Rocksteady has issued a new statement following sexual harassment accusations.
The UK developer of the Batman Arkham games and the upcoming Suicide Squad game took to Twitter to say it had brought in an independent third-party to confidentially speak with all employees at the studio who wish to do so, and it would be getting in touch with female employees who had left the company in the last two years to ask them to speak to the interviewers.
Here is our statement: pic.twitter.com/ssyzNWfyhB
— Rocksteady Studios (@RocksteadyGames) August 21, 2020
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On 18th August 2020, The Guardian published a story about a November 2018 letter sent to Rocksteady’s bosses that highlighted various instances of inappropriate behaviour that went largely ignored, after having heard from one of those who signed.
According to the report, 10 women out of the company’s then 16 female staff reportedly put their name to the letter. (Rocksteady currently lists having 239 employees total.)
The letter included complaints “in the form of unwanted advances, leering at parts of a woman’s body, and inappropriate comments in the office”, “discussing a woman in a derogatory or sexual manner with other colleagues” and “slurs regarding the transgendered community”.
Speaking anonymously to The Guardian, the woman said she had come forward to speak about the letter now due to a lack of action from Rocksteady in response.
Following the publication of the article, Kim MacAskill, a senior writer on the Suicide Game who left Rocksteady in 2019, came forward in a YouTube video to expand on the issues discussed in The Guardian article, and to also criticise the studio for failing to properly act on complaints.