A former employee at Obsidian Entertainment, the developer behind the upcoming Avowed game, described the company’s Art Director Matt Hansen as “pure evil” while also revealing the company has been captured by woke ideology.
YouTuber Smash JT detailed a former employee at Obsidian reached out to him and shared a ton of information about the company’s culture as well as its Art Director Matt Hansen, who has openly admitted to discriminating against white men.
Smash JT shared that this whistleblower detailed that Obsidian has “devolved into a corporate-driven leftist echo chamber where agenda and ideologies now far outweight any kind of actual passion for game development.”
He added, “This former employee, who we’ll just call Doe for the anonymity purposes of this video, describes the work place completely overrun by external influences, misguided priorities, and a toxic atmosphere that ultimately drove him out.”
Speaking specifically to Hansen, the whistleblower shared, “I know how spiteful of a person Matt unfortunately is and I know he and probably others will try to witch hunt me just to try and make my life hell because they aren’t getting their way.”
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Later on in the video, Smash JT relayed that Obisdian’s cultural shift began in 2018 when Microsoft purchased the company and made it a part of Xbox Studios.
He revealed that it began when Microsoft sent out an all-staff email “instituting the introduction of optional but in reality mandatory pronouns in email signatures, meetings, and other various communications around the office. And while initially framed as optional, it became quickly clear that dissent was not welcome.”
However an alleged “misgendering” incident occurred and “Hansen sent a companywide email declaring a zero tolerance for intentional or malicious misgendering. The email’s tone was described to me as passive aggressive yet fairly threatening. It was a warning to employees who couldn’t align with the policies and how they would be facing termination if they decided to go against this innocent thing called pronouns.”
This was a turning point at Obsidian where the company’s culture “increasingly unwelcomed anyone who didn’t fit a specific mold.”
Smash JT shared that this whistleblower informed him, “There were only a handful of straight white males. As they put it, ‘I could count them all on one hand.’ The studio itself was extremely gay and LGBTQ friendly.”
“The ideology began to morph and push and adhere to a certain expected viewpoint and if you do not ideologically align with these people you are instantly an outcast creating an even deeper echo chamber of like-minded thought,” Smash said.
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After discussing how the company handled Covid and many of the employees led by Hansen refused to return to work citing their lives could be at risk, the whistleblower “believed that the intersection of extreme Covid caution and their LGBTQ Marxist alignments had now morphed into some sort of new-age religion.”
Smash continued, “Doe felt that these people needed a real religion to embrace because without it we’re seeing exactly what happens. They become lost souls clinging to identity politics as their god.”
The whistleblower went on to share that many of his fellow employees “aren’t there anymore to create great games for gamers, but instead to push agenda from the top down to further promote their ideologies.”
“The corporate chokehold was stifling creativity and stripped games of values for the players,” Smash relayed. “Leaders like Matt Hansen continued to empowered to go on unhinged rants on Blue Sky, being extremely racist, attacking gamers, and being protected by the very echo chambers of positive feedback that have created over the years at companies like Obsidian.”
The whistleblower also detailed that Hansen was “extremely difficult to work with.” Smash JT shared that Hansen has “an unwillingness to accept constructive criticism and a consistent tendency to make assumptions about low-level employees’ commitments.”
Smash went on to relay, “Matt Hansen is an evil person. He is a bad human being. He is someone that I would not want to be caught working with because I don’t want an environment that involves someone that does the things that I have been told that he did during the tenure while Doe was there.”
Despite the corporate culture and leadership from individuals like Matt Hansen, the whistleblower also told Smash, “I learned a lot from several people there and have a lot of respect for them and their craft. I think the distinction is really important to make because many of these people are good at heart and well intentioned and just want to make cool stuff. Many of those who’ve fallen unknowingly to this indoctrination can’t really see it for what it is, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
He then shared why he shared all of this information with Smash, “My goal with helping bring all of this to light is I want to help spread awareness of what is actually the problem in our industry and where it’s coming from and why.”
“I do not want to see my friends and peers fail, I do not want to see Obsidian and Microsoft fail,” he continued. “I would love to see healthy competition again in our industry where developers are unshackled by bad management and leadership, shareholders and investor’s personal interests. Making a good game comes first, if you can convey a message through a seamless and fun experience then even better. Let the creative endeavor happen naturally, it can’t be forced. I’m a firm believer in the free market of ideas and meritocracy and whatever is the best idea for the game and what the playerbase wants that’s what should be implemented.”
The whistleblower added, “While I want to see success for everyone, I think it’s important that it is earned. Honesty and accountability is paramount. For those that don’t earn it, I hope you learn from your earned failures. Success is built on learning from our past failures. Success can be a blessing, but remember to also stay humble and check your egos at the door when you clock in. We’re here because our players support us to do so. We’re here to make a fun experience and provide escapism for them, maybe even inspire some of our fellow gamers to take up the mantle like we have from those who inspired us to join the creative endeavors of game development. We’re here for the journey and the process, not the destination. Developers win, when their players win.”
What do you make of what this whistleblower divulged to Smash JT about Obsidian Entertainment and Art Director Matt Hansen? Become a paid member to leave a comment and let us know.
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