Some current and former developers from the Life is Strange: True Colors development team have spoken out about conditions at Deck Nine.

A dozen developers criticized management’s handling of hate icons, problem developers, and crunch. In addition, there is hate speech, a toxic work culture, low salaries, poor treatment of female employees (in promotions and raises), and negligent management. This was reported by IGN, and two of the twelve developers have been named.

Several racist memes and references to hate symbols were included in Life is Strange: True Colors. Many people criticized this, but management ignored the Nazi imagery for over six months, until Deck Nine CEO Mark Lyons told staff that the symbols had been removed and were unintentionally included in the game. (How? Someone drunk put them in?) One programmer was accused of sexual harassment, transphobia, yelling, and bullying. A developer who had insight into management decisions reported that management fought to keep him on, and his team was shifted away from other departments as a result, but he was eventually let go, but only after yelling at an HR employee.

Zak Garriss, the former narrative director and creative director of Deck Nine, was also described by many as problematic. According to several women who worked at the studio, many of them were overwhelmed by him and unable to say no when he crossed a personal line. According to IGN sources, Garris also claimed that representation in games was worthless and called Black Lives Matter a hate group when the studio suggested they post a supportive message on social media. Garris also allegedly clashed with marginalized members of the narrative team. They had to argue that the problematic portrayal of migrants and a date rape incident should not be part of Life is Strange: True Colors. In response, Garriss slammed the developers for questioning the decision to remove a transgender character from the game.

In response, Garriss told IGN that he has mentored several men and women at the studio and that he has never had any aberrant or inappropriate behavior at the studio. He did not recall his comment about BLM and said that his clash with the narrative team was due to some developers being uncooperative. Deck Nine said: “Our hiring and promotion practices prioritize a diverse culture and workforce because of the experiences we create – and because it’s the right thing to do. We take the well-being of every Deck Nine employee very seriously. We have a strict Code of Conduct in place, and once allegations or issues are reported to Human Resources, they are confidentially investigated, assessed and addressed with the parties involved as quickly and effectively as possible. It is always our intention to maintain a positive, sustainable and successful studio by putting our people first.”

Once again, the two sides are making completely different claims. Who is lying?

Source: Gamesindustry, IGN