Firesprite was one of several studios to be impacted by PlayStation’s recent mass layoffs, which will result in around 900 job cuts across the entire company. Alongside redundancies, reports have claimed that the studio also saw its rumoured live service Twisted Metal game get cancelled. In the wake of all that, new report has been published by Eurogamer that sheds light on alleged workplace problems within the studio.
As per the report, since its acquisition by PlayStation, Firesprite has been bleeding talent at a startling rate, with all but one of the studio’s founders having left the company over the last year. The report claims that Sony brought in new leadership for Firesprite from its fellow British studio XDev, which sources have anonymously described as “classic nepotism”, as per the report.
The report goes on to state that employees have described Firesprite’s new leadership as “bullies” and “tyrants” who treat people “like it’s a factory”. Others have said the new studio heads are “way out of their depth” and “just care about their money”, and that Sony’s attempts to restructure the studio have “ruffled many feathers” and significantly changed the studio’s culture from what it used to be like prior to its acquisition.
Further issues have reportedly exacerbated Firesprite’s problems, including accusations of sexual discrimination and ageism, a “culture of fear” leading to crunch during the development of PS VR2 launch title Horizon Call of the Mountain (on top of internal pressure from series stewards Guerrilla), the unfortunate passing of an HR leader that left to the studio’s HR team unable to deal with its growing team, projects being consolidated, employees being moved to new projects they had no interest in, and more.
One employee has claimed that Sony “played political games and installed their mates in charge”, while another said, “Sony has committed the worst possible mistake in buying a studio and meddling to the point where it may end up in a death spiral and unable to complete any of the projects it is working on.”
Speaking about Horizon Call of the Mountain’s development, another source said, “There was a lot of pressure on the team, not only to deliver a game, but switch platforms and systems, onboard new people. The scope wasn’t going to change, the quality wasn’t going to change, and the end date wasn’t going to change.”
The report claims that an internal investigation was held by Sony and Firesprite to look into 13 complaints that were made against leadership by employees, including with incidents related to allegations of sexual discrimination and ageism. As per anonymous employees cited in the report, Sony labeled these incidents as a “misunderstanding”, though Eurogamer states it has learned that some employees received payouts from Sony after exploring legal options.