Rocksteady Studios published a statement on Twitter today responding to recent claims that it has failed to respond to concerns about sexual harassment in the studio, saying it has “dealt with problems in the past”, and has promised to work with an independent third party to address new complaints packages that may come in the future.
On August 18th de Fad report that back in 2018 several female employees at Rocksteady signed a letter to the studio, citing concerns about sexual harassment, inincluding behavior such as girl and unwanted progress. According to the FadThe report, there were some employees who did not think Rocksteady took enough action in response to the issues raised in the letter. In today’s statement, Rocksteady disputed that, writing “In response to the initial communication, we met with all of our female staff, we listened, and we addressed the issues raised.”
The studio’s statement was about:
All formal complaints were thoroughly investigated, appropriately addressed and a number of serious measures were taken in response to the issues that arose, including discipline for staff redundancies.
Since then, we have introduced new ways to ensure that we make good on our commitment to inclusion, such as asking all female employees to provide feedback on the image and behavior of characters in the games we create. We are dedicated to listening and improving, and have committed specialists to further improve the equity and representation at Rocksteady.
In addition to these actions from past Rocksteady saying it has been taken, the studio also announced that it is now working with an “independent third party to speak confidentially with all employees” about any issues they wish to report. The studio also said it will reach out to all former female employees of the last two years as part of this process.
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Following the Fadthe first report, a former senior writer on upcoming Rocksteady Suicide Squad game, Kim MacAskill, came to the fore in a video on YouTube that described her experiences in the studio and worries about how harassment there went after all unaddressed. “99 percent of the devs in that studio are some of the nicest people I really like,” MacAskill said in the video, while at the same time asking management to change how it handles complaints, in part so that women felt more empowered in the first place to come forward with them.
A day after the FadThe report, and before releasing his own statement, Rocksteady shared what it said an “unsolicited” letter of some of the female employees still at the studio who had signed the original 2018 letter. In it, the women said the studio had taken certain steps at the time, including meetings and workshops, to address their concerns.
This is all coming two months after Assassin’s Creed publisher Ubisoft was rocked by accusations of abuse in the company, which resulted in various high-profile layoffs, layoffs, and arson attacks, as well as outside companies entering to conduct investigations.
Rocksteady is set to release Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the first new game since 2015’s Arkham Knight, by Warner Bros. DC FanDome event tomorrow night.
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