Recently a report published particularly by Kotaku’s news editor and Jason Schreier has unveiled some information about the dark and exploitative working situations for developers and staff at the indie development studio Nicalis Inc.
The report showcases at the history of the company and we’ll… its many previous rumors o them f absurd behavior from the company founder Tyrone Rodriguez. It comprised evidence and testimonials given by four anonymous ex-employees, all of whom either left in pure frustration out the exploitation or were “let go” by the company.
The ex-employees talked about how Rodriguez would often use racial slurs, inappropriate jokes, and anti-Semitic comments in and around the workplace something g that us unexpected and certainly not appropriate for a company owner.
The company is quite well known for helping develop some of the biggest games in the Indie Gaming arena, including Edmund McMillen’s The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV and Studio Pixel’s Cave Story.
Many of the top favs for every gamer, but the developer and owner Rodriguez has a long past of ghosting calls and messages from publishers about work opportunities and info regarding games and deadline. Game designer David Crooks of entering the Gungeon fame and Developer Digital explAined in the report of having particular frustration with their “professionalism” ( Well, the irony!)
Some Skype logs also appeared up in the report, where Rodriguez described his employees of other stakeholders “kind of retards” and even described Nintendo as “gay.”
Other testimonials pointed out his shaming of employees for their weight, making highly inappropriate racial slurs while the staff was watching Star Trek, and excessively burdening just the team to take disgusting drink concoctions for his amusement.
He also made no efforts in particular for staff fundamental human rights such as refusing to let them take a dinner break during periods of crunch development. The developer, of course, does not have an HR department and thus was allowed to get away with all the nuisance he was creating for the employees.
Nicalis and Victor Rodriguez have yet to make a statement on the accusations made against them. The report also confirms that Edmund McMillen, who was due to collaborate with Nicalis on two future games, has removed all ties with the company.
