A new investigation into developer Deck Nine, best known as the current administrator of Life is Strange, a series celebrated for its diversity and inclusion, has painted a picture of a studio where toxicity, hate speech, harassment, crisis , bullying and abusive leadership may have worsened as a result of senior management inaction.
He extensive report by IGN's Rebekah Valentine, based on the testimony of more than a dozen current and former employees in various departments at Deck Nine, makes a series of revealing accusations, many of which highlight an apparent disconnect between the inclusive values that have made Life is Strange such a beloved company. hit and those from the studio.
IGN's sources highlight instances of sexual harassment, bullying, transphobia, and other toxicities at Deck Nine, which senior management reportedly let remain “unaddressed for months.” These include harassment and assault by an anonymous senior programmer towards female staff; Management is said to have first responded to employee complaints by moving their team's desks away from other departments so their screams could not be heard, rather than taking action to address their issues. behavior directly. However, the staff member in question was eventually fired.
Similarly, Deck Nine's narrative team, described as one of the studio's “most diverse,” is said to have faced sexism, harassment, bullying, transphobia, microaggressions, alienation, and more from the company at large, and the Particular complaints come to former Deck Nine creative director Zak Garriss. These range from claims of “crossing personal boundaries” by female staff – which Garris refutes in a lengthy response to IGN – and instances of him “attacking those who disagreed with him at work,” especially those ” who strive for a more thoughtful vision and authentic or sensitive representations of diverse characters.
Garriss is said to have “reprimanded” staff who asked about the relatively late removal of a transgender character in Life is Strange: True Colors, and is accused of being stubbornly unwilling to listen to staff who raised concerns about “problematic” aspects of True Colors. Color script. These reportedly included an ultimately deleted scene in which main character Alex's drink is spiked in a bar, a sequence that several staff members felt could be “unintentional triggers” for some players, and a late twist ultimately scrapped. which some members of the team saw as a “problematic portrayal of migrant workers.” Garriss reportedly accused those who lobbied against his work and called for change of “getting too obsessed with 'political ideologies.'”
IGN reports that Garriss then “distanced himself” from the narrative team, working with another protagonist to “make most of the story decisions, rewriting other writers' work without giving them a chance to give feedback, even on character-focused stories.” marginalized”.
In response to the IGN article, Garriss shared a statement stating: “In my entire career, I have never worked with writers who were as creatively inflexible, antagonistic toward difference, or less inclined to listen or compromise as a select few in this group.” . Garriss also claims that the narrative team's work on True Colors was “so poor that the game was under real threat of cancellation when I returned” and that he later attempted to reduce the “influence” of certain team members because “their behavior became unreliable.” professional, more antagonistic and accusatory towards me because of the toxicity that, from the perspective of many people in the studio, was actually a result of his behavior. IGN's full report features an extensive rebuttal from Garris that covers every other claim in the story.
Garriss would eventually voluntarily resign from Deck Nine, but not before employees brought his behavior to the attention of management. However, Deck Nine's leadership is once again said to have been slow to take complaints at the studio seriously, and management later attempted to bring Garriss back to fix a proposal for another project, a decision that caused several writers will present their resignations.
IGN's report highlights other alleged instances of troubling behavior at the studio, including claims of leadership's glacial response to employees' discovery last year that a staff member appeared to be covertly inserting Nazi slogans, memes and other problematic images in the new life of Deck Nine. It's a strange game. It is alleged that the assets remained unchanged “for months” despite employee complaints, and that an eventual investigation by management into the incident determined that it was “not an intentional action.” However, the studio later said it would hire a law firm to further investigate the incident. Additionally, CEO Mark Lyons has pledged to implement an anti-hate speech policy and annual hate speech training, but says none of that has happened yet.
Deck Nine isn't the only organization criticized in IGN's report; Life is Strange publisher Square Enix is also accused of revealing behavior. Square Enix London contacts, with whom Deck Nine worked directly on Life is Strange, are described, for example, as “bullies” who “put a lot of pressure on [Deck Nine’s] people, so the toxicity started bleeding into our environment as well.” It is also claimed that Square outright banned Deck Nine from commenting on True Colors protagonist Alex's bisexuality prior to release, only changing their mind once that early press reviews were positive about that aspect of the Staff interviewed by IGN also states that Square “seemed strangely reluctant or outright hostile to the various themes and ideas that Life is Strange fans love” during development, and that Square He told several developers that he did not want the Life is Strange series to be thought of as a “gay game.”
While Square Enix reportedly declined to comment on the IGN article, Deck Nine shared a statement in response to the story's allegations, which is printed in full below. IGN full report It is extensive and worth reading.
Deck Nine's full response to the IGN story
Study:
At Deck Nine, telling diverse and deeply human stories is part of our DNA and it's every creative individual in the studio who helps make them compelling, relatable and meaningful to our dedicated community.
We're a small, diverse, and incredibly talented team, which is reflected in the rich characters and intimate stories in the games we create. Our hiring and promotion practices prioritize a diverse culture and workforce because of the experiences we are creating and because it is the right thing to do. We are proud to be a studio that employs a diverse team that goes beyond industry norms.
Deck Nine is an independently owned studio and we strive to compensate all of our employees fairly. We recently made salary adjustments as we transitioned to remote work and continue to offer abundant opportunities for upward mobility to all employees.
We, like many other studios in the games industry, are constantly working to incorporate best practices throughout development to avoid crises.
Employee Conduct:
We place the utmost importance on the well-being of every Deck Nine employee. We have strict conduct policies in place and as soon as allegations or issues are reported to HR, they are confidentially investigated, evaluated and addressed with the parties involved as quickly and effectively as possible. Our intention is always to maintain a positive, sustainable and successful studio by putting our people first.
We have always conducted thorough internal investigations if a problem arises, and when a situation warrants it, we will turn to external parties for consultation. We will soon integrate new tools into our development process to ensure that all terms, images or symbols created in our games, including all background content, receive additional vetting for potentially offensive or hateful expression and are appropriately flagged and evaluated to prevent unintentional errors. inclusion. We are also implementing formal anti-hate speech processes and training to better inform and provide team members with practical resources to remain vigilant as a collective studio.
Collaborating with partners:
Storytelling is a collaborative process and we worked closely with all our partners throughout development to deliver a storytelling experience true to the pillars of a product we are all proud of. As often happens in the creative process, some ideas make it to the final cut and others do not. We remain committed to championing diversity and telling the stories of groups historically underrepresented in games.
