• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sony PlayStation Staff Fume Over CEO’s Abortion Comments

Status
Not open for further replies.

Vognerful

Member

Some staff at Sony Group Corp. are seething following an email Thursday from the head of PlayStation that urged employees to “respect differences of opinion” on abortion rights before entering into five detailed paragraphs about his two cats’ first birthday.

The email opens by addressing several current events including the recent leak of a draft US Supreme Court opinion that signaled an intention to overturn the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. Many corporations have felt pressure from employees to comment on the case but most video game companies have remained silent on the matter.

There are a few notable exceptions, however, such as Bungie Inc., the developer of the Destiny game which called the decision “a direct attack on human rights” in a blog post last week. “Standing up for reproductive choice and liberty is not a difficult decision to make,” Bungie said, receiving largely positive reactions from its employees. Sony agreed earlier this year to buy Bungie for $3.6 billion.

In the email seen by Bloomberg, PlayStation president Jim Ryan didn’t take a stance on abortion rights, instead writing that the company and its community are “multi-faceted and diverse, holding many different points of view.” He wrote that “we owe it to each other and to PlayStation’s millions of users to respect differences of opinion among everyone in our internal and external communities. Respect does not equal agreement. But it is fundamental to who we are as a company and as a valued global brand.”

Ryan then went on to write that he “would like to share something lighthearted to help inspire everyone to be mindful of having balance that can help ease the stress of uncertain world events,” saying it was recently his two cats’ first birthday and elaborating over the next few paragraphs about his cats’ birthday cakes, their noises and his desire to one day get a dog.

In internal discussions viewed by Bloomberg, which haven’t been previously reported, employees at several PlayStation studios expressed their displeasure at the tone of the email. Some women wrote that they felt their rights were disrespected or trivialized by the message. One employee said they’d “never been so mad about a cat birthday before.”
 

Vognerful

Member
M9aGJry.jpg


What a weird thing to say about dogs.
 

Zeroing

Banned
I mean, I wouldn't exactly say that abortion falls under 'politics', but it is a topic that has been over-discussed and gone nowhere.
Well it does fall into politics because it is something happening in America and the country's law. We have Europeans being clueless about what is happening, fanboys going mental etc.
 

Calverz

Member
I work for the government and quite frankly you get this shite all the time from directors. Rather than actually addressing issues they will write about or talk about where they went on time off and what activities they like to do outside work etc.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Well he is not wrong.
His comment can be applied to both sides of the table.
So what would be the reason to be triggered other then the possibility of someone having a different opinion.
 

Honey Bunny

Member
Lmao i hope ree make a really principled stand over this like not preordering the next sony first party title or not arguing with the next 7/10 review for spooderman
 

Star-Lord

Member
Well it does fall into politics because it is something happening in America and the country's law. We have Europeans being clueless about what is happening, fanboys going mental etc.
Something happening doesn't make it a political issue. I just went for a shit. Because that happened, does it make it political? No.

Abortion is more about ethics and morality, not politics.
 

DJTaurus

Member
It’s the only time that Jim said sth meaningful without even picking a side. He just told the obvious….. but that happens when you hire people with similar "ideology" to druckmann.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Isa

sircaw

Banned
I really don't know what he has done wrong. His stance is neutral and talks to all parties.
Asking people to be respectful of one another's opinions seems a fair point to me.

I read some pages on reset era the other night with people calling him a piece of shit and said he should be fired bla bla.

Not to be political but i recall the same thing with Trump supporters.
The way certain people treat people of different opinions is beyond disgusting.

We as a species really have gone backward these last 20 years or so.
 
Last edited:

GHG

Gold Member
Resetera is having a field day. I think the comment made sense, just respect each others opinion and move on, when you're at work.

That's literally all there is to it. STFU about politics (I'd also throw religion in this category as well), respect each other and get on with your work.

We can't all agree on everything, that's impossible, but that shouldn't prevent us from being able to group together and be productive regardless of individual views/stances. Quite frankly if someone lacks the maturity to see that then they have no place as part of a functioning workforce.
 
Last edited:

Furball

Member
Why can't people just accept everyone views the world different ways? Jim is right. Leave the politics outside of work and just accept some of the people you work with disagree with you.

Those people keep using argument like "this as bad as people think murder and slavery is right " :messenger_tears_of_joy: those people cant accept that
 
Last edited:

GHG

Gold Member
Those people keep using argument like "this as bad as people think murder and slavery is right " :messenger_tears_of_joy:

And do you know what, some people they work with might think that. It's a big bad world out there and we can't control everyone's actions and thoughts. Some people who have those kinds of thoughts/motives manage to hide in plain sight within society for long periods of time.

At the end of the day if someone does something wrong or inappropriate then the company and/or the law will deal with them appropriately. Until then it's a case of doing what you need to do to justify your pay and further yourself within your profession. Unless it's a political organisation I don't see why any of this needs to be anyone's concern.
 

Mod of War

Ω
Staff Member
You mean we can't discuss anything negative about Sony. It's not political to discuss what an idiot Jim Ryan is.
Must be a conspiracy. Write to your congressional representatives.

Joking aside, we tried to have a thread open yesterday- unfortunately it was a powder keg which kept diving into political arguments.

Let’s talk about games and entertainment. Thank you.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom