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Subnautica 2 came out in Early Access on May 14, 2026 at 08:00 PDT (15:00 UTC) on Steam, the Epic Games Store and Xbox, after a delay from 2025. The next big update, Early Access 2, is due in December 2026.
Subnautica 2 came out in Early Access on May 14, 2026 at 08:00 PDT / 15:00 UTC, on Steam, the Epic Games Store and Xbox (Series X|S and PC, through Game Preview and Game Pass), at the same moment everywhere. It is out now and has been playable for almost six months as of Nov 4, 2026. It was first promised for 2025 and was delayed to 2026 on Jul 9, 2025. The next big content update, Early Access 2, is due in December 2026, and the full 1.0 release is about 2 to 3 years out (Roadmap and 1.0 Release).
Quick facts
| Early Access launch | May 14, 2026, 08:00 PDT / 15:00 UTC |
| Stores | Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox (Game Preview on Series X|S and PC, Game Pass) |
| Pre-purchase and pre-load | Steam, from May 11, 2026 (72 hours before launch) |
| Revealed | Oct 17, 2024, for "Early Access in 2025" |
| Delayed | Jul 9, 2025, to 2026 |
| Launch price | $29.99, localized by region (Price and Editions) |
| Next update | Early Access 2, December 2026, no day announced (as of Nov 4, 2026) |
| 1.0 | No date; Steam says Early Access will take "about 2 to 3 years" |
What time did Subnautica 2 come out?
Unknown Worlds gave the hour on Apr 30, 2026, in the post that carried its Early Access cinematic trailer, whose last card shows only the date: 08:00 PDT, which is 15:00 UTC, on May 14, 2026, with one global unlock rather than a rolling midnight launch (Unknown Worlds, Apr 30, 2026). The studio published a world map of local times as an image; the table below is worked out from 15:00 UTC.
| Time zone | Local launch time |
|---|---|
| Pacific (PDT, Los Angeles) | 8:00 a.m., May 14 |
| Eastern (EDT, New York) | 11:00 a.m., May 14 |
| Brasília (BRT) | 12:00 p.m., May 14 |
| UTC | 3:00 p.m., May 14 |
| UK (BST, London) | 4:00 p.m., May 14 |
| Central Europe (CEST, Berlin, Paris) | 5:00 p.m., May 14 |
| UAE (GST, Dubai) | 7:00 p.m., May 14 |
| India (IST) | 8:30 p.m., May 14 |
| China (CST, Beijing) | 11:00 p.m., May 14 |
| Korea and Japan (KST, JST) | 12:00 a.m., May 15 |
| Australia East (AEST, Sydney) | 1:00 a.m., May 15 |
Steam opened pre-purchase and pre-load for the 72 hours before launch, starting May 11, 2026, after players asked to download it early (Unknown Worlds, May 11, 2026). On Xbox, Game Pass members could install it as part of PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate (Platforms and Cross-Play).
From reveal to launch
Unknown Worlds unveiled the first teaser on Oct 17, 2024, opened the Steam page for wishlists and promised Early Access "in 2025" (Unknown Worlds, Oct 17, 2024). The first Dev Vlog, Road to Early Access (Apr 24, 2025), still spoke of "later in 2025" (Unknown Worlds); the full series is on Dev Vlogs.
In early July 2025 Krafton, which owns Unknown Worlds, removed CEO Ted Gill and co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire and named Steve Papoutsis CEO (Unknown Worlds, Jul 3, 2025). On Jul 9, 2025 the studio delayed Early Access to 2026, citing playtest feedback and wanting "a little extra time", and promised the extra time would bring "more biomes, more vehicle upgrades, additional tools", more story and more creatures (Unknown Worlds, Jul 9, 2025). The founders said in court that the delay was meant to avoid an earnout payment; Krafton denied it. The case is on Krafton Lawsuit.
How the court cleared the way for launch
On Mar 16, 2026 Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will of the Delaware Court of Chancery reinstated Ted Gill as CEO with "full operational authority", barred Krafton from overriding his authority over the Early Access launch and ordered his access to Steam's publishing tools restored, according to a Mayer Brown summary for the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (Apr 20, 2026). A few days later a Krafton memo naming a May launch window was published by IGN, and Gill's lawyers told the court Krafton had broken the ruling, which Krafton denied (Notebookcheck, Mar 20, 2026).
