A new report from People Make Games has revealed allegations of abuse against employees of the Indonesian studio Brandoville, the company used for art and support in games such as Age of Empires 4 and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
In 2021, People Make Sports showing cultural and economic dependence on the economy for outside producers to meet deadlines. Brandoville Studios is one of the developers. Little has changed in the business since that report, but Brandoville’s closing a few months ago prompted its current employees to share more stories of their experiences. through the studio.
The source of this report is Christa Sydney, who worked at the company from 2019 to 2024 and said that she was abused mentally and physically by the director Kwan Cherry Lai, the wife of Brandoville CEO Ken Lai, who ran the day-to-day operations. .
The full report can be viewed in the video below, although please note it contains some disturbing details and images.
Sydney explains how Cherry Lai took her under her wing after an argument early in her career, but this led to severe abuse. At first, Lai created a strict work schedule for employees and would purposefully divide employees by using bad language and insults, Sydney said.
Sydney was actually part of People Make Games’ previous announcement, but said she was later forced by Lai to film a statement supporting Brandoville against her will. Another employee thought he had been brainwashed, he reported.
Sydney now says she was constantly abused by Lai, including during a business trip to the XDS ’22 conference where Lai micro-managed her schedule and only allowed her to sleep a few Minutes in four days before the event. Further torture included making daily prayers, forcing Sydney to write lines like a schoolgirl, daily checking over WhatsApp of her clothes as part of “good governance” “, and embarrassed him in front of colleagues.
Eventually Lai’s abuse became physical, forcing Sydney to film herself hitting her face 100 times as punishment, or banging her head against a door until he was punished before he apologized.
Another employee, Caesarion Balthazar, had an arrangement with Lai where he would take part of his salary to help with his spending habits. This made him, in Balthazar’s words, steal as much money as a month’s salary. In addition, Balthazar said he was told he owed money for the expensive training he hadn’t taken when he tried to leave the company.
A third worker, Syifana Afiati, also said she was abused by Lai while she was in Brandoville from 2019 to 2024. Afiati became pregnant, but was overworked by Lai. At one point during the pregnancy Afiati said she was taken to the hospital because of complications, but was still asked to come to the office and work – which she refused. Afiati’s son was born two months early and sadly died four months later in intensive care, however Lai still wanted him to work and had no sympathy or support from the company.
In August 2024, Brandoville Studios went into bankruptcy, although Cherry and Ken Lai convinced the full-time employees to stay and start a new company: LaiLai Studios. Sydney is one such worker, but later said that she was physically abused by Cherry Lai many times.
Sydney eventually escapes and gathers evidence against Lai. News reports in Indonesia went viral, which eventually led to a police investigation. This must be because of the local saying “no disease, no justice”, stemming from distrust in the police and justice.
In response to the accusations, Cherry Lai announced to People Make Games, saying strangely: “For me my part of the story is not important, as long as my team is good and safe now. ” However, further discussion has been denied.
Another employee claimed that Ken Lai was Cherry’s “biggest employee” and should have done more to stop this abuse. Sydney and others however say they believe Ken is yet another victim of Cherry’s abuse and her silence comes from a place of fear.
The report concludes by noting how the treatment of workers goes unnoticed and is not approved by the video games industry because it is not comfortable to talk about the work side outside, although it is an important part of game development. Eurogamer has contacted Microsoft and Ubisoft for comment on their connections to Brandoville.
