Gone Home studio ousts co-founder after toxic culture allegation | Games

Gone Home studio ousts co-founder after toxic culture allegation | Games" title="Gone Home studio ousts co-founder after toxic culture allegation | Games" />

the studio fullbright, from games like Gone Home and Tacoma, lost its co-founder, Steve Gaynor. The former executive was “downgraded” to a position of lesser impact within the company and will no longer act as a director, after allegations of a toxic culture towards employees, according to an extensive report published by Polygon. The problems did not rise to the level of involving sexual harassment, but many daily microaggressions against employees, especially women.

A little before the story of the polygon be published, the official twitter account in Open Roads, studio's new game, even posted a statement, informing Gaynor's change of position and the promotion of someone else to his place. The problem is that fans found this strange, as it was kind of "out of the blue" and without a special reason, but soon everything was explained.

Gaynor ceased to act actively as leader and director of the projects and will now work only as a screenwriter, although there is no indication that he will continue actively in the development of Open Roads.

Former employees criticize Gaynor

Polygon's investigation says that 15 employees have left the studio since the development of Open Roads it started in 2019. Of these 15, about 12 spoke to the report and said they left because of Gaynor's behavior with employees, specifically women. It is also commented that the executive left his position in March, but only now was communicated.

Of these 12 people who spoke, 10 were women. “A former employee, in a leadership position, said working with him was like working with a mean girl at school. His favorite weapon was laughing at people's opinions and embarrassing them in front of everyone else.

After the backlash, Steve Gaynor sent a statement to international websites about the case, which you can read below:

"Hello everybody. I have a statement to share about my role at Fulbright. Earlier this year, I stepped back from my role as creative lead at Open Roads. My leadership style was detrimental to the people who worked at Fulbright, and for that I truly apologize.

Stepping back has given me the space and perspective to see how my role needs to change and how I need to learn and improve as part of a team, including working with an expert management consultant and rethinking my relationship to working at Fulbright.

I care deeply about Open Roads and the Fulbright team. I'm sad to have pulled back on daily Open Roads development, but it's been the right thing to do. The Open Roads team has my full faith and support to complete the game.”

This week has not been easy in terms of allegations involving people connected to the games industry. Activision Blizzard faces a California government lawsuit after allegations of sexual harassment in the company, while Riot Games, in Brazil, was criticized for allowing that a caster accused of harassment returned to work, just after a month of the denouncements.

With information: polygon.