Worlds Jay Peters Jay PetersPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All by Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. 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 more than 1 million copies, according to a press release, and as of this writing, Steam’s charts show that Subnautica 2 is currently the fourth-most played game on the platform with more than 460,000 concurrent players. The only titles with more concurrent players right now are perennial heavy hitters Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and PUBG: Battlegrounds. It’s also worth noting that Steam’s Subnautica 2 player count doesn’t include players on the Epic Games Store or on Xbox, where the game is also now available in early access, so the total number of concurrent players is probably even higher.

Industry Implications

The huge launch isn’t a total surprise. Before release, Subnautica 2 got 5 million wishlists and was the most-wishlisted game on Steam. It’s a followup 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. RelatedSubnautica 2 launches soon after lengthy legal disputeAfter 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’s 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.

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This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.