Sony Studio Firesprite Accused of Alleged Toxic Culture in Exposé | Push Square
It sounds like all is not well at Sony studio Firesprite, which the platform holder acquired in 2021. Despite moving into expensive new digs in its home city of Liverpool, a Eurogamer report paints an extremely grim picture of the outfit, which is allegedly bleeding staff and lost its managing director Graeme Ankers suddenly last May.
The UK-based team, which worked on Horizon Call of the Mountain for PSVR2, was hit by a round of layoffs earlier this week, and it’s been alleged that its in-development Twisted Metal reboot was cancelled as a result. But while it’s supposedly working on a tentpole PlayStation franchise, rumoured to be an Until Dawn sequel, staff say it’s suffering from “death by a thousand cuts”.
The Eurogamer report claims an “alarming” number of employees have left the studio in recent months, following a bonus payout from Sony last year which was designed to retain staff after the organisation’s acquisition. With many of the previous managers gone, the Japanese giant has apparently pulled in staff from XDev to lead the team, which has been criticised as “nepotism”.
It’s alleged that these new leaders were caught up in an internal investigation recently, accused of ageism and sexual discrimination. Sources claim Sony dismissed these allegations as a misunderstanding, although some apparently sought external legal guidance to explore the matter further, and allegedly received payouts in return.
The biggest problem, according to those speaking to Eurogamer, appears to be a gradual erosion of the studio’s culture. “Sony has committed the worst possible mistake in buying a studio and meddling to the point where it may end up in a death spiral and unable to complete any of the projects it is working on,” a source supposedly said.
The platform holder’s yet to comment on these claims, and it’s worth noting that not everyone quoted is as critical, with one claiming there’s a “strong push for inclusivity” with “people from a wider range of backgrounds,
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