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[VGC] The former lead designer of Kena: Bridge of Spirits claims he was ‘maliciously forced out’
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
That's extremely shitty of them man. My heart goes out to you and hopefully something comes out of the story.
Update:
www.gamesindustry.biz
Designer accuses Ember Labs of underpayment, unfulfilled promises
Original story October 2, 2020: A former designer working on Kena: Bridge of Spirits has accused Ember Labs of not full…
www.gamesindustry.biz
Hi Brandon, just read the article, I'm really sorry to hear what you went through but glad to hear you're recovering. The article mentions the team crunched for the demo, do you think crunch was a regular practice there?
There's nothing worse that an employer can do than over-promise or cheat you out of advancement. I hope this gets you recognized by one of the more decent game companies that need a programmer.
Heya,
Let me know how you would like to confirm this. I have a LinkedIn that can be easily searched. I'm the one with a profile image of myself drawn by the art director of Rick and Morty.
They use to be animation right sadly stuff like this happen a lot in animation maybe they just use to how that work not a good look hope they can fix this so everyone happy
After the story was posted. A few people reached out to me.
Making an edit on the first person to protect their identity. But involves keeping someone in a lower position while promising things....
I spoke to a programmer who helped with their previous iOS game. They used him to develop their game with the promise of bigger employment. And then parted ways after they were done with him.
I spoke to a vfx artist they had on Kena. Where they would crunch and be the researcher for new tech with promises of longer term employment. Only to be ghosted for months at a time in between random requests.
Now I won't be saying their names. Because they have mostly moved on from their experiences. But this feels like it's a common thread of this studio.
Making an edit on the first person to protect their identity. But involves keeping someone in a lower position while promising things....
I spoke to a programmer who helped with their previous iOS game. They used him to develop their game with the promise of bigger employment. And then parted ways after they were done with him.
I spoke to a vfx artist they had on Kena. Where they would crunch and be the researcher for new tech with promises of longer term employment. Only to be ghosted for months at a time in between random requests.
Now I won't be saying their names. Because they have mostly moved on from their experiences. But this feels like it's a common thread of this studio.
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That sounds awful :/
I'm sorry that happened to you and looks like many others. Hopefully this story gains more traction
really fucked up stuff. i'm sure it took a lot of courage to come forward with this, but it was the right thing to do.
don't think i could every support a game like that knowing what went on behind the scenes.
don't think i could every support a game like that knowing what went on behind the scenes.
Ah that old trick. Getting rid of those you would be paying profit shares and bonuses to before they become eligible to receive it.
From what I was told. It looks like Ember Lab PR got ahead of this before it hit the states. Which means they contacted the bigger news networks to discredit or not post this story.
Note that this last part was conjecture by another journalist friend of mine. That they possibly not posted it with promises of returning the favor? I forgot how it was exactly worded to me. But I do admit I don't know the exact details.
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A buddy of his, Andy Robinson, did the journalism on this story. He did an excellent job and made sure to keep me in check and make sure I had proof of my claims. It was through a very hard and turbulent time in my life (and still is currently with the recent passing of my pet of 14 years) and I appreciate his lengths to find truth.
Legally they don't owe me anything. I worked for free at times because I cared deeply about the project (even when they promised to pay me back). I helped find it funding nearly directly to their sources because I cared about the team(with promises of a share). They promised me a lot and tugged at my deep feelings for the project. But legally, they were never obligated to do anything they promised because they kept me on as a contractor. They made me feel like part of the team. Substantial enough I have in writing on a contract them calling me a Lead Designer.
And right as they were about to sign. They offered me less then a mid level designer (I work as a senior, at least). Told me that my revenue share will be changed. And a few other weird drastic changes. I was like woh what the.... and then they ghosted me lol. I sent a few emails begging them that I may change if things would be reasonable but I knew I had no legal right to any of the content I made or provided. I was left in debt and in danger. And yeah. Never in my life I have had something like this in my career.
I don't have anything I want from them. They know that I have a lot more to lose. Maybe they didn't expect me speaking up? I really am not a public person. But with support of my friends and family it has always felt like something worth warning people.
