In the last few days accusations of sexual assault have emerged against composer Jeremy Soule (who has worked on games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), with independent developer Nathalie Lawhead sharing a post entitled 'calling out my rapist'.
In this post she talks about working in Vancouver on a project in 2008, talking to Soule before he made increasingly worrying comments towards her. She also detailed her problems with immigration/VISAs, and how she stayed despite the project being poorly managed:
"I was in a very difficult, very desperate situation. I needed this job. I was hell bent on doing absolutely anything, and sacrificing what it takes, to make this ARG work."
She then claims that later on in their relationship Soule was "threatening" towards her, and that he raped her.
Soule's Twitter and Facebook pages have since been taken offline.
More recently, developer Zoë Quinn has also accused Night in the Woods co-creator Alec Holowka of sexual assault via a series of notes shared on Twitter, with the incident allegedly occurring when she stayed with him in Winnipeg after they became friends.
The post goes into detail about the assault that Quinn claims took place, before adding that they broke up, an act that Holowka allegedly responded to with hostility.
Co-creator of Night in the Woods Henry Dubb has since taken to Twitter to share the following message:
"We believe Zoe's account of alec's actions, we're very sad and very angry."
"We were all unaware of the events described last night. It might take a day or so for a more complete response b/c some things need to be worked out, but steps are being taken. We'll be public about it as soon as we can."
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With discussions rising around these developers and their experiences, another called Adelaide Gardner came forward on Twitter to share her claims that Luc Shelton of Splash Damage sexually assaulted her as well, and that "plenty (former) mutuals told me to stay quiet about it".
We wish those affected by these issues all the best.