In today's globalized economic world, outsourcing is the practice of not carrying out certain tasks yourself in your own company, but instead passing them on to subcontractors as cheaply as possible.
This practice is now also common in the gaming industry. Large corporations such as Xbox and Ubisoft commission smaller studios to develop certain areas of an upcoming game and deliver them to the actual development studio. The working conditions there are often hardly checked by the clients.
The British investigative mediumPeople Make Games
has now revealed that psychological and physical violence against employees apparently occurred in such a supplier studio in Indonesia. The studio was, among other things, involved in the development ofandinvolved and helped out with animations and artwork.
What exactly is it about?
Back in 2021, People Make Games reported that the Indonesian studio Brandoville was giving its employees regular crunch, i.eWorking hours far beyond normal, demand. After the studio was closed in 2024, however, significantly more grievances at Brandoville came to light, which the People Make Games team is now dedicating to in a new video, which we have embedded for you below.
There, former employee Christa Sydney reports being abused both mentally and physically by Kwan Cherry Lai, the wife of Brandoville's CEO. Lai is a kind in the companyunofficial overseerbeen.
Sleep deprivation and physical punishments
During a business trip, among other things, she did not allow Christa Sydney to get enough sleep and also forced her to regularly attend Christian services against her will. In addition, the boss's wife checked Sydney's clothes almost every day and exposed her in front of her colleagues.
Christa Sydney worked for Brandoville from 2019 to 2024.
Over time, Lai's abuse allegedly became physical.She forced Sydney to film herself punching herself in the face 100 times as punishment or banging her head against a door frame until she suffered a concussion in order to force an apology from the employees.
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The People Make Games report also features two other former Brandoville employees who lend weight to Christa Sydney's words.
Developer Caesarion Balthazar reports that Lai illegally withheld portions of his salary and claimed he owed the company money for expensive training courses he never took part in.Ultimately, an entire month's salary was stolen from him.
Overtime until the doctor comes
The experiences of Syifana Afiati, who was pregnant during her time as an employee at Brandoville, are even more drastic. She reports from Lairegularly forced to work overtime, and that's why he was hospitalized in the meantime. However, Lai still expected her to come back to work immediately.
Presumably in connection with this health problem, Afiati's son was born two months prematurely and died in the intensive care unit at just four months old. However, Lai didn't let Afiati take any time off and neither did sheno support from the companyoffered.
After Brandoville closed in August 2024, Lai and her husband have already opened a new company called LaiLai Studios. A handful of former Brandoville employees were taken on.
Christa Sydney also initially came to the new company under great psychological pressure. However, after she experienced direct physical violence there again at the hands of Kwan Cherry Lai, she was able to come forwardEscape
get through and notify the responsible authorities.
Kwan Cherry Lai and her husband have not yet wanted to comment in detail on the allegations. In a bizarre statement via WhatsApp, the CEO's wife simply said:For me, my part of the story is not important.
Further questions from colleagues at People Make Games remained unanswered.
However, other employees say that studio manager Ken Lai supported his wife in her abusive behavior and did nothing to protect his employees. However, Christa Sydney suspects that he could also be a victim of his wife.
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Due to the expected high moderation effort, we have decided to switch off the comment function under this article and move the discussion on the topic to the forum instead. The relevant thread.
Publisher Ubisoft, for Brandovillewas involved, has now responded to the allegations against his contractor and toldEurogamerwith:
We are deeply disturbed by the recent reports regarding Brandoville Studios. We strongly condemn any form of abuse and our thoughts are with the employees affected.
We also asked Age of Empires publisher Microsoft for a statement on the allegations. However, the group has not yet responded to reports about the conditions at the supplier Brandoville.
