PlayStation faces gender discrimination lawsuit

According to Monday’s lawsuit, a former security analyst at Sony Interactive Entertainment sued the PlayStation maker for discrimination in gender and wrongful termination. Axios reported this news Tuesday.

A lawsuit was filed in California to seek class action status for any woman affected by the alleged gender discrimination at Sony. Emma Majo (an ex-IT security analyst) claimed that women in the company weren’t paid the same as male employees and denied equal compensation and promotions. She alleged that Sony “tolerates and cultivates a work environment that discriminates against female employees.”

Majo’s suit says she told Sony of the discrimination with a signed statement in 2021. Her lawsuit alleges that “soon after,” the company fired her. Majo denied that the company had dismissed her because she was not a member of that particular department.

Majo outlined these allegations and others from her Sony career that began in 2015. Majo claimed that she witnessed bias in women’s promotions and she was unable to get one for six consecutive years despite repeatedly asking for it. She also claims that male supervisors (including Yuu Sugita as security director) wouldn’t speak with women when the doors were closed. Sugita will only speak to a male colleague if he is present.

Majo said that Majo often made requests to her male colleagues, fearing that they wouldn’t listen to them. Likewise, Majo said she has “personally heard managers make gender-based comments about female workers.” Majo also said the company had a 60-40 split, men to women, when she started in 2015, and the company hired more men than women thereafter. As of a 2020 study, Sony’s executive committee was exclusively male.

Majo’s suit said she believes gender bias, and because she spoke up about it, caused her dismissal.

Majo filed a complaint with the California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), and received a “notice of right to sue” in November. Activision Blizzard’s gender discrimination case was filed in July by the DFEH. Activision Blizzard workers walked out of work last week following another report describing CEO Bobby Kotick’s knowledge of and alleged interference in sexual harassment cases at the company. The lawsuits follow Riot Games’ gender-based discrimination suit. Riot Games settled the case for $10M in 2019.

Videogame industry faces a wider reckoning about bias, discrimination and harassment at work. Ubisoft and Riot, along with Activision Blizzard and Riot, were forced to admit the hostile work environments that women experienced within their organizations, while employees fought for better workplaces.

Last week, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan notably called out Activision Blizzard and CEO Kotick in an email to staff; he told workers he was “disheartened” and “stunned” that Activision Blizzard has not addressed its “deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment.”

Polygon reached out to Sony in order for further information.