Skullgirls has been a staple in the fighting game community since its release in 2012. While the game is popular among its fanbase and is looking to add another character soon in the form of Annie, the fighting game is having some issues behind the scenes. Despite these problems, the developer Lab Zero Games is still attempting to continue its work on the game.
Recently, several employees of Lab Zero Games quit the Skullgirls development team, citing that they were leaving due to sexual harassment allegations against the head developer, Mike Zaimont. Initially, allegations against Zaimont had come to light earlier this summer when many such cases were being revealed across the gaming industry. Even though an investigation was looking into these cases brought before the developer, the situation at the company did not seem to change, so three of the Skullgirl devs quit the team.
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On August 24, Autumn Games and Hidden Variable Studios officially made a joint public statement on the situation. Hidden Variable Studios works exclusively with the mobile version of the game and only deals with Autumn Games, which owns the Skullgirls IP. Neither deals directly with Lab Zero Games, but they still felt the need to make a statement due to their connections to the game.
In the letter, both gaming companies said that they support the devs who left Lab Zero Games due to the sexual harassment and unsafe working environment. The companies also said that they find the accusations against Zaimont to be “credible.” Because the situation with Lab Zero Games and Zaimont is not changing, these two companies are going to attempt to distance themselves from this negative workplace
Going forward, the companies will be trying to work with some of the Skullgirls devs who recently left Lab Zero Games due to the workplace environment, as all parties have a mutual interest in continuing the production of the game and introducing Annie as another fighter. Lab Zero Games has not responded to the statement at the time this is being written.
While it is unfortunate that these gaming companies feel that they have to go to such lengths, its good to see that those who previously left Lab Zero Games will still be able to continue working on the game they love. Hopefully, Zaimont will learn from these companies’ reactions to his conduct and remove himself from Skullgirls so that the game won’t be further corrupted by his actions.
Skullgirls is currently available on Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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Source: Kotaku
