After such a positive start and much excitement and praise from fans over its debut game, Tales Of Kenzera: Zau, Surgent Studio became the latest studio to be faced with industry layoffs. Not only did the indie development team have to lay off a dozen of its staff members, but they were alsofaced with nasty commentsfrom netizens who blamed the game’s narrative direction and involvement with the company Sweet Baby Inc. for its downsizing.
Now, the studio’s director, Abubakar Salim, has poured his heart out regarding the brutal comments he has seen on the game’s forum and believes that this particular space held to once celebrate games has now become a toxic and uninviting environment for trolls.
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Taking to Twitter/X, Salimposteda heartfelt and emotional message detailing how he wasn’t prepared for the “jarring experience to receive weird or hateful comments for simply existing”. This comment comes amid the game’s forum page where trolls have left hate-filled messages championing the studio’s job losses, saying the game was “woke” so it deserved the layoffs and even joking about Salim’s father’s death, which the game is in tribute to.
Salim reflected on a time when he would head onto whatever game he was playing forum to connect and talk about the game with others but felt that was no longer the case, especially for Tales Of Kenzera: Zau, because of how hateful trolls had and are becoming. In a sad realization, Salim stated that it was “Not really that safe haven that you’d go to to discuss the game world.”
He thought that it was good to have a “healthy and decent discussion, even if it’s considered “controversial”, but because of the lengths trolls go to being as mean as possible, Salim expressed that he doesn’t “see joking about job losses, or joking about losing someone to cancer as constructive though.”
As previously said by Jade Law, CEO of Wardog Studios, who hadoffered supportto Surgent Studios after its unfortunate news, “It’s legit sad to see people celebrate devs losing jobs” and “celebrating the misfortunes of others generally doesn’t make you a good person.” Law also made the point that every other logical-minded person has been thinking by stating, “Most of you don’t even know what these words mean, never mind how they actually apply to development, you’re just parroting something a YouTuber told you to be mad about.”
It’s truly a painful time for the games industry as a whole, not to mention going out of your way to lay on even more stress and sorrow. Surgent Studios has yet to disclose what their next project will be, and not that we blame them, but until then, we at DualShockers wish them every bit of luck on their next journey.
“This Hurts Deeply”: Tales Of Kenzera: Zau Director Honors Affected Staff After Surgent Studios Layoffs
Tales of Kenzera: Zau’s Abubakar Salim says Surgent Studios' “focus now is to continue supporting those affected”.
