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IGN general manager, Mitch Galbraith, has sent a company wide email to IGN staff, as reported by Kotaku. The email reads:
"Much of the understanding and progress we made as a group today is summarized in this post from our Content team. It is clear IGN can and must do better delivering on our commitment to a safe and harassment-free work environment for employees.
"I am taking the following steps to ensure we achieve our goals. First, I will enlist an independent expert to thoroughly examine how we handled the matter in question and, more broadly, all other important aspects of creating a healthy workplace. Second, I will turn the findings and recommendations of that review into specific actions that I will share with all of you. I will be accountable to you for delivering results. Third, I will work to give HR a stronger presence throughout IGN, including outside the San Francisco office.
"I’m not going to reiterate IGN’s committment to a safe and harassment free work environment. Instead I am going to work with all of you to prove it with our actions and results from here on out."
Entertainment website IGN is under the spotlight regarding historical sexual harassment allegations. Former IGN staff member and current Gamespot editor Kallie Plagge shared her experiences on Twitter over the weekend with the #metoo movement, alleging that former IGN editor Vince Ingenito sexually harassed her and another colleague who is still at IGN.
After hearing everyone else's sexual harassment stories, I feel like it's finally time to share my own. #metoo pic.twitter.com/renQv4MVaV
— Kallie Plagge (@inkydojikko) November 11, 2017
Ingenito has moved on from working with IGN, however, current staff at the website were unhappy at the lack of response from their employer over the subject. Current Daily Fix host, Alanah Pearce, posted a Tweet updating fans that the show won’t be airing until IGN issued a statement on the subject.
There won’t be a Daily Fix today because a large group of IGN employees have refused to work until the company issues a statement/apology regarding what happened to Kallie Plagge.
— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) November 13, 2017
Staff for the website have now staged a walkout over IGN’s internal handling of the matter and are demanding that their employer addresses the issues that lead to what they say is a failure to support their colleague in these allegations. The member of HR staff that was responsible for investigating the alleged harassment is no longer with the company.
We are still waiting for IGN to make a statement, however, staff working at the website have issued a joint statement, which has been shared by staff at IGN’s San Francisco and UK offices alike and posted across all of its international channels. This statement is from the content team and not any management or legal team at IGN.
"When the women made management and human resources aware of the situation involving a now-former employee, those women, in the estimation of the IGN team, did not get the respect and care that they deserved as IGN employees and as people," the statement reads. "That system, plainly put, failed them. It especially failed them but it also failed all of us.
"All of us have been wounded deeply by this – though again, our suffering is nothing compared to those of our two beloved friends – and this morning we addressed the open wound directly with our management team and human resources representative in an emotional, difficult, but ultimately productive two-hour meeting, where any and all voices were heard.
"We care deeply about what we do, and we hope our passion for video games and entertainment shines through in our articles, videos, and podcasts every day. But we care even more deeply about each other, and we will continue to fight to make this right for the past, present, and certainly the future.
"We are aware of the influence that IGN has in the gaming and entertainment community, and we will utilize that to the best of our abilities going forward. And we will continue to challenge our management and human resources teams to fix what is broken, because if we can’t or if we don’t, then IGN will no longer be a place we’re proud to call home – as content creators, entertainment consumers, and as gamers."
Ingenito himself has responded to the allegations on Twitter, saying, "there are legal limits to what I am allowed to say about the allegations she made against me, or the investigation that resulted.
"After almost two weeks of working from home, a resolution was reached, and I was found to not have harassed her. I was asked to change seats to make her more comfortable, and I was happy to comply. We were both told to keep correspondence strictly work-related, which I did."
