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Several people leave Skullgirls devs Lab Zero, accusing owner of inappropriate behaviourFormer staff speak up
Former staff speak up
Several people have publicly resigned from Lab Zero Games, the studio behindSkullgirlsandIndivisible, saying they could no longer tolerate the the behaviour of its owner. Three posted public statements explaining their departures, accusing Mike Zaimont of inappropriate sexual and hostile behaviour in the workplace. They claim the team had tried to get Zaimont to leave but he wouldn’t, so they decided to leave instead.
“We are aware of the allegations made about Mike Zaimont,” Lab Zero said in responseon Twitteron July 3rd. “We are listening and we’ll make a full statement soon.” They did not.
Last night, Lab Zero Games creative directorMariel Cartwright, animatorJonathan Kim, and artistBrian Junannounced their resignations with public statements on Twitter. Between them, they explain that Lab Zero began an internal investigation after these allegations, which they say is when people who had unpleasant experiences with Zaimont found out they weren’t the only ones. They variously describe controlling, abusive, and sexual behaviours in the workplace.
“It’s not just ‘Well, Mike is kind of a jerk but he’s not a bad guy,’ anymore,” Cartwright said. “It’s ‘Mike is not the person we thought he was.'”
As well as the three who issued statements, former Lab Zero CEOFrancesca Esquenaziand artistNamiannounced their resignations yesterday. AndIndivisiblelead writerBrandon Sheffieldhas said he cut ties with Lab Zero two months ago due to Zaimont’s behaviour.
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Autumn Games, who hold the Skullgirls intellectual property, have issueda joint statementwith Hidden Variable, who make Skullgirls Mobile.
Lab Zero have still not publicly commented on June’s incidents, seven weeks after they said they would, let alone these departures.
