Sonic the Hedgehog, Like a Dragon, and Persona publisher Sega has taken legal action against an individual accused of harassing one of its employees.
In a notice posted online and translated by Automaton, Sega said it is taking legal action because of alleged "slander and extreme acts of harassment" against the employee on social media. The individual is accused of continuously making excessive defamatory and insulting remarks.
Sega was granted disclosure of the individual's identity by the court and is seeking damages alongside the removal of all offensive remarks and affirmation there won't be more in the future.
The publisher also made clear it would continue to take legal action against any individual who violates its Customer Harassment Policy. "Our company will never tolerate harassment and has set the following guidelines to respect all employees and protect their human rights," it said in the policy.
Sega shared the announcement of the legal action on X/Twitter, earning praise from some including video game developer Taira Nakamura.
"Harassment is something I also suffered with when I was in the position of producer, and it’s so reassuring to see a company take action in this way and talk about it publicly to deter others," they said.
Toxicity is unfortunately of serious concern to the development community. In January, the developer of Palworld said it had received death threats amid the game’s Pokémon rip-off claims. Last year, a survey from the Game Developers Conference revealed a majority of developers see harassment from players as a major problem for the industry. Of the 2,300 developers surveyed, 91% said player harassment and toxicity towards developers was an issue. 42% said it was a "very serious" issue.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
