Avalanche Studios Group, developers of Just Cause, issued a public apology for mishandling a controversial hire following an entire year of complaints from its staff. The hire in question, according to IGN, was of high-standing individual in a previous company with allegations of harassment against female employees. Avalanche’s full statement can be viewed in a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion update on their website.
The individual was hired in 2021 into a project leadership role within Avalanche Studios, to which employees were quick to voice their complaints. IGN reported that employee complaints were brushed off. Instead, the company reassured employees that they wouldn’t have to “…work directly with this person due to remote work and his status as a contractor”. However, that promise was short-lived when in 2022, the individual began working in the offices and even holding “one-to-one meetings” with female employees.
Things only escalated after the individual resigned later in 2022. Employees at Avalanche became frustrated with HR’s handling of employee complaints, lack of transparency, and refusal to acknowledge the hiring of such an individual. Demands for Avalanche continued to address the situation grew until an employee posted a message on the company Slack detailing being uncomfortable with the “…ethical implications of selling my labor to Avalanche Studios Group” in October.
Avalanche CEO Pim Holfve addressed his employees soon after, stating that the individual left the company due to reasons unrelated to the allegations and that no misconduct was found during their time there. Regardless, Holfve pledged to investigate their hiring practices with a third-party legal company and the allegations against the individual.
Soon after, Avalanche issued a town hall meeting for a Q&A where employees submitted questions would be selected and answered about employee concerns. Unsurprisingly as IGN noted, most questions pertained to the lack of response from the company’s HR to employee concerns. Things came to a head days after when Holfve issued two company emails where he went over Q&A questions and eventually apologized for the complete mismanagement of the situation.
Avalanche began its investigation with the independent DEI investigation group Gender Balance instead of a legal firm on November 21, diving further into the situation and the company’s hiring processes. The company also responded to IGN in a statement, reflecting on its past mistakes and a look into the future on its steps to tackle this issue.
“We’re committed to learning from our mistakes and doing much better in the future,” said Avalanche. “To this end, we are implementing concrete steps to review and improve our processes. This includes a formal investigation that is being led by an external partner to gain clarity on the dynamic of events and identify the flaws in our processes…”
“…We’re also ensuring that our values and code of conduct are reflected in our everyday interactions, and engaging in meaningful dialogue with our employees” continued Avalanche. “This is to ensure that we are creating the truly inclusive, sustainable, and welcoming workplace that all Avalanchers deserve.”
While it is reassuring to see Avalanche take action on the situation, the length it took for the company to finally address employee concerns is still quite problematic. The ripple effect from the allegations sweeping the video game industry this year seems to be far from over.