Nicalis Investigation Reveals Tales Of Ghosting, Slurs And Mistreatment Of Staff

Konami has same issues with the employees.
No wonder Naoki Maeda & Jun Karashima as DDR sound director moved to Capcom since 2013.

So '90s Super GP ain't happening, huh? I was still waiting for that one.

Oh boy a Kotaku 'investigation', I believe every word

This changes nothing for me, I've been boycotting Nicalis for a while now.

So this company is going down. Once this has been spilled on you, no matter if it's true or not, yoi're done for.

@Kai_ have you read the article? Why would you doubt it? Jason Schreier has proved himself to be on point with the vast majority of his investigative journalism. He also brings to light a lot of the crummy and deplorable practices game designers (the people we love and support, remember...) have to endure. It's hardly sensationalism; he's putting a spotlight on bad behaviours with evidence to back it up. Even if you take the anonymous statements out he's got the Skype messages.

@Galenmereth "Here we go again with the social justice."
The article is about the way Nicalis do business. Did you read it or did you just see the word "investigation" and assume you were being oppressed?

@m8e3point1415 "I like the games they publish"
So support the developers of the games they publish. Why you'd prefer to take the side of the business that's exploiting them I don't know......

company that stole its way to success is bad? who would have thought?

I don't generally trust media sites when they're writing hitpieces nowadays, because there are so many liars in the modern media who get a power trip off trying to ruin people, but the evidence is fairly good to support the general point of this investigation.
Using private chat logs seems a bit dubious though. How on earth can we know those are real?

Eh, the article is written by kotaku. It's debatable whether it can be considered valid. They also have a history of twisting truths to fit their narrative.

@Wavey84 I kind of drifted away from YT when Google started implementing the filter bubble. I'll still go there to search out specific things, but the days of "YT spiral" are long gone...my "related videos" feed is full of nothing but trending garbage and one Steam Powered Giraffe music video.

I always had my doubts after they so blatantly ignored their EU consumer base, guess that wasn't the only problem they had going on. I just hope the actually competent people can find better places to work at.

God this comment section is cancer. Worker mistreatment isn't some SJW myth, it's a real thing and when it gets reported on you all complain. What the hell is wrong with you people?

@Galenmereth the legal system usually requires broader public pressure when the ones in the wrong are a company big or small.

@Peterjr1 lol, I know right? It's been highlighted that workers are getting a rough deal and people are ranting like it's a bad thing... I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks this is completely mental...

@Galenmereth

All nice and good until you get blacklisted from the industry for whistleblowing. Employees former and current are terrified to come forward throughout the video games industry because it is absolutely rife with doing this and lack of protection for them coming forward if they're not anonymous.

Many companies know they're in the wrong and is why they NDA their workers to ensure they keep their mouths shut along with the blacklist threat. Getting the word out via the media is the only chance these workers have on having blatant toxicity having the spotlight on it for the world to see, the industry would rather play the denial card until it burns much like Telltale and the current lootbox gambling finally getting a big hitting report released yesterday here in the UK.

As much as I dislike Kotaku, Jason is doing what should be expected of proper investigative journalism and bringing the garbage out for all to see.

@Riderkicker I don't think it says that – in fact it says it's reconfirmed to still be in development.

It really hurts to see someone I’ve supported use words like “porch monkey” and “jewed” and make jokes about black people being criminals. I get it, they’re meant as jokes, whatever. I’m from a mixed family... my sister is black, most of my family is Jewish... and this stuff hurts.

My advice to the game bakers is to smarten up and realise that you should of sought an alternative immediately that you had a lack of response, just like you would in any other industry.

@Zach comedians do it every single day and it's o.k because they're being 'funny' right? If i were you i just wouldn't care less about it when its in the context of you reading it about somebody else. Now if somebody were saying it to you directly and they're being angry and in your face then that is a whole different matter. You don't know the atmosphere in which these guys work everyone might think that is equaklly o.k to make fun of everyone, like everyone is fair game and then nobody can get upset, i'm like this with most of my friends. We can say terrible things to each other but we all still love each other, nobody is taking it seriously. it could be that they might of had an environment like that but somebody new has come in that isn't cool with it and finds it completely alien. We all have our own views of acceptability but as i said before if it isn't being directed at you with hatred and there is no mistake that they mean it i wouldn't worry about it. far too many other amazing things in the world to spend your time thinking and caring about.

