Sega has introduced that it has efficiently sued an unnamed particular person accountable for (the next is machine translated) “extreme slanderous and insulting feedback on social media in opposition to one in all our staff.”
In a Japanese press launch shared yesterday the corporate stated that, although it welcomes followers’ “encouragement” and “typically even harsh feedback about our services and products,” the harassment from the person in query crossed a line. It had additionally been sustained for “a very long time,” stopping the focused worker from getting on with their work “with peace of thoughts.”
“As there was no enchancment,” continued Sega, “now we have been compelled to take authorized motion.” The corporate managed to acquire the harasser’s id with the consent of the courts and promptly initiated authorized proceedings, a lot to the detriment of the harasser in query.
“We have now reached a settlement by which the topic pays damages to our worker, delete the slanderous and insulting feedback, and chorus from such actions in future,” says Sega. What’s extra, the company threw down the gauntlet in opposition to anybody else who may take into consideration focusing on its staff in an analogous means in future, saying they contemplate slander, intimidation, and harassment “to be severe human rights points that harm the dignity of staff and result in a deterioration of the work atmosphere.
“So as to respect all staff and defend their human rights, we’ll proceed to take applicable motion primarily based on our Buyer Harassment Coverage after we choose any behaviour to be malicious.” In different phrases: Anybody who tries to drag the identical stunt will discover themselves answering to Sega’s legal professionals in courtroom, too.
PCG reached out to Sega for touch upon this story, however it declined to supply one and pointed us again to the press launch.
Harassment of devs is a gargantuan however comparatively little-discussed drawback throughout your entire video games trade, with a disturbing 91% of respondents to final yr’s Sport Developer Convention survey answering that abuse from gamers is an ongoing challenge.
Though there have been different huge wins by studios in opposition to harassers like this one, it is type of a drop within the ocean. Bungie managed to win $500,000 from a “racist shitstain” who harassed and threatened a Future 2 group supervisor final yr, however it had no perceptible impact on Future builders being harassed. Although it is by no means a foul factor when individuals who use the veil of anonymity to behave like monsters get their simply desserts, I believe the identical will, sadly, be true for Sega.
