Subnautica 2 has enjoyed a massively successful launch. During its opening day as an early access title, the long-awaited sequel peaked at 467,582 concurrent players on Steam, according to SteamDB, and that number may grow even more as we head into the weekend. Fans of the franchise have been massively behind Subnautica 2 – and its lead designer has given his thanks.

Game Design Lead, Anthony Gallegos, is an active member of the game’s official Discord server. In response to the successful launch, he says, “Thank you for supporting the studio,” especially after suffering a pre-launch leak (just like we saw with Forza Horizon 6) that gave pirates unsolicited free access to the game, about 48 hours in advance.

Subnautica 2 dev talks more about pirates after successful launch

Gallegos had previously been pretty blunt with those pirating the game – “I hope you rethink your life choices,” said the developer, in response to those leaking the game just ahead of launch and outing themselves on its official Discord server (not a very smart move at all, may we add). Now, after the wildly successful launch, Gallegos has spoken more on the topic of piracy, noting that while “pirates are gonna do their thing,” he’d much prefer if you just use Steam’s friendly refund policy.

The game launched on May 14 with a $29.99 price tag, which will increase once the early access period is over. Subnautica’s Steam page notes that EA is slated to last “about 2 to 3 years,” which gives players plenty of time to grab it for the reduced price. It’s also Steam Deck Verified, with more optimization promised by Unknown Worlds in its last pre-launch development vlog.

All in all, Subnautica 2 has enjoyed a successful launch, so it’s pretty easy to forget about the early piracy problems already. It’s nice to see a success story, given Unknown Worlds’ legal troubles with Krafton that led to the latter being dropped as a publisher. Steam peaked at over 467K, and that doesn’t even include Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, or Xbox Game Pass players.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.