Gunzilla Games Faces Allegations of Unpaid Staff Salaries

Employees of Gunzilla Games, the publisher and developer of the blockchain-based game Off The Grid and owner of Game Informer, have come forward alleging that the company has neglected to pay salaries for an extended period. This issue has prompted staff members to express their concerns on social media, including Anna Savina, the talent acquisition lead, who publicly disclosed experiencing significant delays in salary payments without any explanation. Although Savina later updated her post to indicate that the matter had been resolved, other staff members have shared similar experiences. Former employees, such as principal hard surface artist Oleksandr Linovichenko and principal weapon and hard surface artist Anton Kharyn, claim they have not received payment for their work in August and September. Canadian contractor Paul Creamer also reported that he had not been paid since October 2025, despite continuing to work for the company until December under the assumption that he would receive payment. Creamer noted that upper management attributed the delays to temporary growing pains associated with being a new company. However, the situation has persisted, with Ukrainian staff alleging they have not been paid for approximately six months, and some staff owed four or five months' worth of salary. International contractors have also been affected, with repeated assurances that their payments would be made shortly. In contrast, staff in the UK and Germany have generally received payment, although there have been instances of late payment. Additionally, UK staff have experienced issues with pension payments, with Gunzilla failing to make contributions to pension pots between May and September. The company has attributed this to its payroll provider and claims to be actively addressing the issue. Following the renaming of its UK arm to Geofvision, contractors who have been let go by Gunzilla have reported delays in receiving their final payments, with some only receiving payment after threatening legal action. The widespread nature of the payment issues has led to internal frustration, with staff creating a custom emoji in the company's Slack channel to express their discontent. Gunzilla Games was founded in 2020 with $25 million in funding and has offices in multiple locations, including Frankfurt, Kyiv, LA, and London. The company's debut title, Off The Grid, was announced in 2022 and features extensive Web3 integration. Despite the issues, the company has continued to operate, with GamesIndustry.biz reaching out to Gunzilla Games for comment on the allegations.