Allegations of 'toxic culture' at acclaimed indie studio Fullbright

Allegations of 'toxic culture' at acclaimed indie studio Fullbright

Steve Gaynor, co-founder of Fullbright, is no longer creative lead or manager on its current project, Open Roads, though he remains involved as a writer. A report published by Polygon claims that Gaynor was a "controlling" and "demeaning presence" who saw himself as embodying the studio, and who ultimately drove away multiple employees—especially women. pg

Fullbright is the indie studio behind Tacoma and Gone Home, which won the Best Debut category at the GDC Awards and the BAFTAs. Originally a small team, Fulbright has grown since teaming up with publisher Annapurna Interactive for Open Roads, but has allegedly lost multiple women employees due to Gaynor's micromanagement of them.

As the report is careful to note, none of the ex-employees of Fullbright who came forward are accusing Gaynor of sexual harassment or "explicit sexism", but instead of fostering a toxic culture that drove staff to leave. Of the 15 staff who have quit Fullbright since development on Open Roads began, 12 said they left "at least in part due to Gaynor's behavior toward workers, specifically women on the team."

"This is going to sound like a joke, but I'm completely serious: Working for him often felt like working for a high school mean girl," said one of Polygon's sources. "His go-to weapon was to laugh at people’s opinions and embarrass them in front of other people."