The studio behind the battle royale game ‘Darwin Project’ (PC, PS4, Xbox One) is in serious turmoil. An insider report has led to the suspension of the creative director and the CEO taking a leave of absence while an internal investigation is underway. It concerns a culture of sexism and sexual harassment.
What a scandal! On January 25, a lengthy insider report about ‘Scavengers Studio’ appeared on GamesIndustry.biz. They are known for the now-failed battle royale game ‘Darwin Project’. It was inspired by ‘Hunger Games’. The studio is currently working on ‘Season’, an adventure game.
GamesIndustry states they spoke with 9 employees and former employees of the studio in Montreal.
The main problem apparently lies with 2 individuals, the founders of the studio:
- the creative head Simon Darveau
- indirectly the head of the studio, Amélie Lemarche
Both are said to have been in a romantic relationship during the time when difficulties arose.
One employee is quoted as saying:
They told us: You can talk to us. But everyone knew, you cannot say anything against the founders; otherwise, you’re in trouble.
An anonymous source
Darveau reportedly had a group of favorites, especially programmers: he did not let anything happen to them. He regarded them as indispensable. However, they were toxic and nasty to others, especially to the QA testers and community management.
There are no processes to create a good game
Furthermore, it is said that while Darveau is good at creating a concept for games, exciting the team and publishers to bring in money, the execution of the game is lacking:
In every game, it follows the same pattern: He builds a vision of the game, sells it to the team in a way that they are excited, then sells it to the publisher. But there is no design, no concrete plan, and in the end, no game.
People are working on a game and doing their best, but the entire company is built around the idea: We create prototypes, sell them to publishers, and repeat that. There is no goal to create a qualitatively good game; there are no processes.
An anonymous source
Studio reacts with harsh measures
This is how the studio reacts: In a statement, it now says:
- the creative head Simon Darveau is suspended indefinitely
- an independent company will be commissioned to investigate the working atmosphere – the report will then be transparently shared with all employees
- also Amélie Lamarche, the head of the studio, is taking a leave of absence until the incident is clarified
This is behind it: The incident strongly resembles the events at Ubisoft from July 2020. There were very similar reports there. It is also said that the chief creative created a sexist environment. Darveau worked as a designer at Ubisoft.
The discussion about a sexist climate in video game studios had already peaked in 2018 when an insider report described the studio ‘Riot Games’ (League of Legends) as a kind of boys’ club where women were mistreated and held back. This caused a significant stir at the time.
LoL: Riot pays $10 million to 1,000 women who have worked there
The allegation is that Darveau mistreated women. He allegedly did not take them seriously and doubted their competence. There were also incidents of sexual harassment.
Those who speak against the founders are in trouble
Anyone wanting to complain about this would normally have to go to HR. But the small studio had no one for the job back then, so people would have to complain directly to the head about the sexist treatment. However, she was with Darveau, so they couldn’t approach her.
It is said that Lamarche radiated the vibe: ‘I support women in gaming’ – but in reality, that was not the case. She did not intervene when Darveau made inappropriate jokes or yelled at people. And this is said to have happened frequently. There are reports of a ‘culture of yelling’ in meetings, and that people were so torn apart that it could be heard in the hallway.
There’s a rumor that Darveau had an affair with a female employee. The head found out and the employee then stopped coming to work. However, no one could really confirm the story.
Particularly at company parties, the creative head apparently often got out of hand. A lot of alcohol was involved.
One employee is quoted as saying:
They told us: You can talk to us. But everyone knew, you cannot say anything against the founders; otherwise, you’re in trouble.
An anonymous source
Darveau reportedly had a group of favorites, especially programmers: he did not let anything happen to them. He regarded them as indispensable. However, they were toxic and nasty to others, especially to the QA testers and community management.
There are no processes to create a good game
Furthermore, it is said that while Darveau is good at creating a concept for games, exciting the team and publishers to bring in money, the execution of the game is lacking:
In every game, it follows the same pattern: He builds a vision of the game, sells it to the team in a way that they are excited, then sells it to the publisher. But there is no design, no concrete plan, and in the end, no game.
People are working on a game and doing their best, but the entire company is built around the idea: We create prototypes, sell them to publishers, and repeat that. There is no goal to create a qualitatively good game; there are no processes.
An anonymous source
Studio reacts with harsh measures
This is how the studio reacts: In a statement, it now says:
- the creative head Simon Darveau is suspended indefinitely
- an independent company will be commissioned to investigate the working atmosphere – the report will then be transparently shared with all employees
- also Amélie Lamarche, the head of the studio, is taking a leave of absence until the incident is clarified
This is behind it: The incident strongly resembles the events at Ubisoft from July 2020. There were very similar reports there. It is also said that the chief creative created a sexist environment. Darveau worked as a designer at Ubisoft.
The discussion about a sexist climate in video game studios had already peaked in 2018 when an insider report described the studio ‘Riot Games’ (League of Legends) as a kind of boys’ club where women were mistreated and held back. This caused a significant stir at the time.
LoL: Riot pays $10 million to 1,000 women who have worked there
