Steve Gaynor, the co-founder of Fullbright Company, which developed Gone Home and Tacoma, retired as creative director and manager for allegedly fostering a work culture that is harmful to employees.
After a report by Polygon disclosed Gaynor’s report of permanent toxic work environment, Fullbright released A statement Note that Gaynor retired from his joint role in March of this year.
Watch on YouTube
Although he will continue to be the screenwriter of the studio’s upcoming game Open Roads, he will not interact with the staff on a daily basis. Annapurna Interactive, the publisher of the game, is tasked with acting as a mediator between the studio and Gaynor.
According to reports, Guynow caused a disadvantage in the company due to his management style, and his main target seems to be women working in the studio. This makes it seem that women leave the company every month.
At the end of 2020, many employees were worried about employees leaving and left anonymous digital post-it notes on the company’s servers. One of the notes pointed out that four women left Fulbright last year, and stated that the studio needed to make sure to “create an environment” that would make women feel respected. ”
When the employee left the studio, the exit interview conducted by the department leader mentioned the toxic work environment created by Gaynor. Although there are no reports of sexual harassment or “obvious sexism”, it is said that he “controls” and has a “derogatory” attitude, sometimes even “riding others’ opinions and embarrassing them in front of others”. “Gainot also claimed to continue to micro-manage women and to belittle and tarnish their contributions.
“It sounds like a joke, but I’m serious: working for him often feels like working for a mean girl who is a high school student,” a former employee in a leadership position told Polygon. “His weapon of choice is to laugh at people’s opinions and embarrass them in front of others.”
Six other former employees confirmed the assessment and stated that due to the lack of a human resources department, the employees were forced to deal directly with Gaynor.
After Polygon’s report surfaced, Gaynor issued a statement on these allegations, acknowledging that his “leadership style is harmful.”
“Hello everyone. I have a statement to share my role at Fullbright.
“Earlier this year, I ceased to be the creative head of Open Roads. My leadership style hurt people working at Fullbright, and I apologize for that.
“A step back gave me space and perspective, allowing me to see how my role needs to change, and how I need to learn and improve as a member of the team, including working with expert management consultants and rethinking my work with Fulbright Relationship.
“I care about Open Roads and the Fullbright team very much. I am sad that I have taken a few steps back from the day-to-day open development road, but it has been doing the right thing. The Open Roads team is full of confidence and confidence in me when completing the game. support.”
Open Roads was originally scheduled to be released in 2021 and is not expected to be released this year. Currently, there are only 6 employees left in the studio, because 15 employees have resigned since the game started working in 2019.
