A former worker sued Justin Roiland’s Squanch Video games, maker of the current Xbox Sport Cross hit Excessive On Life, again in 2018 over alleged sexual harassment, discriminaton, and wrongful termination. In keeping with court docket paperwork, the studio denied the claims however later settled, and the lawsuit, whereas outdated, raises questions in regards to the work tradition at Squanch Video games, particularly after co-founder Roiland was lately revealed to be dealing with felony home abuse costs from 2020.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom in August 2018 on behalf of former Squanch Video games designer Sarah Doukakos, and alleges she was sexually harassed and belittled by then technical director Jeff Dixon. It additional alleges that regardless of quite a few complaints to her managers, together with co-founder after which chief government officer, Tanya Watson, the conduct was by no means addressed. As an alternative, the lawsuit claims Doukakos was fired for poor efficiency after which pressured by Watson into signing a legal responsibility launch as a part of her severance package deal.
Doukakos and Watson didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Dixon referred Kotaku to Squanch Video games for remark.
“Squanch Video games is dedicated to creating an inclusive and supportive work setting for our group,” a spokesperson for Squanch Video games instructed Kotaku in an emailed assertion. “We don’t publicly disclose personnel issues, and we stand by the choice we made in 2017, to not reveal the confidential data because it pertains to this case.”
If you happen to’re a present or former worker at Squanch Video games and want to chat, both on or off the file, my inbox is at all times open at ethan.gach@kotaku.com (Sign and Proton upon request).
In keeping with the lawsuit, Dixon would drive undesirable hugs on Doukakos, query her intelligence and competence, and as soon as instructed her a t-shirt she wore stating “The Future is Feminine” made him unhappy. The lawsuit additionally states that Doukakos instructed her managers in regards to the issues, even going as far as to request considered one of them, Erich Meyr, presently Squanch Video games design director, current her recreation improvement concepts to Dixon as a substitute so they might be taken critically.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that one other supervisor, Anthony Bosco, instructed Watson in regards to the issues however that she simply “sighed” in response. Issues allegedly didn’t go any higher when Doukakos spoke to Watson immediately. The lawsuit reads:
On August 11, 2017, Plaintiff spoke to Watson and expressed her points with Mr. Dixon, together with the undesirable touching and the way Dixon would deal with Plaintiff in a different way as a result of she was feminine. In response, Watson instructed Plaintiff, “that’s simply how this technology of fellows are” and instructed plaintiff to sit down quietly, take notes, and to smile each time the males, together with Dixon, have been talking. Plaintiff explicitly instructed Watson that Plaintiff shouldn’t should act in a different way as a lady to get heard.
Meyr and Bosco didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that, regardless of receiving constructive efficiency suggestions from her managers (together with Watson) in August, she was placed on a efficiency enchancment plan the next month. Throughout a “crunch” interval that adopted, the lawsuit says she labored 12-hour days whereas additionally pushing again on sure content material being designed for the sport that allegedly included scenes analogous to rape and remarks denigrating girls. Whereas the lawsuit doesn’t specify what the challenge was, a former worker instructed Kotaku that the challenge in query was Squanch Video games’ 2019 motion platformer, Trover Saves the Universe.
Doukakos was lastly fired on November 1 over efficiency points, however the lawsuit alleges it was really in retaliation for her complaints. It even claims that Watson pressured Doukakos into signing a launch of all claims in opposition to the studio in an effort to obtain her last paycheck and severance package deal. Whereas Squanch Video games’ court docket filings within the case deny all of the allegations in opposition to it, the 2 sides finally settled in September 2019. It’s unclear what the phrases of that settlement have been. Dixon left the studio shortly after Doukakos was fired and Watson left in February 2021.
Whereas Roiland just isn’t talked about in any respect within the lawsuit, he has been CEO of Squanch Video games since co-founding the studio with Watson in 2016. Yesterday, as first reported by NBC Information, it was revealed that Roiland was dealing with two costs of felony home abuse from January 2020, one for home battery and one other for false imprisonment. He pleaded not responsible to each, however there may be presently no trial date.
In the meantime, Excessive on Life, Squanch Video games’ newest launch, was reportedly Xbox’s largest Sport Cross launch of 2022. Just like the hit animated present Roiland co-created, Rick and Morty, the sport has been divisive over its gross humor and drawn out antics, which some love however others have discovered extremely grating.