Throughout the summer, accusations of sexual misconduct were made towards Mike Zaimont, the lead designer at Skullgirls and Indivisible developer Lab Zero Games. This led to multiple employees resigning from Lab Zero, followed shortly thereafter by Zaimont laying off all remaining staff, which effectively closed the studio.
It’s only been a couple of weeks since the news broke, yet in the wake of Lab Zero’s collapse, a number of former Skullgirls developers have announced that they’re forming a new studio called Future Club. This venture is being spearheaded by “a highly diverse team of 15 developers, including artists, animators, programmers and designers” with the goal of developing hand-drawn animated games with engaging gameplay and memorable worlds.
Described as an “employee-owned cooperative game development studio,” Future Club is taking active steps to avoid the systemic issues that led to sexual harassment at Lab Zero. The studio’s introductory press release came with multiple statements from employees, including CEO Francesca Esquenazi, that stress the importance of everyone’s contribution and promise to maintain “open, honest communication with peers, partners and players.” As Esquenazi puts it, “We wanted to start fresh with a company structure that was worker owned and gave everyone a say in the future of our organization.”
Future Club has yet to announce any projects, but according to Senior Animator Jonathan Kim, the plan is to continue developing hand-drawn animated games in the vein of Skullgirls and Indivisible. “We want to make games that inspire kids and adults as much as our old favorites inspired us,” he said, adding that the studio sees a long future ahead for hand-drawn animation and intends to see how far it can push the medium.
Source: Future Club
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