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Kotaku: Former and current ND employees about the allegations

K

Kenzodielocke

Banned
Three current and former Naughty Dog employees, all speaking under condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize their careers, all said they had not heard anything about Ballard's sexual harassment allegations until this weekend and that they were disturbed by the news. Those employees said they did not know or want to speculate who the alleged sexual harasser may be. Each discipline at the studio typically has two leads, and by one estimate there are around two dozen at Naughty Dog.

One current Naughty Dog employee said that he and co-workers he spoke to were ”blind-sided" by the news, and that while he believed Ballard's allegations, he also believed that the studio had been unaware of them. ”There definitely is not a culture of covering up bad behavior," that person said. ”I and quite a lot of other people wouldn't be here if there was."
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It was clear to Ballard's co-workers that he was upset during his final months at Naughty Dog, those three sources said, and they said his self-acknowledged mental breakdown was clear to everyone at the studio. But people who worked with Ballard said they had thought it was the result of Naughty Dog's long hours and high-pressure culture.
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More at link.

https://kotaku.com/former-naughty-dog-employee-says-he-was-fired-after-fil-1819557683

Update:

jschreier said:
Couple things:

1) People I spoke with knew Ballard well. I can't get into specifics because I don't want anyone to be identifiable, but I spoke with people who were close to him, not strangers from across the office.

2) While I always appreciate feedback, folks here need to understand that my job as a reporter is to get information and try to tell the whole story, not to pick a side. It's also my job to help use truth against power, and I really hope Ballard chooses to talk more because this story isn't completely told yet, but in this case I felt it was important to hear reactions from people who worked with him. I wanted to help unfold more of the story rather than copy-pasting some tweets and calling it a day.

(The posts about "clicks" are particularly laughable, and ignorant, because we would have gotten the highest number of clicks if we had leaped on the news immediately instead of taking the time to do reporting.)

I should also note that I chose not to report some of the things I heard about Ballard, either because they were not relevant or because I couldn't corroborate them with at least two people (which is generally my standard for reporting anything sensitive).

Anyway, this isn't over yet. I already have another interview set up with someone who knows more about what went down, and I am in touch with someone who posted in Kotaku's comments claiming that he too was sexually harassed at Naughty Dog. I will continue reporting and following this story, no matter which direction(s) it leads. And I will continue to be as sympathetic as possible to Ballard, as I would to anyone who alleged that horrible things happened to them.
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L

L Thammy

Member
It was clear to Ballard's co-workers that he was upset during his final months at Naughty Dog, those three sources said, and they said his self-acknowledged mental breakdown was clear to everyone at the studio. But people who worked with Ballard said they had thought it was the result of Naughty Dog's long hours and high-pressure culture.
Click to expand...

This is worth highlighting too, I think. Also the paragraphs immediately below it.
 
F

Flarin

Member
This is such a wild story. I find it odd that Ballard won't say anything. You'd think he would try to get his story out there more if he could, right? Will be fascinating to follow as it develops.
 
O

Occam

Member
Well, he did have a mental breakdown before he was let go, which doesn't exactly help his credibility.

Time for the conclusion-jumpers from the other thread to eat some crow?
 
O

orochi91

Member
Some of Ballard’s troubles became more widely known in late February of that year after he sent a hostile e-mail to a tech artist that was CCed to everyone at the company, two people said.
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This almost seems like a hit-piece against Ballard.

What's the point of including this in the article?
 
M

Magwik

Banned
Occam said:
Well, and he did have a mental breakdown before he was let go, which doesn't exactly help his credibility.

Time for the conclusion-jumpers from the other thread to eat some crow?
Click to expand...
Someone having a mental breakdown means they can't be trusted?
 
K

Kolx

Member
That's not the answer many people expected to hear, that's for sure.

orochi91 said:
This almost seems like a hit-piece against Ballard.

What's the point of including this in the article?
Click to expand...

Don't you think his mental state before he was fired is important for the case?
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
orochi91 said:
This almost seems like a hit-piece against Ballard.

What's the point of including this in the article?
Click to expand...

Ads context to why he was likely fired. Even if his allegations were true, multiple coworkers said that he didn’t share them, and they assumed his hostile outburst was due to crunch.

They and Ballard can both be telling the truth.
 
D

Drencrom

Member
In early 2016, the situation worsened, and Naughty Dog employees confirm that, as Ballard said on Twitter, he had a difficult mental breakdown. Some of Ballard’s troubles became more widely known in late February of that year after he sent a hostile e-mail to a tech artist that was CCed to everyone at the company, two people said. Various rumors circulated at the studio and the situation was escalated from Naughty Dog’s internal human resources department to Sony’s HR.
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Doesn’t sound good for Ballard if true.

