Gunzilla CEO Addresses Staff Payment Allegations, Defends Company Culture Amid Criticism
Earlier this week, several current and former employees of Gunzilla took to social media to allege that the company, known for its NFT battle royale game Off the Grid, has been withholding months of back pay and failing to communicate with affected staff. In response, CEO Vlad Korolev fired back with a lengthy tweet, labeling critics as “haters,” denying that full-time developers have gone unpaid, and boasting about the intense work culture at the studio.
On April 9, just days after the allegations surfaced on LinkedIn, Korolev shared a detailed message on his personal Twitter account, asserting that “haters” have been targeting Gunzilla and Off the Grid for years. He claimed that the accusations regarding unpaid employees are merely the latest instance of misinformation being spread online. While he didn’t outright deny that some payments were delayed, he insisted that this issue primarily affected contractors, not full-time staff, and was done to avoid disrupting operations.
“While people who have never played OTG and have never built a business sit and spread FUD to farm a few views — targeting the biggest web3 game ever created, a game that represents not only itself but the entire web3 gaming industry in front of traditional gaming — we will keep…”
— Vlad Korolev (@VladK133) April 9, 2026
Korolev continued, “Today, there is a new narrative from haters—that Gunzilla incorrectly laid off contractors or paid them with delays. 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. But to protect the interests of our players and our full-time official employees—whose salaries, over 6 years, have never been delayed by more than a week—we operate at a pace that ensures the company continues moving forward. And of course, we honor every obligation. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. It’s also worth noting that one of the loudest voices—a contractor who finished working with us just a week ago—was repaid immediately.”
This outburst on Twitter came after multiple employees claimed that Gunzilla had not compensated them for months, with many still asserting they are owed back pay and stating that management has gone silent. Former senior VFX animator Paul Creamer also reported being owed months of pay after working without receiving checks for an extended period in late 2025.
“I foolishly worked for 3 extra months (October, November, and December) with assurances that delays in payment would be resolved,” Creamer stated. “Upper management promised that these delays were temporary and growing pains tied to being a new company with a new game. In December, the CEO himself (Vlad Korolev) had a call with my department where he promised us that invoices would be paid as soon as possible, that the company was profitable, and that we were all doing the right thing by keeping quiet and continuing to work.”
Earlier in his post, Korolev claimed that “haters” have been predicting the failure of both the studio and Off the Grid. However, he asserted that the game is thriving, attributing its success to the hard work of the team. He also seemed to take pride in the studio’s culture of crunch, stating, “Within 6 years, there has never been a single day where anyone worked in a ‘work-life balance’ mode—it has been a day-and-night fight to ship a project of the scale of Call of Duty, built by an independent studio.”
In his extensive Twitter message, Korolev also highlighted Gunzilla’s acquisition of a major gaming magazine in 2025, following its closure by a previous owner. He claimed this move was revitalizing the publication and that it continues to grow.
Korolev suggested that Off the Grid is also experiencing rapid growth over a year after its release and even claimed that anyone could access the company’s player data for a fee of “100k GUN,” Gunzilla’s cryptocurrency, which is currently valued at about $1,700 USD. Meanwhile, Off the Grid has yet to surpass 20,000 concurrent players on Steam. When someone accused Korolev of using AI to craft his lengthy Twitter post, he simply replied, “Find a job.”
