PlayStation-owned studio Firesprite accused of being a toxic company
, by Thibaut
Best known for its VR game Horizon Call of the Mountain, Firesprite is probably not a great company to work for.
In an article published by Eurogamer, anonymous employees of the English studio acquired by Sony in 2021 denounce a toxic work culture. Living conditions within the company are said to have deteriorated sharply following the crunch period decreed to finish the Horizon VR game.
It should be noted that two Sony XDev executives, who had been hired to help Firesprite complete the project, have been accused of sexual discrimination and ageism (which means discriminating against a person on the basis of age). An internal investigation by Sony reportedly led to the rejection of these accusations. The Japanese firm deemed them a simple "misunderstanding".
It should be noted that the studio was affected by the redundancies announced by PlayStation this week. However, an "alarming" number of employees are said to have resigned even before this announcement. Many would have waited for their retention bonus to be paid in October 2023 before leaving this toxic environment.
Source: eurogamer.net