Anyway; nice journalistic work, Jschreier!
 
T

timberger

Member
Ballard is seriously gonna need something to verify his claims.

Occam said:
Time for the conclusion-jumpers from the other thread to eat some crow?
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Probably, but knowing certain gaffers they'll more likely double down instead. Immediately deciding what the facts were on a matter like this when there were none to work with was a dumb thing to be doing though.
 
L

L Thammy

Member
It's also noted in the article that Ballard had mentioned to people that he was filing HR complaints, but hadn't stated that they were for sexual harassment.
 
S

Stuart444

Member
Well, it proves he had a breakdown. which may have been caused by what he has alleged or not. This piece really just tells us that he told no one about what was going on with him and he had a breakdown because he was keeping stuff inside.

Now whether that was stress from long hours or because of what he said on twitter, we don't know and neither do his former colleagues.
 
M

Mezoly

Member
Even after this article people should not jump to conclusions. It's best for the masses to stay on the sideline and monitor the situation. Obviously offering support to whomever want to come forward.
 
O

orochi91

Member
Kolx said:
Don't you think his mental state before he was fired is important for the case?
Click to expand...

Sho_Nuff82 said:
Ads context to why he was likely fired. Even if his allegations were true, multiple coworkers said that he didn’t share them, and they assumed his hostile outburst was due to crunch.

They and Ballard can both be telling the truth.
Click to expand...
Pastry said:
Because that answers how and why Sony’s HR became involved.
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Yea, fair enough.

If anything, now ND/Sony can cast doubt on Ballard's credibility, since his mental breakdown worsened the work environment at the studio.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Magwik said:
Someone having a mental breakdown means they can't be trusted?
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It means they may not be assessing events or situations accurately. People in perfectly healthy states of mind are prone to all kinds of errors and biases in cognition. A person suffering from distress may be even less rational. So it is at least possible that a person in mental distress could be less trustworthy.
 
B

Brotherhood93

Member
DirgeExtinction said:
Is it common in the games industry for people who were fired to stay unemployed for over a year? I mean, you'd think he'd find a job by now.
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He did work for an indie studio for 3 months after leaving Naughty Dog. He hasn't been unemployed since as he originally said. It's unclear why he left that studio though, possible he was still affected by what happened. Having said that being fired after sending an angry email to everyone in the company is probably going to be off-putting to potential employers, especially when they have no idea about the harassment allegations.
 
C

CrichtonKicks

Member
orochi91 said:
Yea, fair enough.

If anything, now ND/Sony can cast doubt on Ballard's credibility, since his mental breakdown worsened the work environment at the studio.
Click to expand...

It at least answers the question on why Sony HR was already involved at the time of complaint instead of ND's internal PR.
 
K

kmax

Member
I'm going to continue to monitor the situation until the story develops further.

Allegations have been brought forth. It'll be interesting to see if and what will unfold from this regrettable situation.
 
J

jxN3

Member
"Some of Ballard’s troubles became more widely known in late February of that year after he sent a hostile e-mail to a tech artist that was CCed to everyone at the company, two people said."

Clearly he was dealing with a lot of shit, but this must have been the breaking point. I can't even imagine how embarrassing that was.

None of this looks good for him.
 
D

Dangansona

Member
Again, I think it's very much a possibility that ND was telling the truth that they had no evidence of the harassment and that Ballard did experience it. But everyone had the pitchforks out yesterday.
 
M

marzlapin

Member
Occam said:
Well, he did have a mental breakdown before he was let go, which doesn't exactly help his credibility.

Time for the conclusion-jumpers from the other thread to eat some crow?
Click to expand...

A mental breakdown doesn't mean the person is experiencing a break from reality. I don't see how it affects his credibility at all unless he's said he was experiencing psychosis or something.
 
W

Wiped89

Member
privitsan02 said:
The point of him CC'ing everyone at the office while calling out a tech-artist... Yikes.
Click to expand...

More common than you think. I've been on the receiving end of a few 'CC all email bollockings' in my time (unjustly I might add!). Some workplaces have that (rather unhealthy/adversarial/toxic) management culture.
 
A

antonz

Member
The article really doesn't change anything so the people jumping to conclusions like unfounded complaint are being stupid.

He claims he took it directly to HR not to everyone in the company. A second employee on twitter also says they had their own sexual harassment there.

In a case like this there isn't a lot that can be said or done in either direction if those employees did not keep documentation at the exact time it occurred if it did.
 
D

Dangansona

Member
I really think we don't need to go overboard psycho analyzing Ballard/digging deep into his life. Not a great look from an outsiders perspective.

Hopefully Jason continues to ask around at ND.
 
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