Is Off The Grid by Gunzilla Games Scamming Its Players or Just a Web3 Growing Pain?

In the fractured world of Web3 gaming, perception often hits harder than gameplay. Avalanche Network’s heavily marketed shooter, Off The Grid, a cyberpunk battle royale from Gunzilla Games has enjoyed major promotional pushes since its Early Access debut in late 2024. Including $600,000 tournaments and custom skins for streamers like Scump and Ninja. But now it’s facing something less celebratory: public accusations of unpaid players, underwhelming node returns, and community unrest.

Player Accusations Trigger Payment Disputes

The most visible firestorm began on May 17, when top player inhuman accused the game of misrepresenting player growth and withholding over $441,000 in tournament winnings. “This game has not had full NA lobbies since December last year,” he wrote, claiming he and friends were still waiting on payments from daily events held five months prior. Other community members echoed those concerns.

Another player claimed his group was owed roughly $30,000 to $40,000 for winning a daily tournament. “It’s been 5 months and we still haven’t been paid,” he posted on May 18. Four days later, he returned with an update: “My teammate got paid fully. I’m expecting mine tomorrow.”

The timing of these payments, coming shortly after public accusations, raises questions about whether the sudden resolution was pre-planned or triggered by the pressure.

Gunzilla Responds With Records and Proof

Gunzilla didn’t stay silent. The official Off The Grid X account responded directly to inhuman’s post, stating that their records showed two completed payments—$30,000 and $250—for tournament finishes. They asked him to specify what was missing. Other players came forward to confirm they had, in fact, been paid. One user, 1vs3_Joker, reported a $39,000 payout processed in just one day, while ShazzV cited $24,000 received despite early KYC delays.

The game had been running regular competitions through its Clash for Cash series, but those events were paused on April 10 to be reworked. Gunzilla has said the tournament will return with a revamped competitive format in May.

GUNZ Validator Node Economics Raise Sustainability Questions

Then there’s the issue of Gunzilla’s validator nodes. Promoted as part of the GUNZ token economy, these nodes promised rewards to those securing the network and decoding NFT-based items. But players like Fomotion say the earnings don’t come close to expectations. After investing $18,560 into six nodes, his reported return over 16 days was just 2.55 GUN—around $0.08 per day. “I literally need five or six extra lifetimes to break even,” he wrote.

In response, Gunzilla CEO Vlad Korolov and the dev team pointed to the ongoing transition from testnet to mainnet. According to them, 99.9% of users were still operating on the testnet as of May, with rewards coming only from about 1,000 active mainnet wallets. That figure is now reportedly expanding to 21,000, with a roadmap toward onboarding 16 million players. Once the full migration completes, node returns are expected to increase.

Flash, Funds, and Fragility in Web3 Gaming

Gunzilla has been heavily invested in marketing and visibility. Off The Grid held a high-profile All Stars Invitational in November 2024, featuring top creators like xQc, Scump, and ImperialHal. OTG is set to launch on Steam in June with full crossplay and new content updates. The studio even partnered with matchmaking platform Plink to boost player discovery.

But in Web3 gaming, big names and bigger budgets don’t guarantee long-term trust. The current moment echoes broader concerns raised by Axie Infinity cofounder Aleksander Larsen at TOKEN2049. “Bad actors get washed out,” Larsen said, describing Web3 as undergoing a Darwinian reset. Many projects, he warned, are focusing too much on AAA polish and too little on functional economies.

Off The Grid isn’t short on polish or ambition. Its hybrid battle royale-extraction gameplay and Neill Blomkamp-directed narrative were meant to bridge traditional shooters and blockchain-native economies. But with rising scrutiny around payouts and token value, the real test now is whether Gunzilla can prove its model is built for more than marketing.

Whether these issues reflect operational hiccups or deeper systemic problems remains to be seen. But in a year already full of cautionary tales, Off The Grid is the latest project to discover how quickly community sentiment can turn—especially when the tokens don’t show up.