In the early days of video games, the industry was seen as a boys club, the image of those who played games and those who made them was that of a bespectacled nerdy guy. This notion that video games are a male-oriented industry has created cultures of sexism, and has led to a number of studios being called out for bad behavior. Riot Games and its male employees have been accused of assault, sexism, and a toxic work culture by female employees, and a new lawsuit alleges that this behavior goes right to the top, with CEO Nicolo Laurent in the crosshairs.

Much has changed with regard to demographics of the video game industry, and more women want to be a part of the industry, yet it seems that some of the boys don't want to let girls in, or if they do, they treat them unfairly, like Rockstar paying female developers less than their male equivalents. This kind of story is all too common, and shows that the video game industry has a lot of work it still needs to do to address toxic and discriminatory work culture.

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The lawsuit filed by a former employee of Riot Games against CEO Nicolo Laurent alleges a pattern of inappropriate comments and sexual advances, eventually leading to her termination in July of 2020. The woman at the center of this, Sharon O'Donnell, was Larent's executive assistant from 2017 until 2020. After refusing Mr. Laurent's unwanted sexual advances, O'Donnell went to Riot Games HR, with the department accused in the lawsuit of doing nothing to stop the harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace. If all of this sounds eerily familiar, it should, because Riot Games has been accused of gender discrimination in the past, for which the company is currently settling.

O'Donnell's claims echo that of a number of women and people of color who are discriminated against or harassed while working in the games industry. Riot Games is not some outlier here, several other companies have been hit with lawsuits for discrimination, or have had employees describe brutal working conditions during periods of crunch. Rocksteady Studios faces allegations of sexist remarks and harassment, while developers at CD Projekt Red felt forced into working 16-hour days to finish Cyberpunk 2077.

While the company refutes the allegations made by Ms. O'Donnell at this time, Riot Games poor history with regard to female employees, and persistent rumors about a toxic work culture certainly adds plausibility to Ms. O'Donnell's claims.

MORE: One in Four Ubisoft Employees Witnessed Harassment, According to Internal Survey

Source: VICE