Gunzilla CEO denies unpaid staff claims and blames “haters," admits delayed contractor payments

Gunzilla Games CEO Vlad Korolev has publicly denied that the studio has failed to pay its full-time employees, while acknowledging that some contractors have faced delayed payments scheduled around the company’s cash flow. 

The details:

• Earlier this week, several former staff and contractors accused Gunzilla Games of failing to pay its employees for several months, with some still awaiting payment months after leaving the studio. It was also alleged that despite attempts to directly contact the developer’s leadership regarding the issue, messages were simply ignored.
• Korolev has now responded to the allegations with a lengthy post on X, calling critics “haters” and accusing them of spreading “FUD” about Gunzilla and its free-to-play title Off The Grid, which he framed as part of a years-long effort to undermine the studio. He claimed the latest accusations about unpaid invoices are simply a “new narrative from haters” designed to make the company look bad.
• In his statement, the CEO insisted that “full‑time official employees” have not seen their salaries delayed by more than a week in six years and said any significant delays have only affected contractors. He argued that some invoices are timed “in a way that works for the company’s cash flow—not always for everyone individually,” describing that as “the reality of the world we live in,” while also asserting that Gunzilla "honor[s] every obligation” and apologized for the overall inconvenience.
• Korolev also took the opportunity to highlight Off The Grid’s commercial performance and growth after people pointed out that the game has failed to surpass 20,000 concurrent players on Steam following its launch. He went on to offer to create a dashboard for the public to check the game’s performance behind the scenes, but only if you purchase the studio’s own cryptocurrency.