WCCFTech and GameSpot both reports David Ballard‘s claim that he was sexually harassed while he was working at Naughty Dog.

David Ballard was working on the Uncharted games and The Last of Us as an environment artist and level layout artist. He claims that in 2015, a „lead” was sexually harassing him, which made his working environment quite toxic afterward. In February 2016, he had a mental breakdown, and when he told Sony about his situation, he got fired a day after his reveal to the Japanese company! However, he got an offer: if he signed a contract and did not talk about the situation, he would have kept his job, as well as a 20.000 dollar bonus. He didn’t take the offer, but since then, he wasn’t able to find a job. He’s been out of the industry for 17 months! „When interviewers ask why I left Naughty Dog, I say I was burned out by the crunch, ashamed to get to the root of the problem of being sexually harassed,” he said.

This is a brutal claim to have, and Naughty Dog responded with a statement: „We have recently read on social media that an ex-employee of Naughty Dog, Dave Ballard, claims he was sexually harassed when he worked at Naughty Dog. We have not found any evidence of having received allegations from Mr. Ballard that he was harassed in any way at Naughty Dog or Sony Interactive Entertainment. Harassment and inappropriate conduct have no place at Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment. We have taken and always will take reports of sexual harassment and other workplace grievances very seriously. We value every single person who works at Naughty Dog and Sony interactive Entertainment. It is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a safe, productive workplace environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for making games.”

It’s interesting that they denied the claims in just one sentence. The reason Ballard decided to talk about his harassment follows: „I’m speaking out now because of the strength I’ve seen in others coming forward about their experiences in the TV/Film industry.” With this sentence, he probably referenced Harvey Weinstein (a film producer with numerous allegations of sexual harassment and rape)…

Source: WCCFTech, GameSpot, Naughty Dog Blog, Twitter