Summary
Square Enixhas announced a new anti-harassment policy that aims to protect its employees and partners.Square Enixhas stipulated what constitutes harassment in its book, and has laid out what it will do in the event that it encounters such behavior from its customers.
In this day and age of interconnectivity via the internet, threats and harassment against members of the gaming industry have become unfortunately common. The behavior is far from limited to Square Enix, with some notable examples including death threats against the actress portraying Abby inThe Last of Us 2, and Nintendo being forced to cancel a live event due tothreats of violence from a so-calledSplatoonfan. Now, Square Enix is taking steps to attempt and protect its people from similar actions.
In a policy laid out on theSquare Enixwebsite, the game developer has taken a stance against those who would harass its employees and partners, including everyone from support staff members to as high up the corporate ladder as its executives. The policy states that whileSquare Enix wants feedbackfrom its fans and customers, customer harassment is unacceptable, and it has laid out exactly what constitutes harassment in its book and how it will react to any such encounters.
Square Enix considers harassment to be things likethreats of violence, defamation, obstruction of business, trespassing, and so on. The document lays out exactly what Square Enix considers to be outside the bounds of normal customer feedback. In the event that such behavior is encountered, Square Enix reserves the right to deny services to said customers, and in cases of “malicious intent,” the company may choose to protect its staff by pursuing legal action or getting the police involved.
Harassment:
Undue demand:
Unfortunately, action like this has likely become a necessity for developers like Square Enix. Some gamers have sent angry and threatening messages to a variety of members of the game development industry, including voice actors and performers. In recent times, this has included the voice actor for Wuk Lamat inFinal Fantasy 14 Dawntrail, Sena Bryer, who received extreme backlash when transphobic netizens took offense at Bryer’s gender identity. However, going a few years back, it was revealed that Square Enix had received multiple threats of death against its staff in 2018, and one suchdeath threat over Square Enix’s gacha mechanicsled to an arrest in 2019. Square Enix also had to cancel a tournament back in 2019, due to similar threats to the aforementioned ones Nintendo recently faced.
