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Content Warning: The story contains details of physical and psychological abuse, including the death of a child.
New report from People Make Games Disturbing allegations of workplace abuse have surfaced at Brandoville Studios, the Indonesian animation support studio that has worked on games such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Age of Empires 4 and The Last of Us: Part I Remake.
Allegations of abuse at Brandoville Games were first reported in 2021 by People Make Games. part of a larger story Western AAA studios effectively outsource major game crises to foreign developers, effectively sweeping it under the rug. However, People Make Games called for a review of its reporting on Brandoville after allegations of constant abuse and physical, verbal and mental abuse went viral on Indonesian social media.
TheGamer reported about allegations made in September of last year, naming CEO Ken Lai’s wife, Cherry Lai, as the promoter of the studio’s worst issues. Numerous screenshots and videos verified by TheGamer, as well as shared publicly on social media, told a story of Lai’s abusive behavior, which included sending threatening and abusive messages to staff, verbally berating and insulting them, and in at least one case , repeated physical assault. ordering physical harm to the employee and themselves as “punishment” for poor performance. That worker, Christa Sydney, has publicly shared much of her story, including that Lai once hit her head so hard it caused tinnitus, and on other occasions she choked, pushing her down stairs and forcing her to hit her head on a wall. until he had a stroke.
Follow-up research by People Make Games goes further to verify and detail these claims, including sharing a video of Sydney allegedly slapping Lai 100 times and forcing her to submit. In addition to Sydney, the People Make Games report details other matters, including allegations that Lai pitted workers against each other by verbally belittling or gossiping about office workers, forced workers to attend daily Christian worship and insisted that he would. regarding the approval of the employees’ clothing before work each day. A former employee in the video claims that Lai manipulated him into giving him a significant portion of his salary.
Another former worker, Syifana Afiati, says she overworked while pregnant until she was asked to work while in hospital. Afiati’s child was born prematurely, and she was asked to return to work less than a month after giving birth, despite her three-month maternity leave and her son being treated in intensive care. His son died four months later. Three days after his death, Lai sent a message to the company’s HR, strategizing to avoid helping Afiati and withdrawing benefits while he was on leave.
Ken Lai did not comment when asked by People Make Games, but Cherry Lai gave a statement to People Make Games: “For me, my part of the story is not important, if my team is good and safe now,” but said the ghost. exit without further comment.
Brandoville Studios closed last year. While Ken and Cherry Lai have been trying to start a new company with some former Brandoville employees, LaiLai Studios, it’s unclear if the company is in the works or anything. From September, Jakarta police were looking for Cherry Lai as part of an investigation into Brandoville. Lai suggested in an email to People Make Games that he may have fled to Hong Kong, but this has yet to be confirmed.
IGN has reached out to Naughty Dog, Xbox, and Ubisoft for comment on their partnership with Brandoville for this story, and will update if they hear back.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at IGN. You can find her post on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
