Scriptwriter and developer Kim MacAskill has detailed the sexual harassment she and others have suffered at Rocksteady Studios, the developer behind the Arkham series of Batman games but has now been accused of not treating the discrimination of female staff appropriately.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League destroy heroes such as Superman and Batman.
Former writer at Rocksteady Studios Kim MacAskill has called out her previous employer in an explosive YouTube video. The scriptwriter spoke out following further allegations that management at the developer allowed women to be sexually harassed. In the 13-minute video, she explains how she experienced discrimination and abuse at the company. However, she found the process for dealing with such incidents difficult and offputting, forcing women to work with those they were accusing or seeing allegations completely ignored.
MacAskill confirmed that she was let go by the studio because of her campaign to improve working conditions, saying: "As a result of it, yeah, I lost my job." The writer has now asked to have her name removed from the credits of the Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and no longer wants to be associated with Rocksteady. She also gave an of how HR tried to stop her from helping others.
"In that time, HR tried to stop me at least twice and I had of higher management take me aside to not only tell me to stop what I was doing, but to tell me that continuing to do so would potentially jeopardize my position within the company. And not just that, but it would maybe even jeopardize my position of being hired by other companies going forward because I might be seen as a troublemaker."
The last few months have seen widespread allegations about working conditions at several big-name developers and publishers. High-profile executives such as Ashraf Ismail have been fired from Ubisoft for inappropriate behavior with females within the gaming industry. Meanwhile, other companies have also dealt with controversies around sexual abuse, harassment, and racism.
It is good to see that more and more women feel confident enough to speak out about the abuse and harassment they have suffered at some of gaming's biggest developers and publishers. Unfortunately, it also shows just how much work there is to do in the industry, with female workers constantly discriminated against or abused by male counterparts. But as more women come forward, the situation will hopefully improve as companies are forced to get rid of the worst offenders. Especially if it affects the reputation of games such as Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.
Source: Kim MacAskill
