Max McGuire
Max McGuire is the co-founder and former CTO of Unknown Worlds Entertainment. He was removed from his position by KRAFTON on July 2, 2025.
Education
McGuire graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001 with a B.S. in Mathematics and a double major in Computer Science.
Iron Lore Entertainment (2001-2006)
McGuire was the first employee at Iron Lore Entertainment. As Lead Engine Programmer, he built the core technology and tools behind Titan Quest (2006) and Titan Quest: Immortal Throne (2007), working alongside creative leads Rich Sullivan and Josh McHugh.
Unknown Worlds (2006-2025)
McGuire joined Charlie Cleveland as co-founder of Unknown Worlds in October 2006. He built the Spark engine from scratch, originally designed for loading Source engine media. The Spark engine became the proprietary technology powering Natural Selection 2 (2012). The division of labor at the studio was straightforward: "Charlie writes the Natural Selection 2 code and Max writes the engine/tools code."
The Spark engine also powered early development of Subnautica, though the game ultimately shipped on Unity.
Firing and lawsuit
On July 2, 2025, KRAFTON removed McGuire alongside Cleveland and CEO Ted Gill, replacing them with Steve Papoutsis. The three filed a lawsuit against KRAFTON seeking $250 million in earnout payments.
In KRAFTON's countersuit, the company alleged McGuire downloaded nearly 100,000 confidential files (including hundreds related to another project called Moonbreaker) before his departure.