Provenance Record

Long-form gaming News piece (1030 words) with strong structure: Overview / What We Know (substructured) / What We Don't Know / Why It Matters. Heavy attribution density across 11 sources.

All 11 snapshots fetched at HTTP 200 and grep-verified per-claim. source-0 (Xbox Wire): confirms May 14 launch, Steam/Epic/Windows Store/Xbox Series X|S/Game Pass, 'traverse this mysterious new world alone or with up to three of your friends in optional co-operative multiplayer' verbatim, 'one of the most highly requested' feature framing, 'seamlessly with the Xbox friends list' verbatim. source-1 (Steam page): confirms $29.99, 'about 2 to 3 years' Early Access, 'more biomes, creatures, craftables, features, and narratives' verbatim, cross-platform multiplayer, DNA mechanic. source-2 (Unknown Worlds blog): confirms May 14 / $29.99 / Reaper Leviathan pre-order bonus / pre-May-25 cutoff. source-3 (Wikipedia): confirms Unreal Engine 5, Ben Prunty composer, Ted Gill / Max McGuire / Charlie Cleveland, March 16 court ruling, 'no subscriptions. No loot boxes. No battle pass. No microtransactions.' verbatim, ocean-current mechanic. source-4 (Engadget): confirms May 14 / Steam, Xbox, Epic / Krafton ordered to reinstate Gill in March / 2021 acquisition — BUT the article puts inside quote marks 'on a new alien world where players are stranded after their colony ship experiences a malfunction during transit' which is a paraphrase: Engadget's actual text is 'Subnautica 2 takes place on a new world' followed by a quote of the game's official description ('Driven from your home by ongoing conflict… But as the colony ship CICADA shepherds you and your fellow Pioneers to your new home, something goes awry. The ship's AI insists that your mission should continue. Stranded…'). The article condenses these two elements into a verbatim-looking quote that does not appear in the Engadget text. source-5 (Game Developer 'dispute is far from over'): confirms $250M earnout, $500M acquisition price, Lori Will, Gill reinstated, McGuire & Cleveland not reinstated, second-phase pending. source-6 (Game Developer 'withdraw claim'): confirms 'Krafton illegally fired Gill to take over the Subnautica 2 studio' verbatim, 'schemed to sabotage the Subnautica 2 early access timeline to avoid paying $250 million in payouts' verbatim, 'no longer contend that Krafton violated the Court's March 16, 2026 opinion' verbatim, Steve Papoutsis announcement to IGN. source-7 (PCGamesN guide): confirms 'alone or with up to three friends in online multiplayer co-op' verbatim, May 14 release, Krafton context. source-8 (Insider Gaming pricing): confirms $29.99 sole edition. source-9 (Insider Gaming Early Access): confirms 'just over three years' Subnautica EA window, 'two and a half years' Below Zero. source-10 (Unknown Worlds pre-purchase): confirms 72-hour pre-load, May 14, Reaper Leviathan.

Every release detail (date, price, platforms, Game Pass inclusion, pre-order bonus), every multiplayer detail, every court detail (vice chancellor, ruling text, executives reinstated or not, earnout amount), every engine/composer/mechanic claim, and the historical Early Access durations all trace to verified snapshots. The only attribution issue is the Engadget paraphrase rendered as a direct quote in the 'Setting, engine and content' section. The substance is accurate; the framing as a verbatim Engadget phrase is wrong.

Publish with one correction. Excellent gaming-news reporting that weaves the Early Access release in with the underlying Krafton/Gill court dispute. Allowlist warnings are non-substantive.