The developer of the shooter game Pioner, the studio GFA Games, is facing difficult times. Anonymous sources informed App2Top that the management is in serious conflict with the development team. Moreover, some employees have been going without pay for several months.
Pioner
According to a source familiar with the studio's affairs, the management ignores the criticism from the press and community about the game. They refer to the game's positive rating on Steam and the project's overall profitability.
For reference, if you visit the game's page in the store for English-speaking users, the rating can indeed be considered good — 72%. However, overall across all regions, according to SteamDB, it is much lower at 64%.
Regarding the game's revenue, on Valve's platform, it is estimated by various analytics services to be between $900,000 and $2.6 million: VG Insight more pessimistically evaluates the game's results compared to the Gamalytic service.
The development team does not share the top management's positive view. They take user feedback on the current state of the project to heart.
The fact is that the game's review feed on Steam is filled with negative comments. Pioner is criticized for controversial design decisions, frequent loss of progress, regular server issues, constant bugs, and much more.
According to the source, most developers on the team agree with the authors of Steam reviews. They actively criticize both already implemented aspects and new decisions made by management.
The management's reluctance to acknowledge the game's problems leads to both the project's deterioration and intensifying conflict with the development team. Because top management refuses to accept reality, they begin to set development tasks that do not align with the needed fixes.
One of the most telling examples is the introduction of a monthly subscription in one of the latest patches. Originally in Pioner, which is sold as a paid game, it wasn't planned. Its introduction was rushed after the game had entered early access, to the detriment of addressing critical gameplay issues.
Another example provided by the source is the development of an in-game store. "It was started before release, then abandoned. A few weeks before release, it was suddenly recalled, and instead of refining the build for release, a lot of effort was put into getting it to work."
There were many such situations, according to the source: "Features were added right up to release without the possibility of polishing and testing each. This is evident in the game: most of the mechanics either work poorly or are unpopular."
The current situation is exacerbated by financial problems. At least part of the team has been without salaries since February. This is the first significant delay in the studio's history of development. Previously, payment delays did not exceed a few days.
Management explains the payment issue as "currency control delays, issues with transferring funds to Russia, and account blocks due to delayed payments." This has led to staff departures.
At least 10 people left GFA Games just last month. However, most employees "have entered a work stoppage under Article 142 of the Russian Labor Code" (which allows a worker to suspend work if salary payment is delayed for more than 15 days).
Another source familiar with the situation at GFA Games confirms the payment issue. According to them, some employees continue to receive pay, but part of the team has indeed been without money for quite a while.
A third source also confirmed the delays. However, according to them, these only affect Russian employees. Overseas, the company's specialists continue to receive money, albeit with delays of several days.
Interestingly, the management has issues with some who have not formally left the company but have entered a work stoppage. They are threatened with dismissal if they do not return to their duties, despite the lack of pay.
Based on this, one of our interlocutors speculates that top management is not interested in retaining the team. Instead, it seems they are pushing some staff to resign voluntarily.
It is difficult to assess the scale of departures externally. Our research of open sources has not shown significant changes in the labor market yet. However, our second source noted that the rapid loss of company employees is a fact. Most likely, many simply do not appear on job search platforms because they are quickly recruited by other companies.
Meanwhile, the game's online presence on Steam continues to hover around the release figure of 1,100 to 1,000 players. The number of updates released, according to Steam's update statistics, is decreasing month by month. There were five in February, two in March, and so far, one in April.