Multiple employees at Lab Zero, the studio behind the Skullgirls fighting game series, and Indivisible, have all left the team this week. The departures come in response to a history of abuse and inappropriate behaviour from studio head Mike “MikeZ” Zaimont. MikeZ had in June made racially insensitive jokes, which many took as belittling the Black Lives Matter movement. He would later apologise for his remarks, saying he only wanted to bring attention to the movement. Since then, a number of people have accused him of having made inappropriate sexual comments, including two people in the fight game community. At the time, Lab Zero said it would issue a statement in response, but never actually did.
According to a number of statements, an internal investigation followed, exposing even bigger problems. The exodus started over the weekend, when former developer Brian “EU03” Jun posted a statement to Twitter where he explained that MikeZ “creates an unsafe work environment for everyone.” Their departure was followed by three others, all of whom recounted numerous incidents involving MikeZ. Senior animator Jonathan “Persona” Kim posted a statement on Twitter, and was followed by art director Mariel “Kinuko” Cartwright and Frani.
