With the Suicide Squad game reveal on the horizon, a bunch of allegations against beloved developer Rocksteady have hit the internet. A number of women who have worked at the Batman: Arkham developer have come forward saying that men at the studio have sexually harassed them.
This ranges from groping, men saying they’ve slept with colleagues, harassment outside of work, and more. Former senior writer Kim McAskill made a YouTube video addressing this saying that HR did nothing about it, even after finding out almost every single woman at the studio had experienced something like this.
McAskill noted that she drafted a letter in 2018. According to McAskill, Rocksteady repeatedly attempted to prevent this letter from seeing the light of day by threatening her career, she notes that she did indeed lose her job over this. She also asks that Rocksteady not list her in the credits of the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game. This letter was first revealed to the public by The Guardian.
The only thing that McAskill and The Guardian say has been done is a company-wide seminar talking about sexism and harassment in the workplace. All employees had to confirm they attended the seminar but that’s the extent of it.
Rocksteady has since responded by saying that the company has been and will continue to address these issues. They claim that The Guardian did not contact any of the women involved in the 2018 letter, implying that their views on the situation may have changed.
“In 2018 we received a letter from some of our female employees expressing concerns they had at that time, and we immediately took firm measures to address the matters that were raised. Over the subsequent two years we have carefully listened to and learned from our employees, working to ensure every person on the team feels supported. In 2020 we are more passionate than ever to continue to develop our inclusive culture, and we are determined to stand up for all of our staff.”
This new statement says that 8 out of the 10 women who signed the original letter are still at Rocksteady and 7 of them crafted this new statement to set the record straight. McAskill counters this by saying she has spoken to other employees who say the situation has not gotten better.
Rocksteady is slated to reveal Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League this weekend at DC Fandome. Whether or note they’ll address this at that time remains to be seen. We’ll keep you posted if this story develops.
