Much of this year’s biggest news stories in the game industry were related to allegations of toxic workplace cultures, systemic discrimination, and harassment of women and other minority employees. The biggest of these stories occurred under Activision Blizzard, with many attributing the several lawsuits and allegations levied against them as contributing to their acquisition by Microsoft. This spotlight has opened it up for similar situations at other game companies for affected employees to speak out about their experiences. Such occurred at Sony with a class action SIE lawsuit made by employees, which Sony is now asking the courts to dismiss.

Axios has reported on this SIE lawsuit and Sony’s response to the latest updates on its proceedings. The lawsuit began with former Sony IT security analyst Emma Majo, who initially filed the lawsuit only on her own behalf, but last year asked for the lawsuit to be changed to a class-action suit. This would be done on behalf of other women at Sony who shared similar experiences or alleged harassment. Sony however has asked for the lawsuit to be dropped, with much of their defense for this request boiling down to their belief that Majo does not adequately provide enough specific details about events occurring to herself or the other women. As Sony’s lawyer states:

“Despite the sweeping breadth of her lawsuit, the allegations in which SIE categorically denies, she fails to plead facts to support either her individual claims or the claims of the broad-based classes of women she seeks to represent.”

Sony also suggested that Majo could not “identify a single policy, practice or procedure at SIE that allegedly formed the basis of any widespread intentional discrimination or had a discriminatory impact on women.” The company also believes that Majo’s SIE lawsuit if accepted by the courts would inherently have a conflict of interest, as all of Majo’s managers at SIE were women before her termination and would thus be included in the lawsuit. The state of California has not yet ruled whether the lawsuit will be dismissed, nor has Majo yet officially responded to Sony’s rebuttals. Whether this plays out in court or not, it is telling of the industry that all of these allegations seem to be hitting within such a short span of time, and hopefully justice in some way is served for those that have been wronged.

What do you guys think about Sony asking the courts to dismiss this SIE lawsuit made by employees? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to stay tuned for the latest Sony news, such as the PlayStation VR2 headset design officially unveiled by Sony, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers. Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!