The CEO of Gunzilla Games, Vlad Korolev, has issued a pointed public rebuttal to claims from former workers that the studio delayed their payroll, framing the accusations as a malicious narrative from critics. In a detailed social media post, Korolev directly addressed allegations made by ex-contractors while simultaneously championing the success of the studio’s NFT-powered battle royale title, Off The Grid, and defending its intensive development culture. This response creates a stark contrast between the CEO’s portrayal of a thriving, innovative company honoring its core obligations and the firsthand accounts of individuals who say they worked for months without timely compensation.
Former Employees Allege Months of Unpaid Work
The controversy emerged when several former Gunzilla team members took to professional networking sites to voice their grievances. Animator Paul Creamer stated he had not been paid since October 2025, alleging he worked for three additional months based on assurances the payment delays would be resolved. “Gunzilla Games has not paid its employees for many months but still expects them to work,” Creamer claimed. Talent acquisition lead Anna Savina echoed similar criticisms. These public testimonials painted a picture of a studio prioritizing project development over fulfilling financial commitments to its workforce, directly challenging the company’s operational integrity.
Korolev’s Response: A Mix of Defense and Accusation
CEO Vlad Korolev’s lengthy reply did not shy away from the confrontation. He opened by broadly dismissing critics as outsiders sowing fear and doubt, stating they target “the biggest web3 game ever created” without firsthand experience. He aggressively positioned Gunzilla as a bastion of innovation under siege, shifting the narrative from internal payroll issues to an external attack on the entire web3 gaming sector. This framing served as a preemptive defense, attempting to contextualize the following, more specific denial within a broader culture war between traditional gaming skeptics and web3 proponents.
Addressing the “New Narrative from Haters”
Korolev directly labelled the payroll delay claims a “new narrative from haters.” He acknowledged the company was “optimising costs,” a common practice across gaming and tech, and confirmed that “some payments may be scheduled in a way that works for the company’s cash flow.” This admission subtly validated the core complaint—that payments were delayed—while reframing it as a necessary, strategic business decision rather than a failure or oversight. He emphasized protecting the company’s players and its full-time employees, whose salaries, he asserted, “have never been delayed by more than a week” over six years.
The Contractor Distinction
A critical element of Korolev’s statement was the explicit distinction between “full-time official employees” and contractors. By isolating contractors as the group affected by payment scheduling for cash flow purposes, the response implicitly acknowledged the substance of the allegations, which largely came from freelance or contract workers. He noted that “one of the loudest voices—a contractor who finished working with us just a week ago—was repaid immediately,” which attempted to demonstrate the company ultimately fulfills its obligations but did not address the months-long waits described by others.
Defending Crunch and Studio Culture
Beyond the payment dispute, Korolev’s statement offered a revealing look at Gunzilla’s development ethos. He stated that throughout Off The Grid’s six-year development, “there has never been a single day where anyone worked in a ‘work-life balance’ mode.” He described it as a “day-and-night fight” to ship a project rivaling the scale of Call of Duty as an independent studio. This boast, while likely intended to highlight the team’s dedication, also served as an unapologetic defense of crunch culture, potentially alienating industry observers concerned about sustainable labor practices and adding context to the environment in which the payment delays occurred.
Boasting Achievements Amidst Controversy
To counter the negative press, Korolev pivoted to promoting Gunzilla’s commercial and critical successes. He pointed to the millions of players for Off The Grid and, notably, to the studio’s ownership of Game Informer and a subsequent feature in Fast Company magazine naming it one of “the most innovative gaming companies of 2026.” This strategy aimed to overwhelm the payroll criticism with evidence of the company’s viability and industry standing, suggesting that such achievements invalidate the financial concerns raised by former contractors. “While our dear haters keep trying to find new reasons why Gunzilla should fail—we will keep responding with achievements,” he concluded.
The Murky Waters of Contractor vs. Employee Status
The situation highlights a recurring point of tension in the modern game development landscape: the treatment of contractors. Korolev’s statement clarifies the company’s prioritization of its full-time staff’s payroll. However, for contractors who may have been working what amounted to full-time hours on a project for months, invoicing for sums equivalent to a salary, being categorized separately for payment schedules can feel particularly punitive. This distinction, while legally relevant, does little to mitigate the financial hardship caused by delayed payments, raising ethical questions about the reliance on contract labor for core development work without the corresponding financial security offered to permanent staff.
The clash between Gunzilla’s leadership and its former contractors underscores a fundamental divide in how success is measured in a volatile, high-stakes industry. For Vlad Korolev, the unimpeded launch of a major product, industry accolades, and the stability of the core team represent the ultimate vindication, justifying aggressive cash flow management. For the individuals who contributed their labor under contract, the failure to receive timely payment for work completed remains a simple breach of trust and professional obligation, one that achievements and narratives about “haters” cannot erase. The episode ultimately serves as a case study in how corporate communication can acknowledge a problem in one breath while simultaneously dismissing its human impact in the next, all within the contentious arena of web3 gaming’s push for legitimacy.
