Fullbright open roads3/10/2023 ![]() “Steve stepped down in March 2021 after it became clear that the steps that were already being taken to improve his interactions with the team were only yielding temporary results,” the representative said. Former employees in leadership described “intense guilt” in leaving the company, “leaving team to fend for themselves.”Ī Fullbright representative confirmed that Gaynor stepped down in March due to the “pattern of women leaving” the company. Many questioned their abilities and have sought out therapy to deal with the trauma associated with the development on Open Roads and company culture. ![]() Some former employees felt they “changed” following their time at Fullbright. Multiple sources told Polygon that they feared more promising talent would be driven out of the industry, like the others. Former employees saw what they perceived as a pattern of young women, early in their careers, being broken down by their time under Gaynor. Employees recalled that you might expect a toxic culture at triple-A studios and not at a studio like Fullbright, but these allegations were reported consistently and lead to the studio losing a large portion of its staff over the years.Īs Fullbright had to hire new employees, the leads remaining at the company were hesitant to hire the qualified, talented women out of fear of how they’d be treated by Gaynor. Fullbright’s games focus on female characters and tend to attract women as prospective employees. Other former employees believed that the behavior at Fullbright was dangerous. I can confidently say that I do not want my career to be associated with him.” Another employee wrote in a letter to Annapurna and described her time at Fullbright as “the worst professional experience had in games.” At least two employees reached out to Annapurna Interactive who is partnering with Fullbright to publish Open Roads. One employee wrote, “My personal experience of having Steve as my manager was a toxic and unhealthy dynamic. There were numerous attempts by the employees to raise their concerns from anonymous digital Post-It notes to exit interviews to report the studio culture that Gaynor allegedly perpetuated. When I read this article, I saw a lot of parallels. “ already in consultation training for communication for the team due to quitting because of him,” she said. ![]() The former employee approached Gaynor and said that a similar report could be about him. The report was about the studio’s Creative Director being accused of belittling, screaming at, and groping employees. Employees told Polygon that they wanted to report his behavior but “there’s no infrastructure to escalate,” a former employee said.Ī former employee she saw the report on Scavengers Studio. His go-to weapon was to laugh at people’s opinions and embarrass them in front of other people.” Six other employees corroborated this characterization. One former employee in a leadership position told Polygon, “This is going to sound like a joke, but I’m completely serious: Working for him often felt like working for a high school mean girl. Some of the former female staffers said that they worried how Gaynor characterized them to other employees. They said that this was compounded by Gaynor’s tendency to disparage and discredit the contributions of female staffers in particular, oftentimes directly to leadership. Women in leadership positions told Polygon that they experienced constant micromanagement that made it difficult for them to do their jobs, having to get the smallest details approved by Gaynor. The employees said that the studio’s alleged toxic culture hid behind the veneer of inclusivity, as women were allegedly repeatedly broken down by microaggressions.įormer employees described their time at the studio as close-knit and supportive of each other but they also said that they felt stifled by Gaynor’s “controlling” and “demeaning presence” who allegedly saw Open Road as his game and not the team’s game. The employees were worried about being blacklisted from the industry due to his status as the Co-Founder of a beloved indie darling. Fullbright created Gone Home and Tacoma. Multiple employees described the work environment as “controlling.” According to the employees, there were no issues of alleged sexual harassment or explicit sexism but it was a place where staffers allegedly felt undermined and demeaned by Gaynor. Talking to Polygon, 12 former employees of Fullbright said that they left partially due to Gaynor’s alleged behavior towards workers, specifically women on the team.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |