Epic Games accused of being anti-LGBTQ+
Last Updated on: 5th March 2022, 12:32 am
In recent months we have seen many development studios and publishers come under fire for toxic workplace practices, including the likes of Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Bungie.
Epic Games, the studio behind the Unreal Engine and games such as Fortnite, has been accused of anti-LGBTQ+ practices by an ex-employee.
@MagusFirebeard on Twitter has recently shared a series of Tweets detailing some anti-LGBTQ+ practices at Epic Games, while also highlighting that the company isn’t a safe space for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
According to their profile, they recently worked as a contractor at Epic Games working on Fortnite, previously they’ve also worked on games such as EA’s Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and FIFA 21.
Epic Games is being accused of firing the employee for speaking out regarding the company’s internal diversity practices for pronouns saying,
“Epic Games fired me for speaking out about their internal diversity practices for pronouns. They said it was about performance. This is easily proven wrong, as I have documentation from 3 days prior describing my performance as “exceptional”.”
“I spoke out, in “public” via internal channels about their practice being crappy. I suggested we (queer folks) contact @glaad and see if they could weigh in, since Epic pretends to have a “partnership” with them. I also suggested we could collectively take action.”
“All the internal communication I used to express my displeasure was via the Epic “Mega-Gays” ERG. Which *is not a safe space*.”
When asked for more information in the replies, @MagusFirebeard elaborated further saying “they (Epic Games) make it needlessly complicated to display pronouns in official work communication spaces and don’t want to make it easy because it might make some people feel pressure to show their pronouns.”
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While playing devil’s advocate they also mention that an argument could be made that people who don’t want to come out could feel pressured into doing so by showing their pronouns, but also remarking that it is entirely optional to display them.
Displaying pronouns has become increasingly common on programs and websites such as Slack, to allow for other users to use the correct terms when referring to someone in the chat, but it has never been a forced feature and doesn’t appear to be on the internal communication programs that Epic Games uses.
It is hard to tell whether this is an isolated incident with one member of management, but we hope that if it isn’t then other ex or current, employees will also find the courage to speak out.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Epic Games has come under fire for being anti-LGBTQ+ after a Fortnite creator was found to be expressing extremely homophobic views which resulted in them losing access to their Support A Creator code in Fortnite and their promoted Creative maps removed. However, these were both reinstated a short time later with no statement by Epic Games.
The company did heavily promote their Rainbow Royale event, with the aim of “celebrating the amazing Fortnite LGBTQIA+ community”, however, this is now being called into question as to whether this was genuine or just a publicity stunt.
Other companies have been outed in recent months for their anti-LGBTQ+ practices as well as their toxic work culture, with Activision Blizzard coming under fire for their toxic work culture which included male employees stealing breast milk, and one employee committing suicide due to sexual harassment.
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The Click has reached out to Epic Games for comment but has yet to receive a reply. If we do, or Epic Games releases a public statement, then we will update this story as more news develops.
