They Weren’t Paid, But Fired and „Lied to”. Ironbird Creations’ Employee Drama and the Crisis at All in! Games

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On 23 May 2024, the management of Kraków-based All in! Games (publisher of Chernobylite or the first Ghostrunner) decided to lay off more than half of the employees of its sub-company, Ironbird Creations, previously working on the promising action adventure game titled Phantom Hellcat. The part of narrative and programming teams, as well as a large part of the graphic artists, have been fired.  According to the informants, 19 people have managed to keep their positions (a number already gradually decreasing in June 2024). The redundancies were not announced on IBC’s social media.

On the same day, an anonymous employee of Ironbird Creations, directly related to these events, contacted me to outline the key context of the situation — the company hasn’t paid its employees for half a year (since December 2023) while also having financial arrears of 2 to 5 payments per subordinate. It still have some financial obligations to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), debt collectors and unfulfilled promises to investors. The situation is also being closely monitored by the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP).

The situation is said to be a result of the company’s „temporary” financial crisis. However, I’ve directly contacted other employees and former workers, as well as the CEO of All in! Games SA, Marcin Kawa, to ascertain the details of company and developers problems.

All in! Games is a video game publisher in operation since 2018. Currently, there are subsidiaries within the company such as Taming Chaos and Ironbird Creations in charge of production. All in! Games has published titles such as Chernobylite, Paradise Lost and the first Ghostrunner. However, its collaboration with the creators of the latter, One More Level, ended in conflict and financial repercussions – this, incidentally, was not AiG’s first problems.

Developers’ Perspective

I had the opportunity to speak by phone or in writing with several (former and current) employees of both Ironbird Creations and the other sub-company of All in! Games, Taming Chaos. Some of them, for fear of breaking the NDA, decided to redirect me to sources more eager to share the facts, or simply rejected further correspondence, to which they had every right.

The informants chose to remain anonymous, but expressed relief at finally being able to say what has been going on at the company over the past months, and hope for legal justice and an appropriate response from the industry. The reports (which you’ll learn about in a minute), were confirmed by my interviewees.

Contact with the management was kept to a minimum in the form of email messages (the contents of which I’ll cite later), in which it was regularly promised that the money would come a few days from now, next week, etc. Developers asked for more calls and updates, tried to reach the management, only to reach a dead end. Interestingly, Marcin Kawa, despite avoiding contact with the staff, called the CD-Action editorial team on the same day that we began to investigate the matter further.

The issue was so enormous that the employees had no money to live on. They took loans to pay their rents. The developers reporting the situation felt no support from the head of the studio, Leksa Gornovitz. I was told, that she dismissed them when they asked for information, claiming the board was not telling her everything.

She assured the ZUS contributions were being paid for people working on employment contracts, when, in fact, they were not, with the debt in ZUS increasing, according to the screenshots from the employees’ Discord (you can see the below). She told the devs that they could leave if they wanted to, but no one would be fired after all, and the situation with payments would soon stabilize. One informant tells me: „Gornovitz warned us that reporting the company’s current situation anywhere could harm colleagues, putting them in a precarious position”.

The other group of devs I had the opportunity to talk to, however, sees Leksa’s character very differently. They stress that „Leksa gave as much information as she had, and what she had, she had to cough up”. They felt supported by her and saw that she was trying to act for their benefit. They believe that putting some of the responsibility for communication problems on her is due to inability of several developers to deal with the legitimate stress.

I contacted Leksa Gornovitz to get her perspective on the situations presented by the devs. It turns out that she was fired from Ironbird Creations by Marcin Kawa on 10 June 2024. And she was allegedly not paid in recent months (with the exception of April 2024 and June 2024, when she was paid arrears for December 2023 and January 2024). She highlights the communication problems between management and employees and points out that she had this „thankless role of mediating between one side and the other”, herself not receiving enough information from her bosses regarding, for example, Social Insurance or the timing of the payment.

She also conveyed to me that „,she hopes that she built a studio in a pleasant atmosphere where everyone could be heard”. She understands the grief of some of the employees, but points out that she did not lie to them, she cared about their wellbeing and simply did not know the facts. In turn, what she knew was to be tailored to the needs of the individual. As she states: „I had to tailor the way I communicated to 60 different people and several versions of who needed what to feel good.”

One informant points out that he received late transfers from the company even before December 2023. The arrears were regulated, but usually after some time. Over the past six months, the situation has deteriorated significantly, with employees being told that the payment depends on the decision of the shareholders, and that if behind-the-scenes informations leak into the public space, no one would invest in Ironbird — which complicates the matter of sending due payments.

