Skullgirls designer worked on guilty material patch despite sexual harassment accusations



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Illustration from article titled iSkullgirls / i Designer worked on iGuilty Gear / i Patch despite accusations of sexual harassment

Screenshot: Arc system works

Lab Zero Games developer Mike Zaimont has been suspended from work on official Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R netcode patch, Gamasutra reports. The fact that the old Skullgirls the designer was working on this patch as recently as Oct. 24 is surprising, given recent accusations from both Fans and colleagues of sexual harassment. Zaimont was apparently hired by Arc System Works shortly after these allegations came to light.

Takeshi Yamanaka, representative of Arc System Works, said Gamasutra that they were aware of the situation with Zaimont and that he had been hired with the understanding that these allegations would be resolved in one form or another. This understanding has since changed.

“Arc System Works has now accepted […] to suspend MikeZ’s participation in development until he has dealt with the outstanding issues, ”said Yamanaka.

The netcode patch, developed in part by a community group known as Team French CaliBurst, was first brought to the attention of Arc System Works by Zaimont earlier this year. After Arc System Works decided to collaborate with the French CaliBurst team, the group requested that Zaimont be hired to work on the Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R update, to which Arc System Works has accepted.

“We are waiting [Zaimont] to resolve the allegations against him in good faith, ”Yamanaka said Gamasutra. “Now that development has reached a milestone, and with your [outreach], we thought it was a good time to [Zaimont] to start working on a resolution. “

A little after initial claims against Zaimont were made public in June, Skullgirls community have largely distanced themselves from him, and he was banned from major fighting game events like Combo Breaker. Lab Zero Games then saw a massive exodus top developers and artists, each citing Zaimont’s behavior inside and outside the studio as the main motivation for leaving. Zaimont finally dismissed the rest of Lab Zero staff due to inability to meet payroll obligations.

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