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[joecanada]

I didn't imply this incident immediately implicates all ND employees, but I'm just worried (perhaps unduly curious?) about how known this was among Naughty Dog.

Probably not well known unless it was a widespread problem, otherwise they could easily sue but generally it's one person's word against the other.

Speaking of which do those non-disclosure agreement actually work? I know that lady from Toronto broke hers with Cosby.... Can you really be punished for breaking your silence when you've been a victim?

 

[Snoopycat]

There's about to be a lot of cancelled preorders for The Last of Us Part II...

Somehow I really really doubt it.

 

[Harlequin]

What's a lead in this case? Project lead? Actor or actress?

It could be a project lead but it could, for example, also be a department lead (like lead animator, lead environment artist, etc.). We don't have enough information and we really shouldn't be speculating on who it might be. That could just lead to the wrong person ending up in the middle of a shitstorm.

 

[Dice//]

Really shitty story. Firing a dude for being sexually harassed?

This actually...happens way more than it should.

 

[Blackquill]

what the fuck sony

 

[Little Mons†er]

He must have proof about this Sony proposition

we can hope, unless it was only via phone conversation or through a normal mouth to mouth conversation which would mean there wouldn't be any physical evidence which is a shame if true

 

[Servbot24]

Yiiiiiiikes

Good on him for speaking out.

 

[Tarrin]

So Sony is a giant Milkshake Duck?

I wouldn't go that far yet. I got harrassed at a Microsoft store, which also got swept under the rug, but I don't view the entire company as bad.

I would think Naughty Dog should take some action here. They must've known who it was.

 

[Suzushiiro]

Sony firing and attempting to silence him makes me sick.

If there's one good thing that's come of all of Harvey Weinstein's bullshit it's that his exposure has caused the dam to break, bigtime. This isn't just a Hollywood problem - this runs deep in so many businesses and other institutions. Beyond brave of David to speak up and I hope that others are able to come forth and take action, and find the support they need as well.

I'd imagine that that sort of normalization of abuse in general, be it sexual harassment or just simple overworking/underpaying is particularly common in entertainment industries because of the lopsided demand:supply ratio in those fields- lots of people dream of working in those industries so they're willing to put up with a lot of shit for the privilege of doing so, which means that the people running those industries are free to abuse all but the most skilled/senior/valuable employees knowing that if someone gets fed up and bails there are plenty of other people willing to fill their seat.


RELATED:

 

[Rellik]

Not buying a ND game ever again, disgusting.

Sadly so many companies have this. I have seen light harassment in my own work experience as well. (Not myself but coworkers)

Well that's ND no longer getting any money from me again

Hope you won't be supporting Sony financially either.

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

There's about to be a lot of cancelled preorders for The Last of Us Part II...

Well, we'll just have to wait and see if people treat these issues as seriously as they did for Yooka Laylee etc. for having one bad voice actor. ND's and Sony's issues here seem more severe too, so I wonder if people will rally against them or still support their products.

 

[BBQ_of_DOOM]

No reason for ND to get a penny of my money until that lead is terminated.

 

[Loudninja]

Yeah this is fuck up need to be dealt with from top to bottom who ever these people are.

 

[chubigans]

So Sony is a giant Milkshake Duck?

This is but one story of a wide ranging problem in virtually every major company.

One person I know in the industry worked as head of HR, someone went to her and talked about multiple sexual harassment by one of the higher ups, she went to corporate, they warned her to back off, she refused and in turn they fired her.

If you have more than 50+ employees, I'd be shocked if there wasn't one or two stories like these. It's sad and disgusting, and should be exposed more.

 

[Dice//]

I wouldn't go that far yet. I got harrassed at a Microsoft store, but I don't view the entire company as bad.

This kinda raises a good question about where and when to draw the line.
Lots of peeps here were peeved that A Hat in Time kept Jon Tron's voice work in the game and chose not to support the game.
Also...

If you have more than 50+ employees, I'd be shocked if there wasn't one or two stories like these. It's sad and disgusting, and should be exposed more.

....raises a good point.

You can blame the company but that doesn't change it's generally only a few disturbed individuals doing this.
The biggest problem IMO, since there's already so many cases of this, is companies hiding it.

 

[Quonny]

There's about to be a lot of cancelled preorders for The Last of Us Part II...

