Fullbright, the developer behind both Gone Home and Tacoma, is going through dramatic changes in response to allegations of misconduct against co-founder Steve Gaynor. The allegations stem from fifteen employees, ten of whom are women, having departed the small company since the development of its new Open Roads game began. Twelve of those former Fullbright employees have stepped forward to say that issues with Gaynor's leadership contributed to their departure.
A report from Polygon describes how Gaynor's leadership style was described by multiple ex-Fullbright employees as "controlling" and that women in particular felt "undermined" and "demeaned" by Gaynor. More specifically, women at Fullbright explained that they experienced "constant micromanagement" and that Gaynor would "discredit the contributions" they made to other employees. One former employee described it as "working for a high school mean girl," saying that Gaynor would frequently "laugh at people's opinions and embarrass them." Another said it was "the worst professional experience [she'd] had in games."
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Further, it was mentioned by multiple former employees that Gaynor's toxic behavior was brought to him both directly and indirectly multiple times. One former employee says she approached Gaynor following a different woman quitting Fullbright, saying she saw parallels between Gaynor and Scavengers Studio's lead who also faced reckonings over toxic leadership. Gaynor apparently dismissed the thought, sending the former employee an article on how "when there's a shark attack … people start to get more scared that they might get attacked by a shark." Other concerns were brought forward through digital notes left on a company server intended for a team-building exercise, as well as exit interviews upon their departure.
Note that the ex-Fullbright employees that came forward have stated they are not accusing Gaynor of "sexual harassment or explicit sexism." Rather, the accusations revolve around a toxic working environment. Compounded with Fullbright's lack of human resources, what was once a growing team has had 15 employees leave during Open Roads' development. Fullbright retains just six current staff members.
In a statement issued by Fullbright via the company's Open Roads Twitter account, it was confirmed that Gaynor has stepped down from his role as creative lead and manager on the project as of this past March. He remains actively working on Open Roads as a writer, however, it's being reported that he has no "day-to-day collaboration" with the rest of Fullbright. Instead, Open Roads' publisher Annapurna Interactive is said to be mediating the working relationship between Gaynor and Open Roads' other developers.
Gaynor has also responded to Polygon's report, confirming that he's stepped back and stating that he needs to "learn and improve as part of a team." He says that it was the right thing to do, to step back from his role as part of the Open Roads team and that the team has his "full faith and support" as they work to complete the indie game.
Open Roads is announced to release in 2021 for PC and consoles.
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Source: Polygon
