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"I left Insomniac Games because of how they treat women" Ex-Employee speaks out

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Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,176
UK
Tovarisc said:
If I remember right Ubi stuff came out within day or two of this, taking spotlight permanently from other studios shit like this. That combined with Insomniac being one of biggest ERA darlings were good combo for this to drop to page 202, I don't think anyone even mentioned this stuff in any of Spidey, MM and/or Ratchet threads.

Edit: No.. I think there was few posts in some Ratchet thread so that is something, but not same bombardment as in every e.g. Ubi thred
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Even sometimes reviews for Ubisoft games mention the culture of sexual harassment and protecting of abusers but none of the reviews for Rift Apart or Miles Morales mentioned the illegal anti-poaching handshake agreements or sexual harassment culture at Insomniac Games.
 

Gurra

Member
Oct 27, 2017
83
Frustrating and infuriating, one more company i shall not support.
Hope all the ones affected are helped, and those guilty fired asap.
 
Bufbaf

Bufbaf

Don't F5!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,658
Hamburg, Germany
Golbez said:
So they basically went the Ubisoft route and did nothing to change, got it. And just like with Ubisoft, people will soon forget about it. Gotta hype up their next game, right?

sigh
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Ubisoft at least took (and hopefully still takes) steps to the right direction, which is more than most other companys can say about themselves.

They fucked up horrendously, and we still don't know (as far as I'm aware) about actual internal changes towards treating of women, but at least they do _something_ to learn from their bullshit.
 
Keyser S

Keyser S

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
8,480
I have no memory of this from last year, which is sad. But looking back at last year's news stories around the time of the initial Tweet I remember many peole were also coming forward to share experiences....

This was posted on the same day.

www.nytimes.com

Dozens of Women in Gaming Speak Out About Sexism and Harassment (Published 2020)

After more than 70 allegations surfaced on Twitter this weekend, gaming companies and streamers responded with action. Some say it’s the beginning of real change in the industry.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

So sadly it seems the fact I don't remember this exact one was because it was one story in a sea of 100s. Which makes the situation even more depressing.
 
RK9

RK9

Member
Apr 5, 2021
306
Buried under the AAA hype machine I assume?

Surprised no one reached out to Sony for comment.
 
Firmus_Anguis

Firmus_Anguis

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,117
User Banned (2 Weeks): Inappropriately Tagging Another Member; Thread Derailment
I'm at a loss for words. Insomniac has been one of my favorite video game developers throughout the years and I've always looked up to them as this insanely talented but also exemplary developer.

Their anti-crunch policies etc. Everything is just in shambles right now. This shit needs to be fixed.

jstevenson

I don't expect you to respond, nor am I trying to cast some sort of blame on you, so please don't take it as such.

But this needs to be addressed. Insomniac can and needs to do better than this.
 
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,211
Greater Vancouver
I guess i shouldn't be surprised at how this was buried under "next gen hype." This is fucking gross, and the abusers (and their enablers) need to be thrown to the fucking street.
 
noinspiration

noinspiration

Member
Jun 22, 2020
2,009
JamFlan said:
There's so many companies our there with trash behavior though. Maybe a disclaimer in threads related to the companies and their games. Rockstar and Naughty Dog about their crunch. Insomniac about this. Ubisoft about their problems. THQ Nordic and the whole 4 chan or 8 chan thing or whatever. CDPR and their problems. Quantic Dreams. Etc . . .

Didn't you hear? Acquiring Insomniac is one of the greatest acquisitions in the history of acquisitions because they're so great. (Sarcasm obviously. Yes saying Insomniac is one of the greatest acquisitions ever was a real thread).
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It would be something to have to go halfway down the first page to get past all the pinned threads about shitty behavior.
 
Lausebub

Lausebub

Member
Nov 4, 2017
3,151
I hope this doesn't get sweept under the rug again, I kinda missed this story last time. Not really aknowalding the problem seems to work rather well for Insomniac.
 
Prine

Prine

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,724
Shocked, what the hell, I held Insomniac in such high regard. Even more shocking that's this was revealed last year and nothing was really said or mentioned. Very disappointed. Hope the victim (s) get the justice they deserve.
 
boomtrick

boomtrick

Banned
Jun 30, 2021
787
Insomniac also had issues regarding sexual harassment that was made public last year.

So clearly there's some management issues that need to be addressed.

Sony needs to get in there and clean house.
 
