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Insomniac responds to allegations from former staff about culture of harassment

The response follows accusations from earlier this week that Insomniac Games prioritized protecting the careers of accused sexual predators at the studio over the developers that reported the actions of those individuals.

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

June 24, 2020

2 Min Read
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Insomniac has shared a statement in reply to a round of accusations made against multiple former and current members of the studio, saying in a tweet that it was aware of the complaints and took action based on that information.

“We were aware of the allegations made in a former employee's tweets today and had taken numerous steps to address them. For legal and privacy reasons we will not respond to individual allegations about specific former employees,” reads a statement from Insomniac shared to Twitter. “We are a workplace family that has actively promoted diversity, inclusion, representation and equality for our entire existence. We will continue to do so every single day. “

The response follows accusations from earlier this week that Insomniac Games prioritized protecting the careers of accused sexual predators at the studio over the developers that reported the actions of those individuals. 

At least one accuser says the studio’s treatment of women--and its inaction against a now-former staffer accused of harassment--was their chief reason for leaving, and others have since taken to Twitter to share similar sentiments.

“I have a list in the double digits of women who were harmed by the actions of this company - some so much so that they declined to speak about it to me at all,” reads one account. “Insomniac has throttled careers of great women, left them no option but to 'resign' and protected sexual predators.”

“I'm one of those women and I'm still suffering from my time there,” shares another.

The story at the center of those initial accusations says a now-former Insomniac Games HR employee routinely pushed boundaries with coworkers, including incidents that ranged from inappropriate conversations to numerous attempts to pressure those coworkers toward sex.

When the behavior was reported to higher ups, the reporting employee says they faced professional retaliation for doing so and the HR employee remained at the company despite both new and previous complaints until being fired for a different incident down the road. 

This is just one of several stories that have surfaced this week as members of the game industry speak out against incidents of harassment, manipulation, and assault they’ve experienced at the hands of peers and established names in industry, following allegations made against multiple Ubisoft staffgame writer and designer Chris Avellone, and many more.

About the Author

Alissa McAloon

Publisher, GameDeveloper.com

As the Publisher of Game Developer, Alissa McAloon brings a decade of experience in the video game industry and media. When not working in the world of B2B game journalism, Alissa enjoys spending her time in the worlds of immersive sandbox games or dabbling in the occasional TTRPG.

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