In the studio behind the survival game State of Decay, sexism and bullying are said to be part of the daily routine, according to several team members.
Undead Labs is currently facing serious allegations. The studio behind the zombie game State of Decay is currently working on the third part of its survival series and has been a subsidiary of Microsoft since 2018. According to a report by Kotaku, which interviewed 12 former and current employees, there have been repeated instances and sexism and discrimination within the team over the past few years.
This is what Undead Labs is accused of
According to parent company Microsoft, a large number of new employees were hired at Undead Labs in 2021, 42 percent of whom were female or diverse and 29 percent of whom were from an ethnic minority. But team members interviewed by Kotaku report that this diverse team didn’t contribute enough to an inclusive culture: “It’s improved in the last six months, but the studio hired a lot of diverse talent that it didn’t adequately support.” Another former employee tells the interview:
“When I had my interview, I was sold the idea of a changing studio that made diversity, equality and inclusion its top priority. In fact, leadership painted this picture for Microsoft while women were repeatedly ignored, not taken seriously, interrupted and blamed
Women’s opinions were completely rejected, even for extremely simple coding or gaming knowledge. No one listened to them, even women in leadership positions were ignored, interrupted and blamed for problems “
A male staff member allegedly made sexist comments during a meeting such as, “You don’t look as pretty as usual today” and “I’m surprised a girl like you has this job.”
Special meeting rules were said to have been set up to prevent such behaviour, but they did not help. Some of the interviewees also accuse studio head Philip Holt of nepotism in the company, as he is said to have helped good friends to senior positions on several occasions. In addition, Holt is said to have pushed two female employees out of their management positions by hiring two men above them in the hierarchy, thus making their jobs obsolete.
Regarding the allegation of nepotism, Microsoft issued a statement to Kotaku saying, “There is a rigorous and standardised hiring process at Undead Labs for all potential new hires, with visibility and vetting by multiple studio members.”
One of the interviewees tells Kotaku, “There was no visible intervention or support from Microsoft. From my perspective, nothing got better, things just got worse and worse.”
In the case of Ori makers Moon Studios, Microsoft recently decided to end the collaboration after the developer was accused of discrimination, sexism and racism.