This is why we need a Virtual Console instead of indie games

@BENDsli get yourself a NES or SNES classic and hack it, give yourself an instant virtual console and beyond.

Christ, these comments. Thank you for once again relieving me of my faith in humanity, NL commentariat!

@Galenmereth someone still has faith in the system. Cute.

Great to see Edmund have a no nonsense policy to this stuff.

Can't believe they're holding back patches too. What a lousy company.

I wouldn’t say Kotaku have a perfect track record or anything, but man this comment section stinks. This is not just about the games industry or Nicalis. This concerns anyone who works and gets exploited and abused at their job. Believe it or not, we can do better than this.

This Mr Tako patch not being released is absolute garbage and infuriating.

@Galenmereth I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “lynch mob”. You mean people getting upset about things they read and voicing their opinion? Why is that bad? I thought the whole point of journalism was to inform the public on issues, so that they are able to form coherent opinions and be part of a “community”.

Honestly, if Edmund is cutting ties with them then there is 100% truth to this. Him and Tyrone have worked together for many many years now he wouldn’t put himself through finding a new publisher unless it was serious. Anyone that’s bizarrely supporting the publisher must surely not understand that they’re not the ones that make the games, they’re the ones that exploit the devs. Tyrone’s apologised for the DMs but hasn’t mentioned the ghosting or abuse of smaller devs. This kind of investigative journalism is absolutely necessary in an industry without proper unionisation, I do not understand why anybody could write this off as SJW anything. Anyway, since when was ‘social justice’ a bad thing, weren’t MLK, Gandhi and the like all SJWs?

@nessisonett Agreed. This also gives strength to folks in a similarly exploitative environment to realize that it’s not okay. Not much other recourse when there is no HR.

Man, this honestly sucks

@Wool_Sheep the problems you list don't undo @Galenmereth point, they just illustrate that the industry as a whole has obvious flaws as well. And they need to be addressed, too. And they need to be addressed by all the people who make up this industry, as well as related law entities. Beyond that, I agree that the audience segment, a crowd that often shows poor competence (and often, regardless of the matter at hand, half-baked judgement) in whatever potential influence on such things, the crowd that tends to be heavily permeated by FANS to boot, can be a rather questionable choice to try and drag into the matter. Even as spectators. "Public resonance to help solve a problem" isn't always a valid excuse since said the realm of public opinion itself has been compromised and flawed for years (or even for centuries, but that's a bit offtopic - some of the Information Age trends have made these issues more acute in the recent years anyway).

Granted, I can see where @Damo is coming from, too - this is obviously gaming-related news (which, to NL's credit here, the post largely delivers as SUCH), it covers the events that might bring certain changes to the gaming landscape and the alleged patch problem is something we have some stake in as customers. The risk of even such posts opening a can of worms in our kingdom of thoughts and prayers and boycotts and witch hunts is sadly a whole different matter.

The topic at hand itself sounds like something that will get solved internally by the time we're tired of writing the umpteenth morality soapbox comment and get distracted by life and more gaming news. :V Kotaku or not, if the investigation data is true, Nicalis will obviously have to address the issues and change - or face losing clients, potentially en masse. End of story.

I am kind of envious at times of all the people still pushing these tired narratives of fake news/oppressive SJWs/oppressed gamer. Life just seems so... simple. You don’t need to think about a darn thing if you don’t want to, definitely don’t gotta read no articles. Forget thinking critically at every juncture, you already know what to say and which comments to like! You’re like a pack of penguins protecting each other from the elements.

well they never publish anything physically in europe and digitally months late...so i'm not surprised

Sounds like a crap place to work. I'm a programmer considering dipping my feet into the gaming industry so if I were to create my own game I would more than likely just release it digitally to the eShop. If it becomes successful then I would just wait for the inevitable "Limited Run" offer and let them publish the physical....

Why am I not surprised at the tone of some of these comments?

@commentlife @Galenmereth commentlife didn't tag anyone in his comment despite possibly referring to your previous comments so you replying to it somewhat proves his point as it, for want of a better word, triggered you.

Imagine saying “here we go again with the social justice” unironically

It's worrisome to see whistleblowing of abusive employment practices and bad business has become conflated with some kind of social justice movement. If a company has an internal culture of being irresponsible and unresponsive to the needs of its employees, sometimes the best course of action really is to alert the public to things we wouldn't otherwise see.

Im seeing a lot of...questionable comments here. Not gonna say who, but you know who.

We've known Tyrone was questionable for years.
https://twitter.com/tyronerodriguez/status/440926830447427584?s=09

I'm not sure why we're headlining the "social justice" aspect of this since that appears to be the most minor part of their apparently huge problems. The idea of a Kotaku investigation is laughable. If you look for something hard enough, anywhere, you're going to find it. Inquisitions will always get their pound of flesh, even if they have to create its existence. And there is no company on the planet you could dig into and not find mistreated disgruntled employees, bad actors, "offensive things" etc. Not one single company, because that's going to happen whenever you have a collection of different people in one place.

But this seems more like a business breakdown. A silent publisher is in a state of business failure. And as consumers we've known for quite some time to expect delayed, low budget, half baked products from Nicalis. I recall when Nicalis was publishing Red Out and it was mysteriously missing forever despite the launch window date for Switch and the calls around here were "oh, Nicalis, of course..." It sounds like their whole way of doing business, meaning their core business of publishing, is questionable.

I'm not sure I see where the story is in these reports. Employees who say their boss is difficult to work with and says inappropriate things in private outside of the office? Um welcome to life on Earth. Developers who changed contracts offered by Nicalis and then don't get a response back or parking lot "deals" not being honored? Welcome to doing business.

I'm all for the world of gaming journalism to take strides beyond "xxxx game releasing on xxxx date!" but this isn't the way to do it. How about Kotaku (or other sites) start putting effort into publishing stories about the hard working people at Nicalis who are NOT making racial jokes? Show us what it is like to work at a game publishing company. Put a spotlight on those "passionate" workers mentioned in the piece who play a part in bringing our favorite games to the world. Not this crap that is trying its hardest to imitate those tabloids you find next to the register at your local supermarket.

i will be another who will not buy another Nicalis product.

@itslukec - This is probably the most concerning comment here. As it implies whatever response is doled out is justified simple.

Have we not learned that's not how it works by now?

@Galenmereth has a point here - Court of Public Opinion doesn't work. It punishes before it is even judged. Guilty until proven innocent. Then we can investigate, and find answers. If they're guilty, what do we do from there? Justice is already been dealt, so what then? More importantly what happens if one is found innocent? What happens then, are we to say they shouldn't have been accused in the first place? Is being suspect that much of a crime one can hold an accusation above your head and have it all come crumbling down? That's... better than the legal system?

I can see where times that going public helps shed light on a dark subject. But that shouldn't be practiced every time because each individual sees it never happened before but does the same practice as the last one who publicized poor actions. But, on the other side of that coin, it can ignite actual legal action. With some legal systems just being ridiculously logged down and inundated with old regulations and piles of new government bureaucracy. But is every public condemnation because of that? Or is it more fanatical instead?

Then we have a bunch of narrative driven sites. Which bolster or mutilate certain factoids to keep the reader clicking and sharing with gusto. Much isn't about journalistic integrity anymore, it's about the fame, and fame is money.

It's simply easier to look just and right than be accurate. Hell, the Crusades is all about that.

Now, with all that said: I believe much of the claims from Kotaku has much truth to it. In spite of my stance against them for many listed problems they caused, this... This may actually be true. Namely, through practice and experience, not a lot of this is uncommon in games, nor in many service industries. It's surely bad for morale, and it's toxic in many parts, but it's tragically common. Mixed that with the whispers we've heard for YEARS now, it's of no real surprise if this comes to light as true.

Which is the biggest part I am going to exercise: Wait for the jury to come out on this that isn't tied to likes and shares. I do not wish for Nicalis to face charges til the evidence comes out, something I don't think Nicalis is big enough to avoid.

@Galenmereth You're answering your own question if you read the article. Seems like a lot of this stuff is not and does not get resolved professionally. So, attention drawn to it in the media forces a company into action. It's a good thing for the employees and business partners as it helps enact change (those effected are no longer little islands without support); also good for the consumer - let's you in on the working conditions behind something you are supporting. You can ignore it and still buy it, or consider the info and not buy it. Don't see how this has to equate to SJW OUTRAGE culture.

@Paraka Court of public opinion is a two edged sword and I agree with your concern...but soooometimes (and especially with companies versus individuals or tiny operations) it's the only way to get a company to enact change or even acknowledge the bs. Court of Public Opinions on a SPECIFIC person only I feel like are more unfair. I've heard weird little things myself about NICALIS over the years in random places. I'd comment on some NICALIS game on a message board and someone would make some negative comment about with some oddly specific detail, like them forcing a purchase of CAVE STORY or being weird about messing with game launches for other small studios. No one would really ever comment back though when I'd ask what they were talking about. Wish I had a direct example, it'd always be something weirdly specific I'd have never heard before.

As a whole, it seems like Nicalis's actions have reaped a lot of unprofessionalism. Not getting back to business partners, people who want to work with you, etc. gives off a bad image. Employee mistreatment in any industry should raise flags. Slurs, no matter the intent - whether light-hearted or justified, "allowed" due to X context or someone's ethnic background or friend group or whatnot - are unneeded and unproductive.

I agree that "cancel culture" as some brand it has its own set of problems and results in some online crusaders passing judgement before they have all the facts. Reputations can be damaged as a result. However, it's hard to deny that in this case, Nicalis definitely needs to revise its business practices and interactions if it wants to stay afloat. There's too much evidence here and from other reports to suggest that this is over-exaggerated.

@Galenmereth You're reaching bud. Also Kotaku waits to do these sorts of things until they got a lot of meat in their article, usually beyond "some anonymous sources say" clickbait crap that you are talking about. Conflict of interest? No different than any news outlet anywhere. NBC, FOX, etc.

If it all turned out wrong...Court of Public opinion stuff is different if it's focusing on allegations of just ONE PERSON versus a company, and said allegations were being reported on without talking to sources. I do get ya there. But seriously, sometimes the "outcry" forces a company that outright ignores an internal problem, or is straight up just villainously cool with their generally malicious behavior, to either enact change or be stopped from continuing villainy (to be dramatic there).

@AlternateButtons Jesus, when did "company treats other partners poorly/company treats it's employees without disrespect" equate SJW OUTRAGE cancel culture? Been seeing this opinion more and more and more. Yeah, let's stick up for companies treating people like crap! That's a bad world moving forward if you honestly feel that way. Without any kind of accountability for behavior, companies and corporations will run buckwild, get worse and worse, and will turn around and bite even the most conservative of people in the face, eventually too.

@NImH BAD EXAMPLE TO USE! I think he ended up being right about that one! lol

@Galenmereth lol they didn't have to.

@Galenmereth Not at all. Their Cancel Culture comment coupled with "people are too sensitive nowadays" absolutely infers what I said above.

This website and the comments section are becoming toxic and I am getting fed up with it.

Why don't you all grow up, two opinions, two sides to a story, there is not one person here that know's the real truth in all this, so can you all just make your comment and leave others to have their opinions.

And the recent staff comments are not helping either!

@Dang69 - Sometimes. Key word, here: sometimes. That's huge when arguing things like this. It's not all the time, it's not most of the time, it's not even half of the time. Just... Sometimes.

And I agree with that, as I said; Public outing should be reserved for those sometimes. There is a place for it, it is a reason such an idea exists in the first place. My problem is most go off on this Holy War of their own and go, "Three people accused you, guess it's time execution." Even when you tru to justify that it is a company, it is bigger, and therefore we're underdogs to this dragon slayer story. There is still people void of these interactions that get effected. And nuking them all and saying the good ones will find a new company, it's not sitting well with me cause that doesn't always happen.

