Subnautica 2 is a multiplayer-focused live-service sport, writer Krafton has revealed.
Writing in its newest monetary report, Krafton described Subnautica 2 as a “multiplayer sequel to the unique IP pursuing fandom snowballing”, which is a garbled manner of describing the sport.
Krafton mentioned Subnautica 2 lets gamers “discover an oceanic world in beautiful stylized graphics powered by Unreal Engine 5”, with “single or one to 4 participant co-op to uncover the mysteries on a completely new alien planet”, alongside a “game-as-a-service mannequin with enhanced replayability.”
Subnautica is a massively profitable indie sport that first emerged in 2018, then noticed a follow-up, dubbed Beneath Zero, in 2021. IGN’s Subnautica overview returned a 9/10. We mentioned: “Subnautica’s a survival sport with focus and a very good sci-fi story, however its biggest achievement is its underwater horror.”
We had been equally impressed with Beneath Zero: “Subnautica: Beneath Zero is a leaner, meaner standalone growth to Subnautica that improves on the story and mechanics, however does not give us as a lot room to discover,” we mentioned. Subnautica and Beneath Zero are single-player sport, though modders added multiplayer post-launch.
The trade seems to be battling live-service video games after a quantity or current efforts failed to maneuver the needle and a few had been even cancelled earlier than launch. Maybe most notably, Sony canned Naughty Canine’s The Final of Us multiplayer sport amid a extra common pull again on live-service at PlayStation. Naughty Canine will now concentrate on single-player video games.
Beforehand profitable live-service video games have additionally hit onerous occasions. Bungie’s Future 2 has struggled commercially, and Fortnite maker Epic has introduced large layoffs. In the meantime, some single-player solely video games noticed monumental success in 2023, with the likes of Hogwarts Legacy and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom blowing up gross sales data. Rocksteady’s not too long ago launched Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League suffered forward of launch for its affiliation with the live-service mannequin.
As for Subnautica 2, it’s down for launch sooner or later in 2024, which suggests Krafton will reveal it sooner moderately than later. Will probably be fascinating to see how its live-service mannequin works.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].