Ex-Uncharted developer alleges sexual harassment at Naughty Dog
"They tried to silence me by offering $20k."
Former Naughty Dog employee David Ballard has gone public with a claim of sexual harassment he faced while working at the Uncharted and The Last of Us developer.
The harassment took place in late 2015, Ballard explained in a post on his personal Facebook late on Friday night, and then hours later publicly via Twitter.
Following the abuse, Ballard says he subsequently suffered a mental breakdown. After explaining the situation to PlayStation HR, Ballard alleges he was offered a significant amount of money to leave quietly - an offer he declined.
Here is his statement in full:
Ballard's public statement follows a week of revelations concerning movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is now being investigated by police on multiple claims of sexual assault.
At Naughty Dog, Ballard worked for more than six years in the role of environment artist. He contributed to Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3, The Last of Us and Uncharted 4.
His posts on Twitter have now been shared thousands of times. Among the replies are messages of support from both fans and developers alike.
One reply, which has since been removed but was screenshotted by NeoGAF, alleges a second instance of sexual harassment from a former employee of Naughty Dog.
In a statement provided to Eurogamer, PlayStation said it had no record of the allegation.
"We have recently read on social media that an ex-employee of Naughty Dog, Dave Ballard, claims he was sexually harassed when he worked at Naughty Dog," a PlayStation spokesperson said. "We have not found any evidence of having received allegations from Mr. Ballard that he was harassed in any way at Naughty Dog or Sony Interactive Entertainment.
"Harassment and inappropriate conduct have no place at Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment. We have taken and always will take reports of sexual harassment and other workplace grievances very seriously. We value every single person who works at Naughty Dog and Sony interactive Entertainment. It is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a safe, productive workplace environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for making games."