The dismissed employees were banned from mailing lists and official Discord channels where daily work-related issues were being discussed. Employees knew full well that layoffs are possible. The bosses, seeing the team’s attitude, didn’t assign them to many tasks, so the actual work was as much as nothing. Some simply just stopped working, seeing that their efforts were not compensated in any way. So, they’ve been looking for another gamedev place for themselves for months now — on the one hand acting quietly, on the other ticking the „open to work” LinkedIn option. Motivating themselves to take group action against the company was difficult for the devs, given the aforementioned fear of contractual penalties.

Recently, however, they’ve begun to report violations to the PIP and debt collectors. Those dismissed are considering legal action and taking their cases to court. They treat this article as a platform to express their dissatisfaction and sense of injustice. In addition, this is the first time in a long time they’re talking about the issue to the wider audience. Finally, they are not afraid and they want to take action. These people have spent months trying to come to terms with their situation, had nervous breakdowns and faced unimaginable stress. They mention, half-jokingly: „For six months of defaulting on employees’ payments, the company continues to maintain a large office. An office with a slide.”

Status of the Company Over the Months

In 2023, All in! Games reported a consolidated net loss of PLN 6.22 million attributable to shareholders of the parent company in 2023, compared to a loss of PLN 40.21 million a year earlier. December 2023 brought the first arrears to the current devs. The topic of overdue payments was avoided during the calls, and any communication on the matter took place through email correspondence between CEO Marcin Kawa and VP Maciej Łaś with the Ironbird Creations staff. The contents of the messages were provided to me anyway. The issue of December salaries was addressed on January 30, 2024.

Management apologized for „the lack of payment”, declaring that „they needed a week or so to fulfill their commitment”, and as a form of, presumably, compensation offered „to expedite the ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan”, and to implement it for all employees, not just lead managers. This, the email stated, was to allow the developers to become, to some extent, co-owners of Ironbird Creations S.A..

In February, the share capital was changed from 6 million to 7.6 million zlotys. At the same time, the authorized capital changed from 2.6 million to 1 million zlotys (according to the KRS — National Court Register — report). The board also tried to look for profit-making alternatives. It issued a letter of intent to Monolith Films, a renowned Polish film distributor, „expressing its intention to negotiate to establish terms of cooperation involving the production and distribution of a film based on the Phantom Hellcat game IP.”

All in! Games’ March of 2024 was marked by high hopes related to the Phantom Hellcat showing at GDC and meetings with shareholders to get their help, among other investment funds. On March 5, March 8 and March 15, it was assured that overdue transfers had begun — money in the company’s account reportedly came from investors, who were said to „keep their promise” in the form of providing the rest of the funds owed to the company.

Another several tens of thousands of zlotys allegedly reached the pockets of employees, and the relations with shareholders were said to tight enough to suggest the company’s financial situation was going to get better. Management also tried to build a good narrative, boasting of progress when it came to relations with foreign publishers and platform owners.

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Amid all the information chaos, Marcin Kawa also tried to make employees understand that he gets their anger and disappointment, but he himself is said „to be in a dire financial situation, and figuring out even the most basic necessities of life is supposed to be a challenge” for him. He declared a wish to strive for normalcy and safeness at the company, but over the course of months has failed to provide these to his subordinates.

A general meeting of Ironbird Creations was to be held on May 24 of this year, presumably to approve the consolidated financial report for the first quarter of 2024, which has been released on May 29. Moreover, one of the members of the Audit Committee resignated on May 22. He was indirectly responsible for checking the financial reports of All In! Games S.A..

In the latest report, we can read that the consolidated net loss for the first few months is PLN 968,702 (sales revenue is PLN 383,229 and the net loss of the controlling entity reached PLN 442,276). These figures are a result of „a period of reorganisation, quieting down the publishing business and moving to a development business model,” and „the company is currently mainly securing financing for ongoing projects through funds raised from new share issues and debt financing.”

The management of AIGAMES is currently obliged to repay the amount of the loans plus interest under an agreement with Łukasz Nowak, a significant shareholder of the company. He provided a loan facility of up to PLN 10 million on August 29, which was increased after time to PLN 25 million. The entire amount is to be repaid by August 25, 2025. Then, by June 30, 2025 All in! Games S.A has to settle the last installment obligation of PLN 1.9 million towards the Kraków-based company One More Level S.A (creators of the first Ghostrunner), resulting from the concluded publishing agreement.

What’s important is the fact that the situation of All in! Games in the investment community is clear; everyone can read about the company’s problems, for example, on the Bankier forum. Some shareholders are complaining in the comments that the company is changing the expected release date of Phantom Hellcat from July 2024 to an unknown date, and not replying to their messages. It is said, on the basis of the annual report, that in the current situation there’s no chance the game is being developed, while forumers that read the company’s cyclical report are sure The Farm 51 is sending bailiffs to All in! Games.