Nope.

As sad as it is, as long as Sony/ND doesn't come out with some PR nightmare statement, gamers will forget about it. You might lose a handful of sales, but gamers (consumers in general) have shown time and time again 'as long as i get a good product idgaf'.

 

[Sandfox]

This guy (separate from the other now-niantic harasser) is still probably there.
I like to keep this matter focused on ND. Saying it was Sony just makes you think of the amorphous corporate blob that it is rather than a studio that protects creeps.

Makes sense.

 

[Goldfishking]

Really shitty story. Firing a dude for being sexually harassed?

It seems even worse than that. He says he was harrased in late 2015 and had a breakdown in early 2016. This wasn't just some guy who was harassed once and then fired for it. This is a guy who had to work in toxic conditions for months due to a sexual harassment until he finally broke down.

After breaking down and seeking help from his bosses and Sony he was treated like dirt, just a story to be swept under the rug with money so their reputation wasn't hurt.

Sickening.

 

[VincentMatts]

They should name the person by name so everyone knows, he deserves to be embarrassed

 

[Theslammer]

Well that's ND no longer getting any money from me again

selling all my games from them right now

Perhaps you guys should wait until more information comes out.

 

[Boss X]

Good job for speaking up.

 

[Boke1879]

Well, we'll just have to wait and see if people treat these issues as seriously as they did for Yooka Laylee etc. for having one bad voice actor. ND's and Sony's issues here seem more severe too, so I wonder if people will rally against them or still support their products.

Gonna tell you right now. No one is going to be doing that. At least not mass consumers at large.

 

[dugdug]

There's about to be a lot of cancelled preorders for The Last of Us Part II...

I imagine we’ll start seeing people quit as well. I can’t imagine the whole studio knew about this.

 

[MasterOfPastures]

I wouldn't go that far yet. I got harrassed at a Microsoft store, which also got swept under the rug, but I don't view the entire company as bad.

A 20k commitment sounds like a corporate guideline. So that means that ND has probably had this happen before. If they were not such a "respected" studio, I am willing to bet we would be hearing a lot more.

 

[GraveRobberX]

That's terrible. Offering money?

How about getting to the root of the problem. Fire the guy that's being assulted? Yikes.

The root of the problem is money before anything

If the person doing the assaulting is higher up and has more power, lucrative to your endeavours, you'll let shit slide
While the victim gets to feel the hurt double
Once from the attack, then no help from said helping hand you work for

If the victim was higher up, Sony would've canned the aggressor, but in corporate culture, shit slides by due to money makers Trump all


Edit: Now I'm sitting here contemplating on how many people did get victimized or harrased or assaulted and took $20,000 for their silence

That number is too round and sound like a pay out hush money that looks like a standard bus practice

Someone invaded your personal space (or more) and now your the victim, here's $20K, now STFU

 

[Servbot24]

No reason for ND to get a penny of my money until that lead is terminated.

And the HR person.

 

[Shredderi]

Well that's ND no longer getting any money from me again

Not buying a ND game ever again, disgusting.

Sadly so many companies have this. I have seen light harassment in my own work experience as well. (Not myself but coworkers)

Don't forget anything Sony in general puts out.

 

[marmoka]

He should have said the name of the person he was harrashed by.

What a horrible world we live in. Hope him all the best.

 

[NeoRaider]

It started...

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2017/10/14/former-naughty-dog-employee-says-sexually-harassed/

Good.

 

[Fluloco]

I'm super glad that people are opening up about this stuff, a year ago this stories were really taboo.

There are two villains here: the abuser and the HR team that covered it. It's very possible that neither of those parties are still working there, so talking shit about Naughty Dog or Sony now is pointless. Please, do not forget that, an employee does not represent a whole company. Never.

What we should do, as external parties, is to promote every story of this subject that brave people are willing to share in public, to make sure that everyone read this and understands that this situations should be erradicated.

 

[Tarrin]

A 20k commitment sounds like a corporate guideline. So that means that ND has probably had this happen before. If they were not such a "respected" studio, I am willing to bet we would be hearing a lot more.

You got a good point. The payoff is damn disturbing. ND needs to address this asap.

 

[charlequin]

What specifically?

They institutionalized crunch at a level far beyond contemporary studios and are known for applying direct pressure to employees to work and to deliver outside the bounds of their actual job responsibilities. The fact that their HR team already works to actively support bad labor practices makes it much less surprising that they would also support a valuable employee over a victim of harassment.

It’s terrible despite the gender. I don’t see why that needs to be pointed out here specifically.

Because women are subjected to dramatically more harassment than men (and conversely, men perform dramatically more harassment than women.) It's proven to be extremely emotionally destructive to both men and women (and the rate for men, while much lower, is still staggeringly high) but men are much more likely to be taken seriously when they report it, so it's good to leverage their examples to draw attention to how widespread the problem is in general.

 

[ElephantShell]

Props to this guy for speaking out about it. Disgusting to think that this shit probably happens all the time in this industry and we just never hear a word because people are scared to talk about it. I hope more people start to come forward and the assholes behind this stuff can get what they deserve.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Fucking hell, Sony. Disgusting.

 

[Shredderi]

He should have said the name of the person he was harrashed by.

What a horrible world we live in. Hope him all the best.

I'm not sure about this, but if he doesn't have concrete proof saying the name could potentially bring legal damages to him instead.

 

[fluffydelusions]

No reason for ND to get a penny of my money until that lead is terminated.

Don't forget about Sony trying to bribe the guy and cover it up.

 

[Catvoca]

Much love to the guy for speaking out and weathering whatever storm will happen because of this. It's very brave.

 

[BBQ_of_DOOM]

When do we expect a Sony/ND response? Tonight? Monday?

 

[Dice//]

He should have said the name of the person he was harrashed by.

What a horrible world we live in. Hope him all the best.

Then you're as bad as some others who have doxxed and called/messaged death threats. I'm sure you might not do that, but it's too easy for it to escalate that way when that information is made public.

Throwing a name out to a mob is a bad idea even if it feels like it would work on some level.

Reporting truths with evidence is what's important; till then it's good when these issues deal with the people involved and the authorities. Not the internet

 

[MosquitoSmasher]

Jesus Christ man. Genuinely shocked, somehow I didn't expect to read about this concerning the game industry. It just shows it can be any kind of industry. I wonder if all this stuff with Weinstein had him making the decision to come forward or just pure coincidence. Either way absolutely disgusting behavior by human beings.

 

[Fat4all]

I'm not sure about this, but if he doesn't have concrete proof saying the name could potentially bring legal damages to him instead.

Yeah, unfortunately they could be open to libel charges.

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

Gotta love companies, making sure nothing gets in the way of making money. "Shh, just take this and go away".

 

[Tarrin]

Jesus Christ man. Genuinely shocked, somehow I didn't expect to read about this concerning the game industry. It just shows it can be any kind of industry. I wonder if all this stuff with Weinstein had him making the decision to come forward or just pure coincidence. Either way absolutely disgusting behavior by human beings.

Game industry is rife with it. At all levels.

Probably every industry is really.

 

[Feorax]

When do we expect a Sony/ND response? Tonight? Monday?

Can't come soon enough.

Fuck Sony and ND for this. Absolute bullshit.

 

[GravityInsanity]

When do we expect a Sony/ND response? Tonight? Monday?

The more it blows up, the sooner we will get a statement.

 

[BBQ_of_DOOM]

Don't forget about Sony trying to bribe the guy and cover it up.

I have not. If I didn’t preorder GT digitally I would have canceled that too. I did, however, cancel the remainder of the orders for this year.

 

[Temascos]

Shitty behaviour by the Lead, ND and Sony on this one. It's sad that it has to be said but the easier thing for them to do is to have supported the victim and kicked out the abuser, it NEVER works out and rightfully I hope this backlash lasts for months until they take action and issue a formal apology to David.

 

[Altered Juice]

Sweet Jesus people are getting exposed left and right

 

[Shredderi]

Jesus Christ man. Genuinely shocked, somehow I didn't expect to read about this concerning the game industry. It just shows it can be any kind of industry. I wonder if all this stuff with Weinstein had him making the decision to come forward or just pure coincidence. Either way absolutely disgusting behavior by human beings.

Dude, it's every single industry in existence. I'm saddened when I read these stories but in the back of my head I've always known that these things must be going on at some level in just about every big firm in the world.

 

[meirl]

Naughty Dog Shows their true Face it seems.