Ex-Ghost of Yotei Dev Blames Harassment, Not Joke, for Firing
▼ Summary
– Drew Harrison was fired from Sucker Punch Productions after making an off-color joke on social media about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, which triggered a harassment campaign.
– Over 600 people were reportedly fired, suspended, or investigated in similar incidents, with Harrison’s case highlighting a broader pattern of online mob action.
– Sony Interactive Entertainment terminated Harrison swiftly without investigating the harassment she faced, setting a precedent of companies kowtowing to reactionary pressures.
– The harassment campaign against Sucker Punch had been ongoing for over a year, targeting diversity and inclusion efforts, including criticism of actor Erika Ishii and the development team.
– Harrison’s firing reflects industry-wide issues where studios avoid confronting toxicity, leaving employees vulnerable and unsupported against coordinated online attacks.
The video game industry faces a recurring crisis when online harassment campaigns target developers, creating a hostile environment that often leads to career-ending consequences. Former Ghost of Yotei developer Drew Harrison claims her termination resulted not from a controversial social media post, but from an extensive harassment campaign that her employer failed to adequately address. Harrison’s experience highlights how companies frequently prioritize appeasing online mobs over protecting their employees, setting dangerous precedents for workplace safety in the gaming sector.
Harrison’s situation unfolded after she made an off-color joke on BlueSky following political commentator Charlie Kirk’s death. Her post referencing video game characters immediately drew attention from right-wing influencers who encouraged their followers to identify anyone mocking Kirk’s assassination. Within hours, Harrison’s phone flooded with threatening messages and calls, including demands for self-harm and boycotts of Sucker Punch Productions’ upcoming game Ghost of Yotei.
Despite the onslaught, Harrison arrived at work the next morning with banana muffins for colleagues, attempting to maintain normalcy. She informed coworkers through office chat that she had “made the worst people on the internet mad,” prompting immediate concern from teammates. Some shared they were also experiencing harassment, while others reported the company’s phone lines were so overwhelmed with anonymous calls that employees were instructed to unplug desk phones.
Company leadership eventually addressed the situation by distributing Sony’s social media policy through office communications, noting the studio might need to delay trailer releases and dedicate significant resources to damage control. Later that day, Harrison joined a video call with a Sony HR representative she had never met and found herself terminated within ten minutes.
The campaign against Harrison gained momentum through prominent streamers and former industry executives. Popular content creator Asmongold and former game executive Mark Kern encouraged followers to compile lists of individuals commenting on Kirk’s death, with Kern explicitly demanding companies “fire them all.” Following Harrison’s termination, Asmongold celebrated the outcome on his stream, boasting about potentially targeting her future employers “for fun.”
This incident didn’t occur in isolation. For over a year before Harrison’s post, Ghost of Yotei and its developers faced coordinated criticism from reactionary online communities. Critics attacked the game’s casting of queer actor Erika Ishii as the protagonist, circulated misleading images about the development team’s gender composition, and spread false claims about the studio’s hiring practices. Throughout this extended harassment campaign, Sucker Punch remained publicly silent, offering no support statements for targeted employees.
Harrison acknowledges her joke violated Sony’s social media policy but questions the company’s handling of the situation. “At no point did anyone ask me to delete it,” she noted. “At no point did anyone ask me to apologize, and for the record, I would have.” She emphasizes that leadership never investigated the harassment she and colleagues endured, despite company-wide security measures being implemented.
The anonymous Sucker Punch employee described the studio’s vulnerable population, including LGBTQ team members and workers on visas who would face disproportionate risk if targeted. They criticized the industry’s tendency to avoid confronting toxic elements within gaming communities, noting that studios often perceive harassers as part of their core demographic.
Research psychologist Rachel Kowert explained this corporate hesitation: “Studios don’t want to address toxicity against their employees because they see it as confronting the dark sides of their community, which they believe is a core demographic.”
Despite the controversy, Ghost of Yotei achieved critical and commercial success upon release, becoming one of 2025’s top-selling games and earning numerous Game Awards nominations. Harrison received neither severance nor the industry-standard “ship bonus” typically granted to developers upon a game’s release.
In the months following her termination, Harrison describes feeling “extremely depressed and isolated” while reconsidering her future in game development. She questions whether to remain in an industry that “seemingly does not value its employees or support women and diversity.”
The harassment against Ghost of Yotei continues despite Harrison’s departure, with critics spreading false rumors about game content and disputing sales figures. Harrison recognizes this pattern will inevitably shift to other developers and games, which fuels her determination to share her story.
“I was fired because of a harassment campaign. It wasn’t the result of a bad joke,” Harrison stated. “And I really don’t want this to happen to anyone else, because I feel like with the state of everything, it will absolutely happen to other people.”
(Source: Aftermath)
