Krafton (259960.KS): Unknown Worlds legal overhang removed

Research evidence excerpt

Krafton (259960.KS): Unknown Worlds legal overhang removed

Equity Research

1 July 2026 | 1:41PM KST

What happened Eric Cha

+82(2)3788-1799 | eric.cha@gs.com

n On Jul. 1, Krafton disclosed that the plaintiffs in the contract performance and Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., Seoul

Branch

damages lawsuit related to former Unknown Worlds shareholders have

Vona Lee

voluntarily withdrawn the case, effectively removing the legal overhang +82(2)3788-1201 | vona.lee@gs.com Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., Seoul

surrounding the management dispute at its US subsidiary (link). Branch

GS view

n We view this development as near-term positive for investor sentiment. While

Subnautica 2’s early access launch has been stronger than initially expected (link

to our note), surpassing 4mn cumulative global sales within just five days of early

access debut, investor attention had largely shifted to the legal dispute

surrounding Unknown Worlds, overshadowing the game’s solid performance.

With the litigation now withdrawn, we expect the market to refocus on

Subnautica 2’s strong early commercial traction.

n While this development does not eliminate Krafton’s potential earn-out

obligation to former Unknown Worlds shareholders, which remains contingent on

the terms of the acquisition agreement and the game’s performance, we think

the removal of legal uncertainty should reduce the non-fundamental overhang

on the stock while allowing investors to focus on the successful debut of

Subnautica 2, which can support the company’s transition from a single-IP cash

generator to a more diversified global publisher.

n Of note, our current estimate for Subnautica 2’s first 12-months cumulative unit

sales is at c.7.3mn copies, which translates to first 12-months grossing revenue

of c.W330bn.