Rocksteady Dev Accuses Company of Failing to Address Sexual Harassment

So it looks like another company has unwittingly joined the ranks of Ubisoft and Bethesda in our latest round of “discovering companies have been fostering and/or employing sexual abusers”. Now, it’s Rocksteady, the Batman developer who only recently reentered the limelight thanks to the reveal of their newest Suicide Squad game, who The Guardian reports failed to address a company rife with sexual harassment in spite of a letter signed by approximately half of its entire female staff.

Here’s the long and the short of it: in 2018, more than half of the female employees in the London-based studio signed a letter to the bosses of the studio saying that they were being routinely sexually abused at the workplace. They described a workplace where co-workers “discussed women in derogatory or sexual manner”, suffered “unwanted advnaces”, “leering at parts of a woman’s body”, and routine inappropriate comments.

Apparently, Rocksteady did react to this letter, but not in any substantial way – it was claimed they held an hour-long sexual harassment seminar, and forced people to sign a paper confirming they attended, and that was it. And now, two years later, one of the letters signatories (who asked to remain anonymous) submitted the letter to

The Guardian on the grounds that they believe not enough has been done.
 

“I have heard everything from groping claims to incidents involving [senior staff], all of whom are men. Yet the only thing we had as a result was a company-wide seminar that lasted an hour. Everyone who attended was asked to sign a statement confirming that they’d received the training. It felt that it was a just way for them to cover their arses.”

Rocksteady, in turn, followed with this comment:
 

“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.”

Now, to be fair and balanced, only one signer has come forward with this letter – as near as I can tell, this was not a unanimous decision among all the signers. Secondly, after the letter was revealed to the Guardian, Rocksteady reportedly held an all-hands meeting where they agreed to do more. Whether this comes from a place of sincere concern or if it’s simply trying to cover their asses, who can say?

But we can safely assume that if Rocksteady does have a toxic workplace, we’ll probably hear more about it in the coming days and weeks.