Wildlife Studios, a Brazilian gaming company worth $3 billion and responsible for some of the most popular free-to-play mobile games on the market like Zooba, Sky Warriors, Suspects, and Tennis Clash, is facing allegations of repeated incidences of gender wage imbalances and discrimination, according to an internal report from their human resources department. The HR report comes in the wake of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit, which has rocked the gaming world while simultaneously putting it on alert over such disturbing matters.
“This behavior of harassment could greatly discredit the company and could result in people leaving us,” read the internal report. Many of the former employees who came forward said that the type of behavior documented in the report pushed them to leave the company. “The two happiest moments of my time at Wildlife were the day they accepted my application, and the day I handed in my resignation,” said one former employee.
The company’s HR report details, over the course of 22 pages, specific cases of gaslighting, perpetuating sexist stereotypes, moral harassment, and salary disparity. The document was drafted by the company’s diversity team, which was created in light of ongoing internal issues with racial and gender diversity in the company, said one ex-employee. In one instance, the report refers specifically to two cases of a gender wage imbalance, noting that one woman manager, who had just been promoted, was offered a salary of almost 30% less than a male counterpart.
The report goes on to underline a broad company culture in which women are sidelined and silenced. The report details three specific allegations of sexist behavior. In one, a woman employee was told to “be more humble” when requesting improvements be made to the product; in another, an employee was systematically ignored in a meeting; and in one case, a woman employee was discouraged privately by a manager from contributing ideas to the group and within meetings.
The video game industry in Brazil, which commands a huge and growing market, has also been hit by substantial criticism in the past months. Early this year, the country’s gaming community had its own #MeToo moment, in which Brazilian women took to social media to denounce sexism and harassment in the industry. The community was also shaken by the February murder of an esports gamer, Ingrid “Sol” Oliveira Bueno da Silva. The killer, a fellow gamer, reportedly confessed to the crime.
(All information was provided by Rest of World)
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