Sony’s Firesprite Studio has been accused of fostering a poisonous work setting and ignoring complaints of office misconduct and harassment. An in-depth investigation of the claims by Eurogamer discovered that Firesprite — which Sony acquired in 2021 — was being led by two senior members of Sony’s XDev crew, each of whom had been investigated for claims of sexual discrimination and ageism made towards them.
Sony’s Firesprite was lately hit by PlayStation layoffs
Eurogamer’s investigation started previous to Sony saying mass layoffs throughout PlayStation, which Firesprite was additionally impacted by. Not solely was the studio’s headcount lowered, its Twisted Metallic stay service recreation was additionally canceled.
In line with sources talking on situation of anonymity, Sony dismissed the aforementioned claims towards its XDev management, terming it a “misunderstanding.” Nonetheless, among the complainants started exploring authorized choices, following which they obtained a monetary settlement from Sony.
“Sony has dedicated the worst potential mistake in shopping for a studio and meddling to the purpose the place it could find yourself in a demise spiral and unable to finish any of the tasks it’s engaged on,” one in all Eurogamer’s sources mentioned. Nonetheless, some sources countered that by saying that Firesprite wanted the interior adjustments that got here with its acquisition by PlayStation.