News recently broke that Subnautica 2 had leaked, seemingly via a reviewer, hot on the heels of a similar situation with Forza Horizon 6 and Resident Evil Requiem before that, and gamers who don't shy away from sailing the high seas very quickly hopped into Subnautica 2 ahead of the game's official Early Access launch. Now, Unknown Worlds, the studio behind Subnautica 2, has responded to reports of the leaked build of the game, confirming in a statement to IGN that the leak had occurred and giving players a warning about the content of the leak on top of that. Effectively, Unknown Worlds warns that the leaked build is an incomplete version of the game that is launching on May 14, and not representative of the final gameplay. Additionally, in order to access the full game and some of the cornerstone features of Subnautica 2, like multiplayer, players will need to go through official channels—unless, of course, game repackers manage to publish other cracked versions of the game post-launch. The official response from Unknown Worlds follows.

We've identified that unofficial builds of Subnautica 2 are currently circulating online. These builds are incomplete development versions and do not reflect the content or gameplay experience being prepared for the official release. Files distributed through unofficial channels cannot be verified for safety or stability, and certain features or content may not function as intended. The complete Subnautica 2 Early Access experience, including multiplayer support, as well as all future patches and updates, will be delivered exclusively through official builds on our partner platforms.