Avalanche Studios investigating hiring practices after a year of staff complaints
Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios has apologized to employees and pledged to investigate its hiring practices after a controversial hire left staff feeling vulnerable, frustrated, and voiceless.
According to a report from IGN, based on the accounts of multiple sources familiar with the situation, the apology was issued over a year after Avalanche hired a high-level employee who had been publicly accused of behaving inappropriately towards women at their former workplace.
When some employees attempted to voice their concerns about the situation, Avalanche management and HR reportedly refused to open a dialogue, dismissing staff seeking more information about the company's hiring processes, ignoring calls for transparency on how it planned to keep workers safe, and sidelining others who had previously experienced workplace harassment.
In short, it's claimed that Avalanche failed to take any meaningful action to reassure those worried about the hire, beyond telling workers they wouldn't have to work directly with that person due to their status as a remote contractor.
That promise, however, was reportedly broken in 2022 when they began working in the Avalanche office, during which time they started holding one-to-one meetings with staff members – including women – and making appearances at company events.
They were even promoted in 2022 before resigning later on in the year, with Avalanche CEO Pim Holfve explaining their departure was related to "project reasons only."
For many of those who spoke with IGN, Avalanche's handling of the situation became more problematic than the hire itself, with the company's apparent apathy towards its own workforce coming to a head in November this year when one Avalanche worker called
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