Life is Strange devs Deck Nine accused of crunch, sexism and abusive behaviour amid allegedly toxic culture

05.04.2024 - 19:09 / rockpapershotgun.com / Square Enix / Rebekah Valentine / Deck

Deck Nine, currently responsible for heading up the Life is Strange series having handled spin-off True Colours and remasters of the first two games, have been accused of fostering a toxic workplace home to sexism, mismanagement, crunch and abusive treatment of staff left to linger by the studio’s higher-ups.

The startling allegations were made by more than a dozen current and former employees to IGN - Rebekah Valentine’s detailed report is worth reading in full. Among the many troubling accusations are claims that staff worked for up to 80 hours a week for an entire month while crunching on True Colors, with pressure from publishers Square Enix - accused of being “bullies” - to hit “impossible” production timelines being left unchallenged by Deck Nine management. (Square Enix apparently declined to respond to the accusations beyond highlighting Deck Nine’s own response.)

Elsewhere, reported toxic behaviour left unaddressed by management for months ranged from various accounts of sexism, transphobia and sexual harassment to specific claims that a senior programmer screamed at junior staff, only to be reportedly saved by leadership - resulting in his desk simply being moved further away from other workers. The anonymous programmer was eventually let go after allegedly screaming at a member of HR.

Particular issues were claimed to occur among the narrative team, with narrative director and later studio chief creative officer Zak Garriss singled out for particular criticism. Garriss’ alleged behaviour reportedly included attempts to form inappropriate relationships with female members of staff - using his senior position to ‘cross personal boundaries’ - describing Black Lives Matter as a “hate group” and asking writers to express their political leanings during a meeting, and introducing various problematic elements to True Colors’ script, including an insensitive depiction of migrant workers - removed from the final game - and one scene with traumatic implications of date rape that Garriss reportedly had to fought with for three hours before relenting, albeit with a sexist remark about the friction being related to the game’s female protagonist.

Despite multiple reports made to HR and anonymous feedback provided via the studio’s performance evaluation system, no action was taken against Garriss before he voluntarily left the studio. However, when Garriss was proposed as a contracted consultant on a new game, it reportedly took multiple writers threatening to quit and the studio’s HR department allegedly flagging legal implications of rehiring someone with multiple complaints against them before management passed on his involvement.

Garriss denied and downplayed many of the allegations in a lengthy