Gunzilla Games has pushed back against recent reports that some claim Off The Grid developers were not paid for their work, with CEO Vlad Korolev issuing a detailed statement attributing the accusations against the company to “haters”. However, he did not directly deny many of the central allegations and instead suggested the situation around Off The Grid was more complex.
Founded in 2020, Gunzilla Games is a European studio with offices in London, Kiev and Frankfurt. It has over 200 employees as of spring 2026, according to publicly available LinkedIn data. The company's debut title, a free-to-play crypto battle royale shooter is called Off The Gridlaunched for consoles in October 2024 before making its way to PC in July 2025. In early April 2026, several current and former employees on LinkedIn said they had not been paid for their work on the game for months, adding that they knew of others in a similar situation.
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Gunzilla CEO defends Studio over payment disputes
On April 9, CEO Vlad Korolev addressed the non-payment allegations directly in a lengthy response posted on X, formerly Twitter. While framing the criticism as an attempt to harm both Gunzilla and Off The Gridhis statement also acknowledged that some recent payments were structured around the company's cash flow rather than workers' preferred timing. “That's the reality of the world we live in,” Korolev said, seemingly confirming that some Off The Grid developers have not yet been paid for their contributions to the project.
Korolev further claimed that Gunzilla had spent more than a year managing costs by April 2026, characterizing it as not unusual in the current game development landscape. He framed the disputed payment timing as part of those ongoing efforts. The CEO also made a clear distinction between different groups within the company. In defending Gunzilla's practices, Korolev claimed that full-time employees had never experienced serious payment delays throughout the company's existence, adding that their paychecks were never more than a week late.
Despite his retraction and claims that concerns about Gunzilla's sustainability are exaggerated by “haters”, Korolev's latest statement does not constitute an unequivocal defense, as it also includes an apology to anyone affected by the company's practices. It is still unclear when Off The Grid developers who say they are still waiting for payment for their work will be paid by the company. It is equally unclear how many contractors have had their payments delayed as part of Gunzilla's stated cost optimization efforts.
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Despite its apparent financial struggles, Gunzilla was the company that revived Game Informer in March 2025, securing the brand from GameStop, bringing back the editorial board, and restoring the publication's archives while promising that the store would operate independently. In that context the accusations now around Off The Grid carry extra weight, as they sit uncomfortably alongside Gunzilla's latest attempt to establish itself as a stabilizing force for an older name in gaming media.
- Released
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August 10, 2024
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Cash Rewards, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Violence
- Developer
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Gunzilla game
- Publisher
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Gunzilla game
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
Source: Insider Gaming
