Sega has revealed it sued and won a case against a serial harasser of one of its staff, and intends to do the same on behalf of all employees.
The developer said the unnamed individual had conducted “slander and extreme acts of harassment” on social media toward the employee, prompting legal intervention as the situation escalated.
With the court’s permission, the company obtained the harasser’s personal information and sought damages on the victim’s behalf. The individual has been ordered to delete all of its harassing posts and not do it again in the future.
Sega went on to call harassment against developers a “serious problem” and pledged similar legal action would be taken against any other malicious behavior against its staff.
“We are involved in human rights, where the act of slander that cannot be subjected to employees and the harassment of violent acts,” it wrote. “We ask that you refrain from acts that damage the dignity of our employees.”
Harassment towards developers has gradually escalated over the past decade. While some have tried pushing back against this in recent years, it’s not always possible for every studio or employee.
At most, they can call for the harassment to stop and call on other studios to decry similar efforts. But in one instance, the targeted harassment made its way to court.
Last year, Bungie sued an individual who’d repeatedly targeted its staff for harassment, resulting in a near-$500,000 fine.
With Sega promising to greet this behavior with more lawsuits, it may potentially spread throughout the industry, which hasn’t always done the best job of protecting its people.