Two reports paint a troubling picture of workplace abuses at acclaimed indie studios
pcgamer.comStories of abusive workplaces are unfortunately all too common among major videogame publishers, Activision and Ubisoft being the most obvious examples—both have faced significant allegations of widespread misconduct and employee abuse in recent years. There is sometimes an expectation that things are better among indie developers, which are generally much smaller, more intimate, and—publicly, at least—more institutionally aware of the vital need for equitable treatment of all employees. And yet, two reports released today make it clear that that's not always the case.
A People Make Games investigation into three noted indie studios—Mountains (Florence), Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma), and Funomena (Wattam)—that included interviews with 24 employees revealed troubling allegations about high-level toxicity at all three of them. Mountains founder Ken Wong, for instance, is described as being an «emotionally abusive» manager who constantly tore down the work of his employees, leaving them doubting their own expertise and abilities.
«This wasn't someone I didn't get along with,» one employee said. «This wasn't a 'bad job.' It was, I think, a very cruel person in a position of power who liked to make people feel bad to make himself feel better.»
The situation at Mountains was bad enough that in 2020 the studio implemented a policy that allowed any employee to decline a one-on-one interaction with Ken if they felt he was out of line, and actually came up with a safe word—«pause»—that would end a conversation immediately. As another employee put it, «What kind of studio needs a safe word, though?»
Similar allegations were leveled against Funomena founder Robin Hunicke, also described as emotionally abusive, and who regularly
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