I worked with a company that faced a self-nuking because the higher ups were garbage and manipulative, many who experienced fallout never wanted to return. The interest just isn't there, we don't want to risk having to salvage again. Even though those who were the trigger, definitely needed to go.

I can only imagine if the company that ran a softcore porn site on Nintendo's money would have been dealt with now than become the biggest US asset for them for making the Prime trilogy.

Putting it out there: expose journalism isn't anything new. The internet just gave it a different name recently. Pay attention to the quality of the evidence given and whether the evidence supports the claims. That's all you can do.

@Paraka I agree with ya. That's super balanced how I like that.

The last bit is interesting cuz SPECULATION in that case could be bad because maybe the founder of said company didn't do that and there really hasn't been anything (that I ever heard) expose'-wise on that rumor. Could speculate maybe said company hasn't done much for Nintendo cuz Nintendo waited to buy out said founder of said company. If NL ran stories like that, without any "real" info, where there is nothing substantial, then this is bad to throw out into the public and kind of shakes the foundation of society in general. They have ran weak rumory level things like that on here. But this article in particular, when things in the real world bubble up and boil over enough that the voices are going from a whisper to a lite roar, putting it in the public eye to discuss is absolutely a good thing.

@Damo I've been rude to you before in comment sections but I really appreciate you writing up this article. Just wanted to say that.

@ARPK "It's worrisome to see whistleblowing of abusive employment practices and bad business has become conflated with some kind of social justice movement." I think if I spoke more eloquently like you, I'd have a chiller time on the internet. You said what I was saying so much better.

@Dang69 - Trust me when I say this; The supposed speculation of Retro is a lot more true than it isn't. Look up the formation of the company and how its poaching of talent helped serve as a one of the catalysts that closed Acclaim. How the founder was also arrested on multiple accounts of drunk and reckless driving. And after being "bought out" of the company went to make the ludicrous Topheavy studios and make the only game that is illegal to own due to underaged pornagraphic materials provided in it.

The softcore porn site was the only thing ever "speculated" but with enough surrounding evidence, I don't think it was out of the realm of possibility.

Seriously, you have to read that origins story. It is a trip. And one a company would survive in this climate of public authority.

@Paraka Will do! If you know of good link please share.

Explains so much why patches either never come or are extremely late for all of their switch releases.

Was already frustrated before hearing this and this just tips the scales - never buying a Nicalis published game again.

@Dang69 he was rubbing salt in on the people who were supporting his lifeline. It was the worst time to be unsupportive and dismissive. Other Indie publishers like the dudes who put out Affordable Space Adventures were coming up with solutions and great games, while Nicalis was just riding Cave Story into the sunset after cutting Pixel's name off of his own creation. I stand by my original sentiment that Tyrone is a major... "questionable guy" or, can I say, "letter-after-C bag?"

It's pathetic how many people will see that someone did something awful and then jump to their defense just because they don't like the people who get angry at awful people.

Like, take a step back and really examine yourself and what you contribute to the world.

@NImH I was trying to be light-hearted a tiny bit in this toxic thread and do a jokey SURPRISE reversal opinion and be like "well that Nicalis' C-Bag was right about that WiiU screen!" I get what you're saying though. I guess in the greater context of the Tweet, it does imply intention to not really consider the WiiU for the game releases of studio's they publish. Whether he is also a "consumer too" of the product is besides the point since his position and public opinion also implies a company's interest or lack thereof. Man, I got that pretty Crystal Crisis box on my desk at work and feel double sick about it. I hope Jimquistion or YongYea do some videos on this.

I do temp work for a company, that I won't name. We are like any other company, we have a good eggs, our bad eggs, ect. One time one of our bad eggs got butthurt as all get out for being fired for being a bad egg. He then went on a 'tour' around to all of our clients and businesses we deal with 'telling our secrets' and talking about how 'horrible we treat our employees' ect. They all, being middle aged working class men, laughed his pants out the door. Its fun how the real world works vs this rubbish.

@Roto13
And what do you contribute? I mean you can just as easily flip that logic on yourself, brotha.