TechnicPuppet

TechnicPuppet

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,834
Raigor said:
Because as long as the developers in question make good games and they have fans cheering them, hardly anyone will care, we saw it with CDPR, ND, Rockstar, NRS and now Insomniac Games. Ubisoft is viewed as the one of the bad guys and everyone talked about their shitty practices and you can bet your ass if EA is doing the same you'd see everyone rally against them or Activsion to name a few.
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CDPR threads are restricted on here though.
 
boomtrick

boomtrick

Banned
Jun 30, 2021
787
Firmus_Anguis said:
I'm at a loss for words. Insomniac has been one of my favorite video game developers throughout the years and I've always looked up to them as this insanely talented but also exemplary developer.

Their anti-crunch policies etc. Everything is just in shambles right now. This shit needs to be fixed.

jstevenson

I don't expect you to respond, nor am I trying to cast some sort of blame on you, so please don't take it as such.

But this needs to be addressed. Insomniac can and needs to do better than this.
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Tagging random employees is pretty weird tbh.

And it's borderline harrassment imo.

Unless that guy is a manager or something what are they supposed to do lol
 
Bufbaf

Bufbaf

Don't F5!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,658
Hamburg, Germany
Firmus_Anguis said:
user tagging
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Man, don't do that.
I've been working in gaming companies I didn'T feel are great, and what you're doing is literally putting the guy's job on the line. What do you expect him to say?

"Yeah I agree!" - Oh cool, let's see what HR says about that, and PR, and his direct superiors, and...
"Yeah I disagree openly, because I wanna keep my job" - Oh what a coward, he's as bad as the rest of his shitty company, wowowow
"Yeah I disagree openly, because I really think so" - Get banned!

You're putting him into an impossible situation with that thoughtless user tagging. It sucks and it's not helping anything, except putting a spotlight on that one guy who can now no longer add to any conversation about the topic, or similar topics. This is not why devs on here post "their" company, and this will lead to even more not doing that.

edit what boomtrick said. "Borderline harrassment" fits well, even if you didn't mean to.
 
Thera

Thera

Banned
Feb 28, 2019
12,876
France
I hope Stephany Sterling will release something about that. Or any media.
noinspiration said:
If anything, I would think threads detailing serious allegations like this should be pinned at least for awhile. I assume awareness of these things is in the general interest of the community here
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Yep. ERA finally did something with CP and Hogwarts Legacy. I hoped it wouldn't exceptions but it seems it is.
Transphobia is a cancer but shouldn't be a priority over others issues like the ones bring here.
ERA needs to tell all the stories.
JamFlan said:
There's so many companies our there with trash behavior though. Maybe a disclaimer in threads related to the companies and their games. Rockstar and Naughty Dog about their crunch. Insomniac about this. Ubisoft about their problems. THQ Nordic and the whole 4 chan or 8 chan thing or whatever. CDPR and their problems. Quantic Dreams. Etc . . .
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Disclaimer in thread is a good solution but will be seen by people interested in the studio.
So it must also have a pinned thread when there is a big actuality for the studio.
 

Deleted member 43

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 24, 2017
9,271
The industry can be and very often is an absolute nightmare for women. This account is both absolutely terrible, and completely in-line with any number of similar stories from across most major developers and publishers out there, the vast majority of which will never be made public, and even when they are, are quickly forgotten.
 
Lausebub

Lausebub

Member
Nov 4, 2017
3,151
Tagging random employees won't help much and is kinda shitty.
Rockstar has allegedly changed things after all the report, so if everyone talks about these issues it can definitely lead to change.

Also fuck all these "why don't you just go to curt?" people, since this is already the first reply under the new tweets.
 
Opus Angelorum

Opus Angelorum

Member
Oct 27, 2017
777
Lausebub said:
Tagging random employees won't help much and is kinda shitty.
Rockstar has allegedly changed things after all the report, so if everyone talks about these issues it can definitely lead to change.
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I've no issues with employees being called out if they are guilty.

Too many times these people end up disappearing back into the company without any apparent public admonishment.
 
RockmanBN

RockmanBN

Visited by Knack - One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,981
Cornfields
TsuWave

TsuWave

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,989
I remember this from last year, quick question, just trying to understand this, the guy was fired right? I mean the Edgar Vargas guy, it says so in the OP, just want corroboration
 
GuiltyGB

GuiltyGB

Member
Apr 6, 2020
639
Not surprised. Creative industries as a whole are really bad. I would even say the music and film industry make the games industry look like a walk in the park.

A cesspool full of non-disclosure agreements protecting higher ups to let them do what ever they like.

