Culture

Yet another gaming company hit by sexual harassment claims as employees speak out

SCUF gaming peripherals

SCUF gaming controllers. (SCUF)

Peripheral company SCUF is the latest company in the gaming company to come under fire for allegations of sexual harassment.

A former employee shared their story on Twitter in a Twitlonger.

In it, they name a number of abusers at the company and the sexual harassment they claim to have experienced.

“I reported every incident as they happened, and I was told by HR and my bosses that I was being sensitive or misunderstanding the situation at hand,” they write.

“I was so excited to have a job for a popular gaming company, but if I could take back those two years of experience, I would. The pay was really good, but I was incredibly suicidal my entire time there.”

In the statement, which ends with the words “it’s not just Activision-Blizzard, it happens everywhere”, Vivi claimed that a male employee threw a controller a them, and that another co-worker “gossiped WITH MY BOSSES about who was going to be able to f**k me first/how they thought I was going to be easy,” amongst many other allegations.

SCUF has responded with a statement on Twitter.

“This is something we take extremely seriously and we are urgently investigating this matter to take further additional actions internally,” it reads.

“Sexual harassment, of any kind, is not tolerate at SCUF and we continuously strive for an inclusive and safe work environment.”

Following this, another individual with experience working at SCUF has spoken to Dexerto about their story.

“I worked at SCUF for several years, and during the time I was there I witnessed and experienced sexism, emotional abuse, sexual harassment, and diversity issues,” they said.

“I personally had an issue with a coworker who I had to work fairly closely with. He would often get way too close to me, try to flirt, and just in general be really weird around me.”

After an escalation to HR, the individual was told “he probably didn’t mean it”.

“There is an insidious sexism that creeps through SCUF’s culture. Sometimes it’s lowkey enough that people brush it off because it isn’t as blatantly obvious,” they said. 

“Sometimes it’s more direct – if you’re a woman and don’t watch your tone carefully ‘you need to stop being a b**ch.’ People know HR isn’t going to do much at all, especially if it’s a higher position employee, so they pretty much just suck it up.”

The individual also noted issues with diversity and racism.

“SCUF’s diversity is a huge issue,” they said. “They have POC working in production who are treated like second class citizens – they can’t even go into work through the front because their keycards only work for the back half of the building (which HR is in the front, mind you). Most of the POC working in the front office and marketing left entirely.”

This news from SCUF comes in the wake of other sexual harassment allegations sweeping the industry.

Activision Blizzard facing a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for its “frat boy” culture.

Ubisoft employees, themselves facing sexual harassment allegations, have written an open letter in solidarity with Activision Blizzard employees.

For more gaming news, follow Gaymeo on Facebook and Twitter. You can also email us with any news or tips on [email protected]

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