The official date followed on Apr 30, 2026 with the cinematic trailer, the price on the same day, then a run of launch events: system requirements on May 1, a pre-launch showcase of about two hours on May 9 at 08:00 PDT with the Early Access gameplay trailer, and 5 million wishlists announced on May 11. Launch bonuses (the Reaper Leviathan Statue, a Twitch Drop) are on Price and Editions.
What Early Access means for Subnautica 2
Early Access is a paid, unfinished version that is updated until 1.0. Steam's Early Access section says the launch build had "a multiplayer mode, several biomes, some narrative, and a variety of creatures and craftables", that the full game will be more polished with more content, and that Unknown Worlds expects Early Access to take "about 2 to 3 years" (Steam, read Nov 4, 2026). In the launch vlog of May 5, 2026, Anthony Gallegos said Early Access "will run for at least two years". The story stops partway, and the playable area ends at a fence (Map Edge and World Tree).
Buying once covers everything: "You get all additions, updates, and hotfixes up to our 1.0 launch and beyond" (Unknown Worlds, May 9, 2026). The price will go up after Early Access. Since launch the game has had four hotfixes, two improvement updates, Adaptive Measures (Jul 8, 2026) and Buddy System (Aug 19, 2026), and two Buddy System hotfixes; the full list is on Updates and Patch Notes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Subnautica 2 out? Yes. Subnautica 2 has been out in Early Access since May 14, 2026 on Steam, the Epic Games Store and Xbox Series X|S and PC, with Early Access 2 due in December 2026.
What time did Subnautica 2 release? Subnautica 2 unlocked at 08:00 PDT / 15:00 UTC on May 14, 2026, which was 11:00 a.m. in New York, 4:00 p.m. in London and midnight in Seoul and Tokyo.
Was Subnautica 2 delayed? Yes. Subnautica 2 was revealed for Early Access in 2025 and delayed on Jul 9, 2025 to 2026, days after Krafton removed the studio's leaders.
When is the Subnautica 2 full release? Subnautica 2 has no 1.0 date; as of Nov 4, 2026 Steam says Early Access should take about 2 to 3 years from May 2026.
When is the next Subnautica 2 update? Early Access 2, the next big Subnautica 2 content update, is due in December 2026; Unknown Worlds had not named a day as of Nov 4, 2026.
Can you pre-load Subnautica 2? Not anymore, since it is out; Steam allowed pre-purchase and pre-load of Subnautica 2 from May 11, 2026, 72 hours before launch.
Sources
- Subnautica 2 | Dev Vlog - Welcome Aboard, Captains, Subnautica, May 5, 2026 (video)
- Subnautica 2 | Dev Vlog - Road to Early Access, Subnautica, Apr 23, 2025 (video)
- Subnautica 2 | Early Access Cinematic Trailer, Subnautica, Apr 30, 2026 (video)
- Subnautica 2 Early Access Cinematic Trailer Released, Unknown Worlds, Apr 30, 2026
- Subnautica 2 Early Access Gameplay Trailer Released!, Unknown Worlds, May 9, 2026
- Pre-purchase and Pre-load Subnautica 2 Early Access Starting Today!, Unknown Worlds, May 11, 2026
- A Thank You to Our Community for 5 Million Wishlists, Unknown Worlds, May 11, 2026
- Watch the Subnautica 2 Pre-Launch Showcase on May 9!, Unknown Worlds, May 2, 2026
- Early Access Coming in 2025, Unknown Worlds, Oct 17, 2024
- Dev Vlog - Road to Early Access, Unknown Worlds, Apr 24, 2025
- A Letter to the Subnautica Community, Unknown Worlds, Jul 3, 2025
- An Update on Subnautica 2 Early Access, Unknown Worlds, Jul 9, 2025
- From Creatures to Chassis - Voyage to Early Access 2, Unknown Worlds, Nov 3, 2026
- Subnautica 2, Steam store page
- Subnautica 2 (Game Preview), Xbox store page
- How a Buyer's AI Conversations Sank Its Earnout Avoidance Strategy, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (Mayer Brown), Apr 20, 2026
- Reinstated Unknown Worlds CEO claims Krafton violated court order by leaking Subnautica 2's launch window, Notebookcheck, Mar 20, 2026
Moments
Subnautica 2 | Dev Vlog - Welcome Aboard, Captains
Subnautica
Subnautica 2 | Dev Vlog - Road to Early Access
Subnautica
Subnautica 2 | Early Access Cinematic Trailer
Subnautica
Related
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ReviewsSubnautica 2's Early Access reviews are mostly positive, around 8 out of 10 from outlets such as Gamereactor and Gfinity, but Metacritic shows no score ("tbd") because it is in Early Access. Steam users rate it Very Positive, 93% of 73,222 reviews on Nov 4, 2026.