@Dang69 - There is a solid one from nsidr that details a lot of the poaching and Spangenberg's little... Wackiness.

https://www.nsidr.com/archive/a-retrospective-the-story-of-retro-studios/2

Start from page one. But a lot of the other external factors (let's be honest, Nintendo would not let his image tarnish their own). So the site debacle, the drunk driving and such is reported piecemeal, but a video from Wha Happun? does a good job chronologically categorizes the events that transpired. Such as why Jeff was never at the office.

https://youtu.be/CIdYCs8nNHo

The video doesn't go too deep into the events, so more info would be searched independently.

@AugustusOxy If you have to ask, the answer is "More than you, someone who comes to an article about multiple employees testifying about the behaviour of their boss and tries to write them off as a bunch of butthurt losers."

It's always a good day when I can post a comment on one article and have that sum up how I feel about another.

" oh the legendary, elusive and imaginary SJW. I never tire of hearing of their heroic and mythic deeds."

@Galenmereth They mention the term "SJW" on almost every other article of this nature. Lol

@HexNash Also look at the ones who actually harm others for their cause. These people are lunatics.

@YANDMAN SNES and NES are available with Switch Online, N64 and Gamecube aren't and they are much harder to emulate

@Paraka Really appreciate it bud. Thank ya!

@AugustusOxy when it's bull****, it's bull**** and you all can sue for slander if that is the case. And sue your employer for wrongful dismissal. However, that does not negate instances where companies, business partners, regular employees and those in leadership positions who are abusive and in the wrong but are doing nothing to curb that behavior should not be held accountable. And sometimes public discussion is the only way to initiate change, if said person or conpany is pretending nothing is going on. Maybe you got wronged, but youre the one sounding butthurt projecting that experience on to every other situation. That's literally what butthurt means.

@AugustusOxy I'm super curious as to how you might unpack what's wrong with Roto's statement, besides trying to sound clever while not actually making a real statement? Just reversing his opinion and applying at him is like child level dialoging. Cmooon I know you can do better than that.

Just curious as to the posters that don't see a problem with this level of unprofessionalism and abusive employer behavior - what kind of freaking jobs do you have? If you think this is the norm, or business as usual, instead of sticking up for Nicalis, you should be sticking up for yourself and find a better work situation.

@AhabSpampurse my thoughts exactly.

@Galenmereth But tell me, how can one even view this as a hit piece? Some of these events happened years ago, without developers bringing it out to the public, and current employees sound like they are still fearful to speak but did so because things had reached a limit. It's not like the article came out because the founder got called out on some #metoo movement, but to bring attention to what was happening to the people behind some of the games that many people love - not only to the Nicalis employees, but developers as well (you know, the people that actually create the games, which brings you to sites like this).

Are we more interested in protecting a guy that has multiple allegations against him from separate uncoordinated parties over a long period of time; or protecting the people that actually do the majority of the work to bring games to you, and even moreso, the developers, (and to reiterate again), without which these games would not even exist?

I guess what I'm asking is - what is the issue with making this an issue? What is there to champion and advocate for here? The rights of a publisher to act like an a-hole to everyone involved? This dude is not the only game in town.

Finally - I dunno if you read this part, but he's holding game patches back if they did not sell well enough. Do you think he's looking out for customers' and your best interests?

If these things are true, I hope they get sorted out. Its sad to read a company that publish so fun games trear their employees like this.

@youneedtocalmdow SJW's are real, not mythical. They are the kinds of people who pretend to speak for others while just wanting to censor stuff they don't like.

No wonder they took forever to release cave story on Wii

@nintendoPLAYROOM i think you need a publisher to publish the eShop. That's where the problems come in.

@tendonerd actually you can self publish to the eShop. It says as much on the developer portal homepage:
Once your game is complete, you can self-publish it on the Nintendo eShop with the price and release date entirely up to you.

You can take a look by going to:
https://developer.nintendo.com/

@nintendoPLAYROOM thanks for that page. Wonder why more devs don't do that.

@Peterjr1you don't know what you're talking about

@Galenmereth Lol I think of Lizzo doxxing that Postmates woman as you say that rather than call customer service. But yeah dammit Tyrone is an ass. Though nothing to lose to air out dirty laundry when a company takes your stuff.

Tyrone more like Tyrant.