Earlier this week, we reported Rocksteady’s response to sexual harassment from 10 former and current women who worked for the studio that came up two years ago. Now, Rocksteady issued a new statement on the allegations with plans to combat sexual harassment and other toxic practices within its culture. This time, unlike the previous report, this is longer and written on behalf of the whole company rather than being written by some individuals.
Here is our statement: pic.twitter.com/ssyzNWfyhB
— Rocksteady Studios (@RocksteadyGames) August 21, 2020
In the statement, the studio responds to the latest news by investigating each report of sexual harassment and other toxic workplace incidents. For legal reasons, no information on how much of the staff got the ax or had another form of punishment.
The big step to ensure a safer and more inclusive environment comes from an independent third party of specialists to interview employees. The service will let employees to freely speak with confidentiality about any issues that are taking place within the studio. Every former woman who had worked for the Batman Arkham developer in the past two years will get a call to talk about their previous experience with these interviewers.
The previous statement that we reported on was more of an acknowledgment of the letter sent from the women who wrote to their bosses about the problems within the company’s culture. It went on about how it would “continue to develop our inclusive culture” without any further details on how it would do that.
Rocksteady has a lot on its plate with these plans to address the sexual harassment claims that plagued its culture for years while prepping for DC FanDome. During the event, the studio will show off its long-awaited and rumored Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League project. This will be the first AAA release since 2015’s Batman Arkham Knight, along with a VR game in 2016, Batman: Arkham VR.
