Thursday, January 28, 2021, Dom Peppiatt Greenwich Mean Time
After reports revealed a series of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against the studio, Scavenger Announced that Simon Darveau, co-founder and creative director, has been suspended indefinitely.
A report released by GamesIndustry.biz earlier this week outlined a series of serious misdemeanors committed by senior studio staff, resulting in a “toxic work environment.”
According to reports, creative director Simon Darveau and his romantic partner (when the studio was founded) CEO Amelie Lamarche mainly blamed the Montreal-based studio Toxicity, the studio is known for its work in these two areas Darwin project with season. Now, after the report was released, Scavengers Studio announced that Darveau was “suspended indefinitely from all duties within the company and the board of directors.”
“After the toxic workplace accusations were raised in the media, Scavenger Studio hopes to apologize for the harm caused,” said a statement on the studio’s website (via GamesIndustry.biz). “Allegations such as these are serious and we are committed to doing better for our employees, our fans and our partners.”
Among the reports about Darveau (founder of Spearhead Games and former designer of Ubisoft), the most serious reports include: sexual harassment of female employees in work groups, suspected affair with employees, and discrimination against employees.
The above statement was written by co-founder and CEO Amelie Lamarche, who announced that she will also resign as CEO. It’s worth noting that the original report excluded Lamarche as a poisoner in the studio-claiming that her status as Darveau’s former romantic partner created a conflict of interest in her role as the HR touchpoint and that this relationship “affected her abilities .just”.
In order to evaluate the working environment of the studio, the studio introduced an external audit company. The results will be presented to the board of directors.