And let's not even start on other industries like the banking sector.
 
nib95

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
18,498
Sounds awful. I can see this is over a year old, and hope they've made the relevant changes since then. Sounds like it was made worse by the fact that the guy actually worked in HR himself, but I'm glad he was fired last year too. Evidently his name according to tweet thread was Edgar Vargas.
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,428
FIN
nib95 said:
Sounds awful. I can see this is over a year old, and hope they've made the relevant changes since then. Sounds like it was made worse by the fact that the guy actually worked in HR himself, but I'm glad he was fired last year too. Evidently his name according to tweet thread was Edgar Vargas.
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It broke originally year ago, new news dropped... today-ish (check link in my post few above this), HR asshole is still there. Most likely still being an asshole.
 
nib95

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
18,498
Tovarisc said:
It broke originally year ago, new news dropped... today-ish (check link in my post few above this), HR asshole is still there. Most likely still being an asshole.
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Sounds like the HR guy she's refering to was fired back in 2019 for dating an intern according to her tweets.






Puroresu_kid said:
The HR dude is still there. WTF

Edit I see he was fired but for something else. How did he survive so long?
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Most likely because he was in HR. HR folk are generally more difficult to challenge because it's HR's job to usually investigate or sort these sorts of things, or take on complaints etc in the first place, so you can imagine he may have had a good rapport with others in the HR department, which may have helped him for when complaints were logged against him instead. Either way, what a little scumbag.
 
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Bufbaf

Bufbaf

Don't F5!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,658
Hamburg, Germany
What happened to the intended new-news-new-thread about Naughty Dog? I'm still not sure how they factor into this, and I'm looking forward to a proper thread about it :D
 
Mifec

Mifec

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,747
Bufbaf said:
What happened to the intended new-news-new-thread about Naughty Dog? I'm still not sure how they factor into this, and I'm looking forward to a proper thread about it :D
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From what I remember they were just part of the studio cabal that would blackball you. Would need to re-read the thread and hunt down deleted tweets.
 

Mad_Rhetoric

Banned
May 7, 2019
3,466
Bump, drag them. Don't let people forget, like they probably will whenever Insomniac releases their next game......
 
TheGhost

TheGhost

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,137
Long Island
This hit 11 pages last year and never saw it? Wtf? This is horrible, what the hell is insomniac doing over there I thought they were the more friendlier of the companies that seemed to be on top of their shit.
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,428
FIN
Bufbaf said:
What happened to the intended new-news-new-thread about Naughty Dog? I'm still not sure how they factor into this, and I'm looking forward to a proper thread about it :D
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Mifec said:
From what I remember they were just part of the studio cabal that would blackball you. Would need to re-read the thread and hunt down deleted tweets.
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Yeah, at least ND and Insomniac has... had alleged agreement that if employee of another would come to other for job opening they would tell each other and blackball said employee.
 
Firmus_Anguis

Firmus_Anguis

Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,117
boomtrick said:
Tagging random employees is pretty weird tbh.

And it's borderline harrassment imo.

Unless that guy is a manager or something what are they supposed to do lol
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Some really weird takes in this thread considering the situation. Equating tagging people to harassment, in a thread specifically about sexual harassment?! QTFO with these shitty takes!

He isn't random. He frequently speaks with the community!

To be clear, I didn't tag him for a response, I did so to raise awareness of this specific issue, because he is basically our line of communication here at Era.

So I should rephrase and say, I don't need him to respond nor do I expect him to. And again, just to be crystal clear, I absolutely don't blame him for any of this crap!

Stop twisiting my intentions!

This just needs to be known. Because Insomniac's first official response to this shit fucking sucked. They can do better.

This fucking place sometimes, man...
 
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JustInsane

JustInsane

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,714
FeenixRisen said:
We should continue to keep holding Insomniac's feet to the fire on this but I fear once the brand new Spidey trailer drops people would miraculously forget. Much like the Ubi stuff, smh.
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There was like no mention of this stuff in any of the miles morales threads or ratchet threads on here (barely mentioned) , was pretty bizzare tbh. It was definitely already miraculously forgotten unfortunately. Not the best look for this site, even in this thread there's people that didn't even know about it when it shouldve been more public.
 
Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,368
Houston, TX
nib95 said:
Sounds like the HR guy she's refering to was fired back in 2019 for dating an intern according to her tweets.








Most likely because he was in HR. HR folk are generally more difficult to challenge because it's HR's job to usually investigate or sort these sorts of things, or take on complaints etc in the first place, so you can imagine he may have had a good rapport with others in the HR department, which may have helped him for when complaints were logged against him instead. Either way, what a little scumbag.
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At least the HR asshole seems to be gone according to this. But it looks like there are still other assholes who need to be pruned. Goddammit…..
 

Deleted member 43

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 24, 2017
9,271
JustInsane said:
There was like no mention of this stuff in any of the miles morales threads or ratchet threads on here (barely mentioned) , was pretty bizzare tbh. It was definitely already miraculously forgotten unfortunately. Not the best look for this site, even in this thread there's people that didn't even know about it when it shouldve been more public.
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That's, unfortunately, far from bizarre. These issues have come up for so many gaming companies, and they are rarely mentioned
 
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