Nintendo and contracting company Ashton Carter are facing more accusations of bad behavior that now includes sexual harassment and misconduct as well as sexist behaviour in general.
Kotaku now has a story up here. that is worth a read and Nintendo Everything compiled many important points.
– One female contract game tester quit Nintendo of America after nearly a decade
– Several employees had created a group chat on Nintendo’s Microsoft Teams server called “The Laughing Zone”, and a male translator posted inappropriate screenshots related to Pokemon and Genshin Impact
– The tester reported the incident, but was warned to be less outspoken and that the only repercussion the translator faced was being assigned sexual harassment training
– One contractor was previously fired for making comments about the color of the tester’s underwear, but the translator who made the sexual comments in group chat was a full-time Nintendo employee, so the third-party contracting company couldn’t terminate his employment
– Women were both underrepresented among contractors, but also not often hired into full time roles
– Five sources who worked at Nintendo estimated that the percentage of women contractors in testing hovered at around 10 percent (based on the head-counts on their own teams)
– In some projects that sources worked on with several dozen team members, women on the team would number in the single digits
– After nine years working with Nintendo, the tester found out a more junior male contractor in her department was making $19 an hour while she was making $16
– After fighting for a pay increase for several weeks, she finally landed at $18
– Contracting company Aerotek (now Aston Carter) has had multiple labor lawsuits filed against it across the years
– Past and present female employees say there were many others who felt that the Redmond, Washington office had a problem with treating women with respect
– Ten sources told Kotaku that sexist behavior was commonplace, and very little action was taken to address it
– One tester that worked on Zelda: Breath of the Wild said you’d have better chances being converted to full time as a male
– Contractors are given no explicit goals or benchmarks to hit that might assure a full-time conversion or even a contract renewal
– Another contractor says there was a lot of favoritism and cronyism
– There were not enough women in the testing department to advocate for other women when Nintendo had new full-time openings
– Female contractors say they experienced harassment from full-time Nintendo workers and fellow Aerotek contractors
– The power difference between full-time employees and contractors exacerbated inappropriate behavior
– Melvin Forrest, who has been working in the product testing department since the early nineties and eventually became the head of the department, makes the schedules for Aerotek associates, deciding who returns after a project ends, so maintaining a good work relationship with him was crucial
– The sources say Forrest made inappropriate advances toward female testers
– Forrest worked at Nintendo until at least 2017, though the company did not comment on whether or not he was still employed there
– Eric Bush, another prolific employee who made inappropriate comments at a Seattle gala for which Nintendo was a sponsor, is still employed at Nintendo as a product testing assistant manager
– One former tester says product testing was sometimes like a frat house
– Queer women experienced even more unwelcome behavior and unequal treatment
– It was common for full-time Nintendo employees to date precariously employed contractors
– A tester working for Lotcheck sent a letter on behalf of a dozen testers to Nintendo leadership that asked them to improve the testers’ working conditions and stated that the department was an “unsafe and uncomfortable environment for female testers”
– Aston Carter had apparently acknowledged the letter, but did not act due to the anonymity of the employees
– One former contractor claimed a more senior tester stalked her between July 2011 and February 2012, but because the man was “friends with the right people,” she didn’t feel she could flag the stalking to her contracting company
– Improvements made within NOA are not guaranteed to trickle down to contract employees at Carter
– One current employee said that HR in the building where most of Nintendo’s full-time staff work is actively trying to “spearhead diversity and inclusion” within NOA
– However, “each of the different buildings associated with Nintendo[’s Redmond campus] all are [a] little microcosm…there aren’t as many chances to meet people from other parts of the company”
For more specifics
In fact, it was common for full-time Nintendo employees to date precariously employed contractors. “A lot of the NOA red badges had reputations for using the tester pool of associates as a dating pool,” Allison told Kotaku. If you were approached by a red badge, and they appeared to be making moves on you, [other women said that] you didn’t want to dissuade them too hard.” The upsides of being romantically involved with NOA employees were opportunities and access. The most iconic one was the company Christmas party, which is off-limits to contractors unless they’re accompanied by a “red badge.” To associates who tried to improve their standing, it was worth dealing with the power imbalance if it meant being a part of the prestigious Nintendo brand.
This follows after reports about Activision that prompted investigations and lawsuits by the state of California over similar behaviour, as well as a lawsuit from its shareholders. Interestingly, Nintendo had made a statement at the time in the form of an internal memo from NOA president Doug Bowser about the situation.
That memo included
“Along with all of you, I’ve been following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual harassment and toxicity at the company. I find these accounts distressing and disturbing. They run counter to my values as well as Nintendo’s beliefs, values and policies.”
“Every company in the industry must create an environment where everyone is respected and treated as equals, and where all understand the consequences of not doing so.”
It seems Nintendo was not being true to its own values at times either then.