Gunzilla Video games, the developer behind NFT-incorporating battle royale recreation Off The Grid, has allegedly stopped paying employees because the shooter struggles to take care of its participant base.
As reported by Insider Gaming, a variety of Gunzilla staff have taken to LinkedIn to element the state of affairs on the firm.
The agency’s Expertise Acquisition Lead, Anna Savina, claimed that staff had gone months with out receiving their wage, and alleged that Gunzilla execs have been ignoring requests for cost.
“I dedicated three years of my professional life to Gunzilla Games. I built teams, found top talent, and lived the company’s mission 24/7. Today, I’m forced to face a significant outstanding debt that covers several months of my professional life,” Savina mentioned.
BREAKING 🚨: A number of Gunzilla Video games Staff Report Unpaid Salaries for Months
• Expertise Acquisition Lead claims firm owes “significant outstanding debt that covers several months”
• Principal Artist studies no funds for August and September
• Senior QA Engineer… pic.twitter.com/qANrsLxhIB
— Gaming Every day (@GamingDailyx) April 8, 2026
She now claims her “personal matter” has been resolved.
Anton Pali, a senior QA engineer, claimed that he’s gone 5 months with out a paycheck from Gunzilla, and that the corporate’s CEO, Vlad Korolev, backtracked on guarantees to pay him in full.
In the meantime, retired VFX animator Paul Creamer claimed, “Gunzilla Games has not paid its employees for many months but still expects them to work,” including that he hasn’t been paid since October 2025 with some ready even longer.
Creamer additionally claimed that in December, Korolev referred to as his division to tell them that salaries can be paid, the agency is worthwhile, and that they need to preserve quiet about salaries.
He mentioned, “He was not being truthful and now the company ignores our questions and removes our posts about what’s going on trying to silence us. Silence is what they’re hoping for, wishing that we’ll just quietly go away.”
It’s not simply pay, both. Former biome artist Théa Dorangeon claims they have been mistreated by former colleagues, and that the sport’s creative pointers lacked readability and drove artists “crazy.”
These are just some of the upset staff who’ve taken to LinkedIn to air their grievances over delayed funds.
Gunzilla Video games CEO defends wage delays
In response to the slew of allegations, Korolev admitted that the salaries have been delayed whereas additionally claiming that this was obligatory for the corporate’s success. He described the wage revelations as “a new narrative from haters.”
He posted, “Yes, we are optimizing costs — like every company in gaming, crypto, and tech is doing right now. We have been doing this for over a year.”
“And yes, to not disrupt company operations, some payments may be scheduled in a way that works for the company’s cash flow — not always for everyone individually. That’s the reality of the world we live in.”
He went on, “But to protect the interests of our players and our full-time official employees — whose salaries, over six years, have never been delayed by more than a week — we operate at a pace that ensures the company continues moving forward.”
Whereas individuals who have by no means performed OTG and have by no means constructed a enterprise sit and unfold FUD to farm a number of views — concentrating on the largest web3 recreation ever created, a recreation that represents not solely itself however the complete web3 gaming trade in entrance of conventional gaming — we’ll preserve…
— Vlad Korolev (@VladK133) April 9, 2026
Korolev mentioned information about wage delays was simply haters spreading “FUD to farm a few views.”
“And of course, we honor every obligation. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused,” he mentioned.
These explanations have been buried close to the tip of his publish, whereas nearly all of his deal with was used to brag about participant counts, subscriber numbers, and recreation updates.
Oddly, he provided a stay dashboard for “those still spreading FUD” to see new gamers becoming a member of, however added that it could value the viewer 100,000 GUNZ tokens to entry.
The GUNZ token, which is utilized in Off The Grid’s in-game economic system, is down virtually 86% since its launch final 12 months and at its present worth, it could value the viewer $1,649 to test this dashboard.
Off The Grid’s developer isn’t off the hook.
A number of the disgruntled employees at the moment are attempting to get better compensation via the European Union’s authorized framework.
Vladyslav Spitkovskyi, Gunzilla’s senior recreation programmer, claims he hasn’t been paid since December 2025, and is now pursuing compensation in courtroom.
He mentioned, “The legal process for recovering unpaid compensation in the EU is well-defined, and the costs are relatively modest compared to what is owed.”
Savina additionally famous that she was enterprise formal steps inside the EU authorized framework.
Off The Grid was launched in 2024 and was one of many extra mainstream video video games to include blockchain expertise into its recreation retailer.
No vows. No mercy. No prenup required.
Ceremonial white and cyberlimbs constructed for terminal matrimony. The Bride has arrived on Teardrop!
💀 The Bride Set
🔫 Ichnya VowShredder
💐 “Next to Die” Emote
Declare it now. Until loss of life us do half. pic.twitter.com/wTdxQ49dkT
— Off The Grid (@playoffthegrid) March 23, 2026
One among Off The Grid’s newer beauty additions.
The sport launched with a good quantity of participant traction.
By 2025, publications reported it had 450,000 day by day lively gamers. Nonetheless, this statistic was simply lively addresses holding its GUNZ token, and never a metric for precise gamers.
It initially struggled with a litany of optimization points for console gamers, and critiques for the sport have been lower than stellar. On Steam, it now pulls in roughly 12,000 gamers a day.
Off The Grid testers say they have been paid inconsistently
Former Blockworks journalist Kate Irwin additionally shared this week that Off The Grid recreation testers informed her that they weren’t being paid, or acquired extremely late funds, for his or her work.
“On Glassdoor, you can also see reports of delayed payments going back years from people who say they worked at Gunzilla as full-time employees, not as contractors or freelancers,” Irwin added.
The testers informed Irwin that there have been a minimum of 700 of them, and a few suffered delayed funds. They claimed there was inconsistency throughout the wages of testers, whereas some mentioned they have been merely blissful to be paid through the Ukraine-Russia warfare.
Irwin famous, nonetheless, {that a} third-party middleman in command of the funds might have been the issue, and never essentially Gunzilla.
Protos has reached out to Sport Informer and Gunzilla for remark and can replace this piece ought to we hear something again.
