District 9 director's studio Gunzilla accused by former staff of not paying employees "for many months"

"Upper management promised that these delays were temporary and growing pains tied to being a new company with a new game", claims former animator

Gunzilla Games, the studio co-founded by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp and developers of NFT-infected battle royale game Off The Grid, have been accused by a number of former employees of failing to pay staff for months on end. One former animator at the studio has also accused them of attempting to "silence" workers attempting to get the money they claim to be owed.

As reported by the likes of VGC and Insider Gaming, among the former staff accusing Gunzilla of failing to pay staff are Paul Creamer - an animator who left the studio this March - and talent acquisition lead Anna Savina.

Both made their accusations on LinkedIn. "I dedicated 3 years of my professional life to Gunzilla Games. I built teams, found top talent, and lived the company's mission 24/7," Savina wrote. "Today, I'm forced to face a significant outstanding debt that covers several months of my professional life." She claimed staff in her position are facing "significant salary delays with no clear timeline", with reach-outs to Gunzilla's CEO and CFO having yielded no response and "zero specific information" respectively.

"I'm not the only one. I know many talented colleagues who are in the same "fog". We’re not asking for bonuses, we’re demanding what we have earned," Savina added. She appears to have since updated the post to note that "the situation regarding my personal matter has been resolved".

Creamer, meanwhile, alleged in his post: "Gunzilla Games has not paid its employees for many months but still expects them to work. I have personally not been paid since October 2025. Some have had their pay delayed even longer. I foolishly worked for 3 extra months (October, November and December) with assurances that delays in payment would be resolved. Upper management promised that these delays were temporary and growing pains tied to being a new company with a new game."

He went on to accuse Gunzilla CEO Vlad Korolev of "not being truthful" and also alleged that "now the company ignores our questions and removes our posts about what’s going on trying to silence us".

I've reached out to Gunzilla Games for comment.

Off The Grid launched into early access in 2024, hitting Steam in July last year. "Off The Grid is not an NFT game," Gunzilla claim in an FAQ on the game's website. "It’s a battle royale game with an optional NFT element. If you want to try out NFTs, you can; if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. It’s entirely up to the player how they want to play the game, and the game is playable without dipping into NFTs."