The Biggest Gaming News For March 18, 2022
A couple of serious stories to bring to you today, including several accounts from developers such as Moon Studios and Mountains regarding emotional abuse and toxic workplace environments. Outside of that, Polyphony addressed Gran Turismo 7’s 24-hour outage and there are reports that Ukrainian developers aren’t being paid by Steam. More details below.
We’ll start with Ori and the Blind Forest developer Moon Studios, as several employees have leaked what seems to be workplace chats that show founders Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol using ableist slurs and sharing racist jokes. Employees have also accused both founders of creating an “oppressive” workplace, with later reports suggesting that Microsoft allegedly terminated its relationship with the developer after having discovered the extent of the issues.
Related: “Change Will Not Come From The Goodness Of CEO’s Hearts”, Unions Blast Abusive Conditions In The Gaming Industry
Moon Studios isn’t the only developer under fire for toxic work conditions today either, with several workers from multiple highly prestigious indie studios detailing cases of alleged emotional abuse at the hands of their founders. Employees from Mountains, Fulbright, and Funomena were all interviewed in the past few months, each describing horrid working conditions and emotional abuse, and each pointing to publisher Annapurna Interactive for allegedly not doing enough to show support.
If you’ve been struggling to play Gran Turismo 7 for the past 24 hours, you’re not the only one. Gran Turismo 7 is back online right now, but the game was recently taken offline for “extended maintenance” rendering the game literally unplayable. Game director Kazunori Yamauchi finally provided an update today, claiming
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