This would coincide with the news on May 25, 2023, when The Farm 51 broke its publishing agreement with All in! Games for the Chernobylite game. In addition, in the consolidated quarterly interim report, the management announced that „a declaration of acknowledgement of the debt and the division of repayment of PLN 2.7 million into installments was signed, with the last installment due by the end of May 2024.” The Farm 51, regarding the lack of repayment of the obligation, initiated enforcement proceedings on March 21, 2024 for an amount of over PLN 2 million.

On May 22, 2024, the day before the mass layoffs, forumers pointed out that „there is no one at Ironbird Creations except the boss and his entourage”, and „it is an open secret that the company has not paid salaries for months.” That means the market observers were well aware of the situation facing the said company; so the fact that shares of AIGAMES are gradually declining since December 2023 is no surprise.

Slightly more surprising may be the comments under the company’s listing dating back to the end of 2022. Shareholders were interacting then with alleged employees, and the message was simple: no payment. I’ve heard similar things from anonymous developers — they claim there has been a talk about whole teams being laid off and outstanding salaries even from a couple of years ago.

I contacted another anonymous Ironbird Creations ex-employee who was working for the company in a period including the end of 2022. He confirms the payments of other developers were already overdue in October and November 2022, and that he also has encountered delays when it came to getting paid. During that period, mass layoffs were to take place across All in! Games. Company was also to undergo mass layoffs in at least the marketing and publishing departments.

All in! Games and Ironbird Creations Management Perspective

As I mentioned earlier, Marcin Kawa, despite not maintaining close contact with Ironbird Creations employees and ex-workers, made a phone call to the editorial office almost immediately when he heard about the development of this article. After calling him back, I was assured that he understood why this article was being written. He stressed the tragedy of the condition of gamedev around the world and his intention to pay his dues to laid-off developers. However, he needed a few days to consult with a lawyer to answer some slightly more specific questions. I verified the answers, having the needed information. I also sent the same questions to Ironbird Creations president and vice-president of All in! Games, Maciej Łaś, but he wrote: „Marcin’s answers were consulted with me, so I have nothing to add”. So please treat the information below as the joint statement of Maciej Łaś and Marcin Kawa.

First, a classic: „We have always been proud of the fact that while so many studios, unable to cope with the worldwide situation in the industry, suspend or abandon the continuation of projects and consequently lay off employees, we’re still fighting and not going down that road.” Then, he carried on by saying that in order to improve the company’s situation and provide stable working conditions for those who remained and continue to work on the project, the development team had to be „reduced.” Marcin Kawa claims that it is not All in! Games, but a separate company within the All in! Games, namely Ironbird Creations S.A., owes money to its employees. Another reason for the layoffs is said to be precisely the wish to not increase these financial obligations. From what I’ve gathered, the people remaining at IBC have already been guaranteed installment payments.

Marcin Kawa insists that laid-off employees were asked to leave contact information to inform them of the next steps and the deadline for settling financial obligations. All of my interviewees claim they were not asked for such informations; they say they didn’t get any deadline, and haven’t been contacted at all. The conned developers even put out a request to create an email thread or channel on Discord with everyone who still expect to get money, but they were denied. The CEO, however, calls those laid-off developers such a „proven team” that he guarantees they will be first in line for reemployment when Ironbird Creations gets back on track.

Regarding the Social Insurance Institution issues, management notes that „the status of settlements between ZUS and Ironbird Creations S.A. does not affect the receipt of Social Insurance benefits by employees. The status of Social Insurance Institution settlements was published, for example, in periodic reports that are publicly available.” However, he didn’t comment on the workers’ accusation that contributions were not being paid.

Marcin Kawa, asked if the company discouraged developers from sharing their professional problems, claiming that it could work to the company’s harm, replied that employees were covered by non-disclosure agreements that are standard in the industry, and there is nothing unique about keeping trade secrets. However, the devs did not intend to reveal the behind-the-scenes of the project, they just want to share the fact of non-payment with the adequate institutions. The prohibition of sharing information about one’s own earnings is not covered by labor law, although the mentions about not sharing „informations regarding the work organization and the business method” in the contracts may be interpreted differently by law. That’s why every source in this text remains anonymous — the said people could be in danger because of hefty fines and loopholes.

Marcin Kawa also informally added the following message — he can’t imagine not repaying current and former employees. The fact is, however, that the money has still not been seen by the laid-off people, and after months of pulling the wool over their eyes, they have even been denied any possibility of finding out about the solvency issues of All in! Games, or Ironbird Creations. They are currently left alone, destitute and in a harsh job market. The employees still remaining at Ironbird Creations have, according to information I have obtained, reportedly started to gradually receive their money. However, following the dismissal of Leksa Gronovitz, more people were to start leaving the company.

At least several employees sent the company pre-court demands for payment, to which they’ve never received a response.