According to a new report by People Make Games, Funomena co-founder Robin Hunicke is accused of creating a toxic work environment and engaging in excessive crunch.
Eight former employees accused Hunichke for what they described as “emotional abuse” siting that she would often discuss sensitive personal information about employees to others. One anonymous source told the outlet:
“She’d make comments about people’s previous messy break-ups, people’s current conflicts they’re having with significant others, her opinions about people’s dating lives, whether she knew they were in therapy or not in therapy.”
One current employee said the following regarding Hunicke’s behavior:
“She rants about discrimination, and then boasts about hiring marginalized employees in front of the entire company (and the employees in question). She expresses frustration about sexism in the industry, but consistently fails to promote or protect female employees. She tells everyone to take time to look after themselves, while organizing projects with not enough staff, nowhere near enough time, and unfeasible scope.”
Several employees even noted that crunch was often a normal occurrence. This is a term within the video game world where developers are often required to work long hours with little to no overtime pay in order to meet deadlines for a game’s launch.
Funomena did not respond to requests for comment.