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Sales and Player CountSubnautica 2 sold 2 million copies within 12 hours of its May 14, 2026 Early Access launch, peaked above 651,000 concurrent players across Steam, Xbox and Epic, and passed 5 million sales within 22 days. Its Steam peak was above 467,000.
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Steam Deck and HandheldsSubnautica 2 is Steam Deck Verified and runs at about 30 fps on an automatically chosen low preset; on Xbox it is listed as Handheld Optimized for the ROG Xbox Ally. Update 1.1 fixed handheld menu scrolling and wrong button prompts.
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System RequirementsSubnautica 2's minimum PC is an Intel Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600 with 12 GB of RAM and a GTX 1660 or RX 5500 XT for 1080p Low at 30 fps; the recommended PC is a Core i7-13700 or Ryzen 7 7700X, 16 GB and an RTX 3070 or RX 6700 XT. It needs 50 GB, DirectX 12 and Windows 10 or 11.
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Base PowerSubnautica 2 bases run on Solar Panels (1 to 8 energy per second by time of day), Hydroelectric Turbines in water currents, Thermal Plants by heat vents and Bioreactors burning fuel, linked by Power Transmitters and buffered by Power Storage. Without power a base makes no oxygen.
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Best Base LocationsThe guides' best base spots in Subnautica 2 are a plateau by a water current about 200 m east of the Lifepod for free turbine power, the thermal vents about 630 m east for steady Thermal Plant power, and an outpost near the Alien Ruins about 1,150 m east for the late game.
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FarmingFarming in Subnautica 2 means Growbeds, built for Titanium x1, that grow plants from a seed item such as a Pent, Lucifer Rotsac or Fibrous Pulp, and since update 1.2 Necrolei Cysts. The Metal Farm, an Axum machine, grows a chosen resource on base power.
See also
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Early Access 2Early Access 2 is Subnautica 2's next big content update, due in December 2026 with no day announced. Unknown Worlds promises a new region with several biomes, more of the colonists' and Axum story, new and returning creatures, a scarier Collector Leviathan, new Biomods and the Frog chassis for the Tadpole.
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Roadmap and 1.0 ReleaseSubnautica 2 has no 1.0 release date; Unknown Worlds expects Early Access, which began on May 14, 2026, to last about 2 to 3 years. Its roadmap delivered a quality-of-life update and a co-op update, with the first big content drop, Early Access 2, due in December 2026.
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Price and EditionsSubnautica 2 costs $29.99 in Early Access on Steam, the Epic Games Store and Xbox, and it is included in PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate. Steam also sells a Sub-Sonic Edition with the soundtrack; there are no microtransactions, and the price will rise after Early Access.
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Platforms and Cross-PlaySubnautica 2 is on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox PC) and Xbox Series X|S, with Xbox Cloud Gaming and handhelds, and cross-play between all of them. No PS5, Switch 2 or Mac version is announced as of Nov 4, 2026.
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Dev VlogsUnknown Worlds has published Subnautica 2 Dev Vlogs since Apr 24, 2025, seven before launch, then Update Vlogs for 1.1 and 1.2 and the Voyage to Early Access 2 series (Oct 15, Oct 22 and Nov 3, 2026), plus the Waterside Q&A and the May 9, 2026 Pre-Launch Showcase.
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Krafton LawsuitThe Subnautica 2 lawsuit was a dispute between Krafton and Unknown Worlds' former leaders over a $250 million earnout tied to the game. A Delaware court reinstated CEO Ted Gill in March 2026, and the two sides settled on Jul 1, 2026.