Trine Games, responsible for Street Cricket, has reportedly laid off 20 staff members and closed its Mumbai studio in early June. Of course, Gupta has denied on Twitter that the studio has closed.
However, an anonymous blog post pointed out what’s been happening, in between slamming the company for its practices. Apparently, CEO Sangam Gupta stated that the studio would be shut for 10 days in order to shift to new location (according to a source that spoke with MCV India). But lo and behold, 20 employees had been given notice that they were laid off and that too without pay.
Trine currently owes employees between Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 14 lakhs ($3200 to $22800), and some employees have apparently not been paid for as long as seven months. As to the 14 employees still working there have been told that the studio will reopen on July 2nd. When the date passed, Gupta began to postpone the re-opening. As of now, the remaining staff has neither worked nor been paid.
If that weren’t enough, other priceless gems offered include “Why ask for salary, I thought you were working for passion” being told to the employees. Did we mention long working hours? Trine Games currently hasn’t commented on the matter.