And lastly, I feel for the developers currently working on it and wish them the best. The game is probably going to be great. And I'm sure Ember Lab will go off to do more great things. But this was a terrible page of my life and the subsequent time. The decisions they made were terrible and very harmful to me as a person. They ghosted me at the first sign of me being upset at realizing what they lied about. And they, by law, can easily get away with it.
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So they broke a gentleman's agreement. That's still ethical reprehensible and this sort of behavior should never go under the radar, if only to stop them from doing same with other people.
I would understand that if all of sudden they were facing grave financial difficulties that they would come you profusely sorry that they will not be able to offer you what was orally agreed up on. But it seems that they did not provide adequate reasons to back out. And it also seems to be a reoccurring theme with them and other contractors.
Even if they don't owe uou and others money (legally), they still owe an adequate explanation, if only to save their reputation amongst prospective employees and consumers.
I really rather they not even try to explain it. I know how much money for dev cost they got from the multiple sources. Because I helped them get it. Any explanation will just be awful nonsense one of their many skilled PR people will spit out publicly to say they did nothing wrong.
These people never even reached out to me when I was talking to the journalist. They did say a lot of nice things about me privately to him. But in the end they still really fucked me over. I rather just warn of my situation. As well as let it be known those who reached out to me had a similar experience. Albeit not as extremely messed up as mine.
These people never even reached out to me when I was talking to the journalist. They did say a lot of nice things about me privately to him. But in the end they still really fucked me over. I rather just warn of my situation. As well as let it be known those who reached out to me had a similar experience. Albeit not as extremely messed up as mine.
Forgive me for bumping this thread but I think we should all keep in mind what transpired with this game's developer.
I'm thinking that a lot of folks who saw the sizzle reel a few days ago might have forgotten about this incident already.
I'm thinking that a lot of folks who saw the sizzle reel a few days ago might have forgotten about this incident already.
I certainly had. What a bunch of shitstains. Hopefully it can be more widely broadcast so people who go to work with them know to demand everything in writing. No gentlemen's agreements.
Yeah, this thread completely soured me on what was my most anticipated next-gen game.
Now I can't bring myself to feel excited anymore.
Now I can't bring myself to feel excited anymore.
This thread should probably be pinned when the game is about to come out. People should know how the studio treats their employees before purchasing said product.
You know, I had forgotten about this. Thank you for the reminder.
Wow, I'm only just hearing about this and I'm shocked. Kena was by far the PS5 game I was most excited for, sad to see this.
So he was a contractor and they hired someone else because he wanted more money? Its also their first game so the budget is probably tight. You dont need to turn everything into a drama.
for some reason the big site gave very little coverage to this news. based on what the designer said here it seems like the company and whatever pr company is working for them basically silenced everyone on the story and stopped it from getting out there, which is super shitty and scummy, and it's sad how the big sites can be influenced not to report something like this.
Just read this thread now, thankful for the bump.
I am absolutely not buying Kena on any platform after learning more about how Ember Labs operates. That's shady as hell.
I am absolutely not buying Kena on any platform after learning more about how Ember Labs operates. That's shady as hell.
He helped pay for it too because he was promised a share. Wanna try again?
Most people don't care since it's not a known company. If this was any big publisher or developer, you'd bet your ass everyone would be on it for them clicks and attention.
Yep. This should be automatic for any game that had trouble.
I wished mods would understand that when they finally did something about CP 2077.
Schreier talk about things people are confessing to him. And he wait to have more than one report.
That does sound pretty heartless from the developer. I suppose the key issue is though, that much of what he claims was promised wasn't put into a contract. As such there isn't much he can do legally about it. I don't think it reflects well on the developer, and what he says sounds credible - although personal testimony alone is never sufficient evidence obviously. From what he describes they knew he was hard up, they assured him he would have a job, and delivered him less than what he was promised. That is pretty shitty. I don't think it is that unusual employment practice, however, especially among small businesses and start ups, but it is shitty. I have been part of quite a few projects where in the end I was never paid.
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They have the potential to become big with this game, maybe they shouldn't.
The amount of horror story we see all the time about working condition in these kind of compagnies make me think, why you still work in that domain ? I mean i know we need money and you probably love what you are doing.... i'm a programmer for like 18 years, got some crunch there and there , like 20-25 more hours each weeks for about a month or 2, it happen for like once a year maximum, but never to the level of nightmare i heard repeatedly. Sure my hype for this game drop a lot after reading that.