MSI promises to continue development of Afterburner after app developer accuses company of non-payment

MSI Afterburner, one of the most widely used applications for overclocking PC video cards, is currently in an uncertain state. The app’s developer, Alexey Nicolaychuk, says Afterburner development has been going on with difficulty, as his relationship with MSI has been terminated for almost a year, during which time he has not received his salary. MSI says development of the app will continue after a solution is found.

MSI Afterburner developer Unwinder says he hasn’t been paid for almost a year

The reason MSI hasn’t paid Nicolaychuk, also known as Unwinder on the Internet, is the invasion of Ukraine. Being a Russian citizen and working from Russian territory, MSI apparently couldn’t find a legal procedure to pay its employees in this country. According to company representatives, MSI wants to continue developing Afterburner. A solution to the impasse will be found “soon”. However, it was only after the developer accused the online company of not paying him, that MSI began taking steps to resolve the issue.

Alexey Nicoaychuk says he has continued development on his own for the past 11 months, but will not be able to do so further, as he feels his efforts don’t seem to be needed within the company. Even if MSI couldn’t find a legal solution to reward him for his work, Nicolaychuk says he will try to continue working at Afterburner, but only in his spare time, as he will have to find another job to pay his bills.

There aren’t many real alternatives to this app

Afterburner and Riva Tuner are two important apps for gamers, giving them control and information while gaming. If app development ceases, new generations of components and games will become incompatible with them. There are alternatives such as EVGA’s Precision X1, but it’s unclear whether that app will receive long-term support now that EVGA has left the video card market following a dispute with NVIDIA. So it’s hard to see Precision X1 getting updates in a few years, when new generations of graphics cards like the NVIDIA RTX 50 or Radeon RX 8000 are released.