Employees claim Schlosser did nothing against blatant sexism or even a Tech Art manager who almost drove the entire Tech Art team to quiet, but instead dismissed complaints as “pandemic driven.” In favoring his own buddies to leadership positions Holt ostensibly railroaded “two-director level women at the studio by not giving them the support needed to succeed and hiring men over top of them in the hierarchy to absorb their roles,” according to current and former Labs employees.Įven when staffed with a credited HR professional with Anne Schlosser to help address developer concerns, Labs persisted with its rampant culture of sexism, discrimination and incompetence. Holt has been accused of “fast-tracking” his friends and partners from outside studios as a way to help solidify his role within Microsoft’s ambitious play for a larger Xbox studio-network narrative. While Undead Labs sold itself as a studio in transition, welcoming of diversity, equity and inclusion, it may have done so as mostly a facade to keep head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer appeased during acquisition negotiations.ĭespite a change at the head of the studio with co-founder Jeff Strain leaving in 2019 and head of development Philip Holt getting promoted, the fissures within the company seemed to only deepen as Holt began favoring nepotism over the needs of the studio. One former developer recalled men asking women to take notes during meetings, ignoring their expertise, and even making sexist remarks like, “You don’t look as pretty as normal today,” and “I’m surprised a girl like you has this job.” On top of all the managerial mishaps, additional friction arose from discriminatory practices against women, non-binary and “other marginalized employees.” State of Decay 2 video game on Xbox One and Windows 10 Gach lays forth a story of a studio dragged into success by Microsoft’s acquisition and as such, drowning from lack of direction, sabotage, poor leadership and excessive turnover. As one former developer put it, “We were afraid they would come in and change our culture but our collapse came from within, and we could have used help.” Now they worry the $2 trillion company’s incredibly “hands-off” approach allowed dysfunction to fester, leaving some of the studio’s more vulnerable employees to fend for themselves. Most considered the last few years since the acquisition a period of crisis, and are worried management hasn’t learned the right lessons.Īt first, some employees were worried the Microsoft acquisition would change the indie studio for the worse. A few said it still has room to improve but has overall been a very good place to work. Many felt very positive about certain aspects of the studio. Kotaku interviewed 12 current and former employees for this article, all of whom requested anonymity because they feared sharing their concerns publicly would doom their careers in the video game industry.
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