Media: The Studio Behind "Pioner" Plagued by "Managerial Chaos" for Years, with Employee Complaints Ignored
Last week, App2Top reported on issues at GFA Games — many employees are experiencing salary delays, and a conflict has arisen between the team developing the shooter Pioner and the management. As discovered by our colleagues at IXBT Games, this is the outcome of a longstanding systemic crisis within the studio.
Pioner
As part of their investigation, the IXBT Games editorial team spoke with a group of former and current employees of GFA Games. Below is a brief overview of their findings.
- According to IXBT Games, the creators of Pioner never had a clear vision for the game, leading to multiple restarts of its development. Work on the shooter (initially named re:BORN) began around 2017-2018, but progress was very slow at first. In 2021, the development team changed, radically altering the title's concept for the first time.
- Over the years, developers considered games like Fallout, Genshin Impact, Destiny, and others as benchmarks for Pioner. The situation was exacerbated by the lack of a roadmap and proper sprints in the studio. Consequently, new mechanics were frequently introduced to the shooter, only to be later scrapped and then reintroduced in a modified form. These changes sometimes arrived at the last minute.
- Even when GFA Games began actively promoting Pioner and showcasing trailers, the studio still didn't fully understand what kind of game they wanted to create.
- Communication between departments at GFA Games is severely lacking. At times, some Pioner developers learned about game changes from interviews, public announcements, or even bug reports from testers.
- GFA Games' employees regularly crunched, with at least one department reportedly never receiving overtime pay. Top managers allegedly considered crunch inevitable due to poor performance by employees unable to complete tasks on the first attempt.
- In 2024, developers drafted a collective letter to GFA Games founder Alexander Nikitin, complaining about chaos in the studio, but never dared to send it.
- At some point, two different teams began testing Pioner — the standard QA department and a group of so-called playtesters. They didn't trust each other much, resulting in repeated bug checks, which delayed processes.
- Subsequently, the entire GFA Games split into "two management circuits." Pioner development head Alexander Petrov directed game design, level design, art, localization, and playtesters, while technical director Maxim Wolf took over programming and QA. It was expected this would streamline operations, but instead, it created two occasionally conflicting camps within the studio.
- Many decisions about Pioner were made by the aforementioned Petrov. IXBT Games interviewees describe him as a quick-tempered, tyrannical person who reacts painfully to criticism, ignores serious issues, and frequently uses foul language. Furthermore, he regularly made complaints to HR about various employees, sometimes based on contrived reasons. Questions also exist regarding Petrov's professional qualities. However, it is claimed that over the past year and a half, he has become much less contentious. Petrov himself acknowledged some of the complaints in a comment to IXBT Games, explaining them as a consequence of heavy workload and responsibility for the project.
- It is claimed that the management has long fostered a toxic and pressure-filled atmosphere in the studio. They have hinted multiple times to disgruntled employees that they might be added to industry "blacklists," after which no one would hire them. Top managers sometimes spoke about "traitors" who would face legal action if necessary.
- As one employee stated to IXBT Games, the studio eventually turned into a place where "nobody gives a ****" and "everyone survives as best they can," with a "torrent of 'feces'" flowing from above.